THDA 490, Capstone and Honors Seminar: This is a reading and writing intensive course that engages theories from the fields of aesthetics and cultural studies to support each student’s in-depth research into a topic of their choice. Discussions examine how particular uses of the body, space, and narrative intersect to inform our experience of “performance,” broadly defined, and engage the interplay between real and fictional in both artistic productions and performative social contexts. Students may pursue archival and library research, analysis of live performance, and analysis of documents of various kinds, including visual materials. Required for Theater and Dance majors, open to Dance, Theater, and Performance Design and Technologies minors.
Frequency: Every fall.
Course Objectives
- Develop advanced skills in reading and discussing contemporary performance and critical theories and their antecedents;
- Practice a variety of research methodologies in pursuit of your research topic and goals;
- Engage in collaborative and critical peer review;
- Sustain a research project from initial questions and bibliographic reviews, through integration of materials and revision of arguments, through to elaboration in a substantial manuscript;
- Present your research in a public forum.
Methodology
Seminar participants will read and lead discussion of scholarly materials selected in support of seminar research topics. The ongoing work outside of seminar meetings is the individual research, which will benefit from instructor consultation, work with research librarians and other useful forms of inquiry as required by the topic. Students will engage in continuous review of each others’ projects, sharing articles, posing questions and offering valuable perspectives from their own growing areas of expertise. The final research papers will go through several drafting processes, benefiting each time from instructor and peer review. Students will present summaries of their in-depth research processes in a public event hosted by the Theater and Dance Department.
Evaluation
The final capstone course grade:
- Course Citizenship: 20%
- attendance/punctuality, engagement
- Article Presentation and Discussion Leadership: 20%
- Final Public Presentation: 20%
- Research Process and Final Manuscript: 40%