I really don't know what happens next--one so seldom does
-E.M. Forester
The Hill of Devi
CURRENT PROJECTS
1996
LEARNING HTML:

My immediate intent has been to create an open line of communication with people who are curently using Directing for the Stage.  The idea is to create a forum where people who are using the text can share their experiences. Ultimately I hope to have online commentary from people who have written to this site.

For one week only I created a set of web pages to be used in my Script Analysis class. This is a prototype of what I plan to do all semester long when the course is offered again next year. The concept is to get students talking with me, and with each other, via e-mail and bulletin boards before they come to the formal class discussion about a particular script. If you decide to sample Virtual Script Analysis, you'll have to use your browser's "back" button to return to this page, since Virtual Script Analysis is currently designed as a "closed" system.

My intent is to integrate World Wide Web available documents into all of my courses starting in the fall of 1996. The Web Sites for Dra 361 (Directing I) and Dra 362 (Script Analysis) are now up and running. These sites are used very differently, but in each case, I think they will be a valuable addition. The most unique part of each of these sites is a state of the art, interactive message board program that allows students to instantly post notes (and essays) to the entire class directly from the web page they are working from. To see how differently the same message board program will be put to use, compare the following:

  • DRA 361 CALL BOARD
  • DRA 362 TALK OF THE CLASS

    • PRODUCTION PORTFOLIO:

    It is extremely easy and affordable to scan photographs onto a disk to be used for HTML. Our computer center charges $1.25 per image, and I am very pleased with the results. The curent portfolio contains production photographs from The Tempest, which we did this past fall. For this production, we took an essentially Jungian point of view where everything was seen as a father's dream--a recently divorced father, faced with the responsibility of raising his ten year old daughter. All of the characters became reflections and refractions of the dreamer's psyche, and Prospero as a wise old man (magician figure) had designed everything to dramatize for the dreamer the danger of ignoring the shadow (Caliban, Antonio, etc.) parts of his self. To float higher and higher with Ariel, away from earthly reality is ultimately self destructive and, above all else, his abjuration of magic is premeditated to demonstrate this.

    COMPUTER GENERATED PHOTOGRAPHS:
    Projections forThe Tempest

    For Washington State University's production of The Tempest, I created computer generated images using a program called "Freehand." At first I thought I would have to make color lazar copies to photograph, but I was very pleased to discover that slides could be directly from the digital files saved on disk--i.e. no camera was actually used. Compared to conventional copystand work, the process is less expensive, and has the advantage of getting better resolution. Two examples of these projections are displayed above. Projections of eyes and other images were used to reinforce the idea that all is seen through the eyes of a dreamer.

    CONTEMPORARY WORLD THEATRE:

    At Washington State University we are undergoing a major curriculum change, and among our current plans, we want to create a World Theatre course as the cornerstone for the theatre major. This course would be required of all theatre majors, but it would also be open to the university at large. Our hope is to have this course up and ruuning this coming August. World Theatre is a large topic! I discovered that University of Hawaii devotes four years to a World Theatre cluster of courses. For a variety of reasons our department has to confine itself to a single World Theatre course. In order to limit the subject, I decided to focus upon the cross cultural issues. The syllabus  I submitted to the faculty was approved, and was passed on to the curriculum committee (decision from them still pending). I would love to hear from anyone who is teaching (or thinking about teaching) a similar type course. Any insights in regards to texts, syllabi, and general course planning would be tremendously appreciated.
    Total number of accesses since page first created: .

    ALWAYS OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS:

    back to
    INTERESTING RELATED TOPICS