There is a great difference between a prop and an object that is built or filled with the dramatic forces of a play or film. These objects fill with meaning and power and the hopes of the characters, and ours. But how do we generate a magical object that can organize an entire work of timebound art?
We will pursue our investigation in the timebound arts of theatre and film, but this class is for all students interested in understanding the power of objects in narrative, visual, and conceptual art. No prior scriptwriting experience is necessary or required. In past years, students whose concentration is in VA have taken the class and found it valuable. Works we will study will include The Piano Lesson, The Clean House, A Streetcar Named Desire, Intimate Apparel, Buried Child, Ruined, RabbitHole, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean and Woke (Hulu series). Students will write a 20-90 minute play that contains a magical object, and as their final project, build/create that magical object.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will understand and be able to use the organizing power that objects, whether traditionally thought of as magical or not, have to structure vital and profound works of timebound art.
Students will be able to create magical objects that are containers of hope, and use the audience’s hope to move them forward and care about what happens next in narrative works of art.
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 4
M 1:40PM - 5:20PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Course Frequency: Once a year
Categories: 2000 , All courses , Drama , Four Credit , Fully In-Person
Tags: Hope , Magic , Metaphor , Object creation , playwriting , reading , Ritual , Value , workshop