DRAMA 302 : Performance Skills

Arts

2020 Semester One (1203) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Classes in stage acting, improvisation, movement, voice and character, taught by professional tutors. Students will present a solo or duo short performance.

Course Overview

The course is focused on YOU as an actor and performer – discovering and understanding your raw material (body, voice, mind, spirit) and developing it in ways that enhance your strengths and faculty as an actor and begin to identify and overcome your weaknesses.

The course ends with an original solo performance. The shape of this solo is given to you and is the same for everyone. The idea is for you to bring your own interpretation to the format of the solo. It is a chance for you to combine some of the skills you have encountered in the course with your own existing strengths to show yourself as a performer. Classes will investigate what sources and resources actors draw on for their art and craft. Hopefully by the end you will have found some of your power as a performer and be able to recognize the value and quality of the work of other actors.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II and approval of Academic Head or nominee Restriction: DRAMA 719

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Graduate Profile: Bachelor of Arts

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Discover and develop your faculty and power as an actor and creator (Capability 1.2, 4.2 and 4.3)
  2. Learn to treat and tune your body as the actor’s instrument (Capability 1.2 and 4.2)
  3. Understand a range of performance techniques and exercises that you can use in your own practice (Capability 1.2 and 4.2)
  4. Develop your own observational, storytelling, and creating skills as an actor (Capability 1.2, 3.2 and 4.2)
  5. Communicate effective feedback in creative contexts (Capability 1.2, 3.1 and 4.3)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Reflection 5% Individual Coursework
Essay 15% Individual Coursework
Presentation 20% Individual Coursework
Presentation 35% Individual Coursework
Reflection 15% Individual Coursework
Workshops 10% Individual Coursework
The main assignment for the first half of the course is the delivery of a short monologue in week 6. This is worth 20%. You are required to submit a short statement explaining the basis for your choice of monologue in week 2, and an essay that puts the monologue in the context of the play that it is drawn from in week 4.

The main assignment for the second half of the course is the presentation of an original 5-minute solo in week 11 or 12. You will also submit a workbook that gives an account of your development of this presentation as well as a critical reflection on its success.

10% of your grade is determined by your effective participation in the twice-weekly course workshops.

Learning Resources

The set text is "101 New Zealand Monologues for Youth," Playmarket, available to purchase from Ubiq.
ALSO: you must either purchase or loan a copy of the play that your monologue is excerpted from.

Other recommended readings will be listed on Canvas.

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week on each 15 point course that they are enrolled in, including class time and personal study and assignment preparation.

For this course, you can expect 4 hours per week of class work and 6 hours per week of practical rehearsal, reading and  work on assignments.

Digital Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page (https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894), which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 03/12/2019 01:50 p.m.