Acting
Plan of Study
The first year is a highly disciplined period of training. The year begins with a concentration on realism and contemporary American playwrights, and actors are introduced in their second term to the plays of Chekhov, Ibsen, and The Greeks. The first production opportunity comes at the beginning of the second term with collaborative workshops on three new plays written by Playwriting students for the acting company. At the conclusion of the New Play Lab, students in good standing enter the casting pool for Yale School of Drama productions. Students who have demonstrated and developed their talent during the year will be invited by the faculty to return for a second year of training.
Second-year work expands the focus into verse drama, with emphasis on understanding and performing the works of Shakespeare. Students strengthen their skills and attain a higher level of ensemble work through their classes and through increasing production assignments. In the second term of the second year, the emphasis on heightened and extended language continues through work on Molière, George Bernard Shaw, and diverse texts from world literature. The third year is spent exploring the plays of Bertolt Brecht and challenging material from the twentieth century and today. Students also have multiple courses in learning to work on camera, transferring their techniques to the medium of film.
Students are required to attend all classes in their curriculum.
Year One
Survey of Theater and Drama
The Collaborative Process
New Play Lab
Acting I
Voice I
First-Year Speech and Dialects
The Body as Source
Alexander Technique I
New Games
Text Analysis I
Singing I
Rehearsal Practicum
Directing Lab on Greek Tragedy
Yoga I
Stage Combat I
Activated Analysis
Year Two
Text Analysis II
Acting II: Tools not Rules
Acting II
Voice II
Langston Hughes Tutorial
Second-Year Speech and Dialects
Alexander Technique II
Clown
Dance for Actors
Shakespeare Embodied
Stage Combat II
Singing II
Year Three
Carlotta Tutorial
The Body on Set
Commedia
Dance for Actors
Acting III
Actor Showcase
Voice III
Voice III: Focus, Application, Self-Calibration
Third-Year Speech and Dialects
Alexander Technique III
Actor’s Workshop
Creating Actor-Generated Works
Yoga III
Singing III
The Actor’s Imagination on Film
On-Camera Acting Technique
Taming the Cyclops: How to Do Your Best Work in an On-Camera Audition
Theatre of the Oppressed Project