December 17, 2008

THEATRE STUDIES SUMMER SCHOOL PAPERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO 

Kia ora koutou,

I’m just letting you know about our great Summer School papers in Theatre Studies here at the University of Otago.

In addition to our popular Improvisation paper at first-year level, we’re also offering a third-year paper called Creating Theatre. This paper looks at how to create theatre from real life experience. It considers ideas of play, story-telling and imagination. Two contemporary theatre practices are used as models: playback theatre and documentary theatre. Through a combination of practical work and written assignments, students will explore the integration of theory and practice in the realm of devised theatre.

Classes will take place in the first four weeks of semester (from Monday 5th January 2009) and then students will be given time to prepare a final, informal performance for presentation at the end of week six.

Improvisation is one of our most popular papers. This is a performance-based paper with an emphasis on enhancing creativity and spontaneity. The skills it provides are also applicable in a much wider sphere, both at University and in the job market. Improvisation will help to develop your confidence, presentation, effective listening and communication skills and your ability to work as part of a team. Through a series of practical workshops, the course will introduce basic concepts and principles of improvisation including spontaneity, narrative skills, status and effective communication. 

The paper assumes no prior knowledge of improvisation, and first-year university students straight from secondary school – who have done no other university papers – are most welcome to enrol. The course begins on Tuesday 6th January 2009.

If you would like any further information or to discuss either paper, please feel free to e-mail me on hilary.halba@otago.ac.nz or call me on 03 479 8925.

Also, please feel free to forward this message to as many people as you think may be interested.

Warm regards,
Hilary Halba.