Course Syllabus
U102 Introduction to Humanities: The Live Performance
(3 cr.)
Fall 2015
4:00 – 6:00 pm Mondays / Performances as announced
Instructor: Ed Faunce Email: efaunce@iuk.edu
Course Objectives: This course takes a critical approach to live theatrical performances. These performances include an opera, a live symphony, theatre experiences and a dance performance.
The history of the audience’s role in live performance, protocol and traditions of modern audience behavior and particularly teach criteria for educated criticism of the elements of performance will be topics in class. Students will attend live performances and then engage in discussions of performances by genre, and thereby develop educated critical analysis skills.
Materials Required: There is no textbook for this class. There will be required reading that will be electronically provided.
All papers will be submitted online, either on Canvas or to the instructor’s email address. NO HARD COPY PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Each student is required to purchase a ticket for all 5 performances.
You may, if you wish, purchase one additional set of tickets for the same cost as the student packet.
The ticket package price will be announced by email or at the first class session.
Each student must provide his/her own transportation to each event, which will be in Indianapolis, Bloomington and possibly Kokomo. We will form carpools for the events to reduce expenses. See me immediately if you think you might have trouble with transportation.
Grades: The grade in this class will be determined by:
Lecture attendance-25%
The class meets for lecture nine times. Class times are Mondays from 4-6PM in the Main Building unless otherwise noted on Canvas. Check Canvas frequently for changes in locations or time.
Performance attendance -30%.
Five performance attendances are required, each of which has a specific date and time. You will notice that the schedule is tentative at this time and depends on our success of obtaining tickets. If you cannot attend a specific performance most have alternate performance dates and times. However papers will still be due on the dates scheduled, so if you are going to have to substitute a date of a performance for a later one see me ASAP
Live performance is the name of this class. Attendance at all of the performances is vital. If a student must miss more than one performance, they are encouraged to drop this class.
Critical Papers-25%: Using critical methods outlined in the beginning of this course students will prepare a 2-page essay with at least 4 references for each performance. Papers are to be formatted using MLA standards with correct grammar and spelling (No more than 3 pages will be accepted).
Final Exam-20%
There will be a final exam that will encompass the student’s overall experiences in the class. The student will write an essay : three pages in length, double-spaced and in MLA format with references. It will be delivered online and will be due at the end of the last week of final exams.
It is imperative that students check Canvas for possible schedule changes. It is your responsibility to check with Canvas to find out if anything has changed in our schedules/assignments.
Grading Scale
25% Lecture attendance
30% Attendance at five performances. (6% for each performance)
25% Reflection papers on performances. (5% for each paper)
20% Final
Late papers will be docked 20% extra.
Additional extra credit opportunities can be made available throughout the semester. Pay attention to Canvas for possible extra credit assignments.
The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus and schedule at any time, depending on circumstances.
Tentative Schedule- Subject to change at any time: - FA14 KO HUMA U102 33311- Main Building (KO-281) 4-6pm Monday
Critical theories used in this course.
Criticism is defined for this class as, “analysis of the merits, and the faults of an artistic piece”. What we are striving for is an educated critical response to a performance. To be educated, and critically respond, we have to know what the piece is. We have to know what genre the piece is written and performed for, and we have to have an understanding of what the artist that created the piece intends for the audience to do. How will the audience react? What feelings are aroused by the piece, and are the goals of the artist met? Does the piece fit into the genre that it was created for? Do the performers adequately transmit the feelings of the artist, and also do they make that piece their own creation in the process? How to we add our own personal esthetic to the criticism in an educated way? These are many of the questions that we will be facing this semester, and using a particular critical theory will help guide us.
We will be talking about the critical theories of Kenneth Burke, a critic and a scholar of communication in the 20th century who developed a critical theory known now as “dramatism”. Burke classified human communication as having the attributes of the theatre. Burke classifies different communication using the theatre terms, act, (written) scene (venue), agent (actor), agency (genre) and purpose (message). Burke himself was a literary and theatre critic by trade who understood that individuals have their own feelings and esthetics about particular works, but needed to codify these attributes according to Aristotle’s works-Poetics and Rhetoric.
I will be posting various articles about performance, and Burke on Canvas. You can look up many of his theories and the applications to art, rhetoric, and even politics by doing cursory searches of the key words: Burke, and dramatism.
We are all adults in this class, no matter how young we might feel. I have tried my utmost to design the class to take in all individual esthetics, and since we are adults I trust that we all can deal with situations that take us out of our comfort zones. However there might be portions of artistic pieces that we see that might be offensive to some individuals. You might hear words that you don’t care for, or see images that “aren’t your cup of tea” so to speak. However as students we all need to understand the context of these situations, (This semester there are almost none, except for some possible class lecture materials) and to use the educated critical standards that we are setting for the class to make possible uncomfortable situations a learning exercise. Art by definition is a reflection of the artist, but it also communicates to the audience. We are here not to judge the artist, or the art, but to analyze the piece to see if it met the criteria that both the artist, and the genre used conveyed the artist’s message.
Tentative Class Schedule as of 8/24/2015
August 24: 4-6pm Intro to class and syllabus. Lecture on critical thinking theories behind this class.
August 31: Bring money for performance ticket sales- Susan Wilson will come and collect the money tonight-Setting up car pools
September 7: Labor Day-No class
September 18: The Barber of Seville-Jacobs School of Music Bloomington, IN
September 21: Lecture-Critically Discuss Barber of Seville-Lecture on opera as a communication tool and reflection of culture.
September 28: Lecture-Shakespeare’s Audience: Barber of Seville papers due.
October 2: As You Like It-Carmel Community Playhouse Carmel, IN.
October 5: Lecture-Critically discuss As You Like It-How Shakespeare communicates.
October 12: As You Like It paper due. –No Class
October 16: Remembrances-Dance Kaleidoscope, Clowes Memorial Hall Butler University
October 19: Fall Break
October 26: Lecture-Critically Discuss Remembrances. Dance as a communication tool. Remembrances paper due
November 6: Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony Hilbert Circle Theater, Indianapolis.
November 9: Lecture-Critically discuss Schubert and Brahms. Discuss music and its power in communication.
November 16: Lecture-Intimacy and communication with performance. Street Theatre.-Symphony Paper Due
November 23: Thanksgiving break
November 30: Local performers and criticism.
December 9- Freud’s Last Session-Tentative-Kokomo, IN
Dec: 14: Online Final Posted –Due by midnight December 18