Syllabus

Sept. 11

Introductions and Orientations.
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During the week between the 11th and the 18th you are to write a Capstone Outline. You may want to meet with a potential advisor during this week to talk with them about your project as well. The office hours of faculty are listed outside the main office in Lyman Hall, or contact professors via email. Be proactive! 

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Sept. 18: 
Capstone Proposals Due. In class discussion of capstones and more on career goals. 
By the way, here is an essay from last week's New Yorker on the value of a BA these days. 
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You have two weeks now to write your career goals paper. Start now! And begin work on your capstone. You might want, as well, to start thinking about the interview project and researching who you might want to reach out to to interview.  ALSO: Read the bios of the guests that are coming and prepare at least one question for each.
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Sept. 25:
1-1 :30 Class business (updates on various projects and progress)

1 :30-3:30 Guests :  Chris Tyler (bio/resume here) and Jing Xu 
Please read this (submitted by Chris Tyler) for class. 

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Keep working on that Career Goals paper. Talk to your trusted advisors! Think about how you want to present your career goals paper to the class.  ALSO: Read the bio of the guest that is coming and prepare at least one question. 
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Oct. 2
1-2 :00 Class business/updates, Career Goals paper due and presented.
2-3 :30 Guest : Megan Sandberg-Zakian (and possibly one other guest) 
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Oct. 9 
1-1 :30 Class business/updates.  Career Goals Presentations continued if any were left over.   
1 :30-2 :45 guest, Laura Rikard 
2 :45-3 :30 Paul Margrave on creating a web-presence 
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Resume due on the 16th! Remember to also be working on your documentation project. Don't leave it to the last minute. And also the interview! 
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Oct. 16

1-2 :00 Class business/updates – First draft of Resume Due.
2 :00-3 :30 Guest  (Matt The Closer  (aka. Matt Bauman))  
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During this week, you are to get direct feedback on your resume from someone in the line of work you hope to enter. Use that feedback to re-do your resume, to be passed in the following week. 
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Oct. 23

1-2 :00 Class business/updates – Revised Resume Due 
2 :00-3 :30  Guests : Adam Immerwahr (see also AI and here too) and Katherine Cooper (see also KC)
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During the next week, read the grant applications we will provide and rank them. Bring them to class for a workshop on how grant-writing/grant evaluating works in the real world. 
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Oct. 30

10/30 – 1-1 :30 Class business. Grant Proposal Project: Come to class having read, and ranked, the set of real life grant proposals sent forward by our guest.
1 :30-3 :30 Guest : Jamie Bennett – Grants, Grant Proposals

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During the next week, polish your documentation project. Maybe it's the start of a website. Maybe it's a set of clips of you from your performance work. Maybe it's a portfolio of plays or the polishing of a writing sample.  It could be linked to your capstone, but it is documentation of you or your project, not you or the project itself. We will discuss this in class.   
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Nov. 6  -- 1-3 :30 a workshop with Barbara Tannenbaum  
Documentation Due -- uploaded to canvas. 

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During the next week,  view/read/experience everyone's documentation and write up a paragraph for everybody with your response. Print each on a separate sheet of paper. Please address:  What strikes you as really well done or really promising, and what needs work in your opinion. What do you see as next steps for this person, if any, in polishing the presentation? Bring  your responses to class. 
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Nov. 13 -- 1-2:00 Class business. Feedback on everyone’s documentation (we will divide into groups), delivered in class. Exit interview faculty to be prepared in class.
 2:00-3 :30  Guest : Krista Knight

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Your interview should be completed, now boil it down to the key points --a paper discussing it is due next class. 
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Nov. 20 --  1-1:30 Class business. Interview Project due. Present key ‘take away’ from the interview in class, in groups of three. 
1:30-2:30  Our first is an alum and chair/arts professor of graduate acting at NYU:  Larry Maslon

2:30-3:30 Roundtable on alternatives to onstage life (curating at RISD art museum, MBA, and facebook exec): Nick White, Hollis Mickey, 

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What do you want your professors to have seen at your exit interview? If you have a website or electronic portfolio of any sort, make sure I have the link by next class. 
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Dec. 4 --  1-1 :30 Class business. 
1:30-2:30  Our first guest returned to professional theatre after 10 years as a teacher: Michael Legg
2 :30-3 :30  Out second guest teaches dance in our department and will talk about producing, starting one's own company, and making a life in the arts: Sydney Skybetter

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Dec. 11 -- Exit Interviews-- may be across entire day. Schedule TBA.

Course Objectives and Requirements

The Senior Seminar in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies introduces students to a range of professional and academic opportunities available to graduates of a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in theatre, dance, and performance studies.  Students will divide their course time between a series of interviews with invited speakers from a variety of backgrounds and in-class workshops tailored to the academic and professional goals of the students.  The class is also geared to help facilitate the conception, implementation, and fruition (or future fruition) of a culminating senior project. 

Course Objectives

●      To assist seniors as they refine and focus their career goals.

●      To connect with working professionals across a range of fields and offer seniors useful tools for pursuing their field of interest.

●      To provide a structured environment for senior concentrators to develop materials relevant to their professional goals.

●      To provide a structured environment for the students to prepare their culminating capstone project.

●      To give students the opportunity to reflect on their intellectual and creative journey so far and project that journey imaginatively into the future.

Course Requirements

●      Attendance, punctuality and participation at all classes is required.

●      Submission of all assignments on the dates listed below.

●      Documentable time outside of class for development of capstone project.

●      Active in class participation in conversations with guest speakers, and full engagement in workshops and critiques.

●      Completing an “Exit Interview” with the faculty members of your choice.

Assignment Due Dates

●      Sept. 18: Capstone Proposal

●      Oct 2: Career Goals Paper

●      Oct. 16/23: Resume/CV 

●      Oct. 30: Grant Proposal Project

●      Nov. 6: Documentation Project 

●      Nov. 20: Interview Project Summary 

●      Dec. 10-11: Exit Interviews

GRADING: S/NC