Office Hours: Mondays: 12:30-2:30Pm, Wednesdays and Fridays by Appointment

Professor Jackie Roberts

Fall 2010

ATHR 240Y- (7892)MW 2:45pm - 4:05pm HU 116

Office hours: Mondays: 12:30-2:30pm, Wednesdays and Fridays by appointment

PAC 358/Ext. 4212

Also teaches:

ATHR 240Y-(16232) = MWF 11:30AM - 12:25PM HU 134

ATHR 107 – (5506) MWF 10:25-11:20am LC 4

Required Texts:

Glengarry Glen Rossby David Mamet, Grove Press (1994) ISBN-10: 0802130917 ISBN-13: 978-0802130914

Required Films:

A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin
Glengarry Glen Rossby David Mamet
A Streetcar Named Desireby Tennessee Williams
Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approachesby Tony Kushner

Acting I ATHR 240Y-(7892)

PURPOSE:

This class is the beginning to a course of study in the Discipline of Acting with an emphasis on the physical relaxation demanded by the style of Theatrical Realism. Technical development will include elements of Stanislavski technique as well as some aspects of the approach used by the Atlantic Theatre. Expect also to receive on-going in-class questions about your scenes that must be answered in written form. Everything you will ever, ever need to know is in the text.

REQUIREMENTS

Daily Activities

Scene Study Assessment 40%

Mondays and Wednesdays this category includes in-class scene work. It is expected you will end up in a more advanced place, meaning a more emotionally honest and personally revealing place than you started out, through unwavering attention to and thoughtfully read all of the assigned text. By the assigned performance date, you must have memorizedthe lines for two characters in your scenes. Failure to show up on the day of the scene performance limits you to receiving no higher than a “0”.

Fridayswill be team-based learningin the form of your group retrieving the movie from the Library, presenting an Acting/Character assessment before the movie and successfully returning the movie so it may be used by the next class. Viewing the plays in class will give you the chance to affect and be affected by the reactions of others.

Attendance and Absences

Attendance as such is not graded. However, you will earn an automatic “0” for any activities or assignments you miss for any absence.No make-up opportunities will be available. Therefore, you must plan carefully for classes that youknow you will need to miss, whether for work, religious practice, sports team travel, military duty, club activities,family responsibilities, assignments for other courses, brief illnesses, etc. Also,a team may petition me to have a member removed from a group due to consistent absences, lack of completion of tasks or disruptive behavior at any time. The petition must be in writing and signed by all team members.

PresentingCharacter Questionnaires 20%

There will roughly 4 groups of 4 people. On the first day of the semester, you will be assigned to a teamthat will work together throughout the duration of the course. Individual grades will be influenced byteam performance on team-based assignments. Each team contribution towork of the class will be assessed by your fellow classmates. That assessment will account for 20% of your final grade. Your team will be responsible for presenting a character questionnaire for one of the Friday movies. The group will present an outline of a theme of the play as well as an outline of how several characters in a chosen scene express that theme. The presenting group is to see the movie first and contextualize it for the class. In essence you are teaching class that day.

Grading Questionnaires 20%

You should develop your ability to give positive critical analysis to your fellow student’s presentations. Faithful attendance of the lectures is necessary in order to master the information.Grading Questionnaires (20%) are to be completed by the group. All Grading Character Questionnaires (20%) assessing your fellow classmates work are due in the Professor’s office, Performing Arts Center, Room 358, at the end of class Fridays. In the event that all groups have received 20%, the grades are rendered null and void.

Final Exam or Final Scene 20%

Your final exam will be a graded performance of your Part III scene. You may invite friends or relatives to this performance onThursday, December 16th, 3:30pm to 5:30pm.

Average Roberts Grade Percentage Breakdown:

A's = 35.5%, B's = 23%, C's = 27%, D's = 14.5%

AUGUST

30th, (1st)

“Learning the Warm Up”

Scene Selection

Reading: Glengarry

Working: Glengarry Read thru

SEPTEMBER

(6th No Class) Wednesday 8th

Reading: Glengarry

Class Focus: themes - The author creates a theme when he/she uses the components of his/her work to persuade the audience of an opinion concerning modern American Society.

SEPTEMBER

13th

“Finding the Keys”- an exercise in concentration

Scene Selection

Reading: Glengarry

Working: Glengarry Read Thru

SEPTEMBER

Wednesday 15th -Group 1

Class Focus: viewing Good Men

SEPTEMBER

20th, 22nd

“Being yourself”/“What does that mean?”

Reading: Glengarry

Working: Glengarry Read Thru

SEPTEMBER

Monday 27th

Working: GlengarryOff Book Part I

SEPTEMBER

Wednesday 29th - Group 2

Class Focus: viewing Glengarry

OCTOBER

4th,6th

Who are they to one another?

Scene Selection

Reading: Glengarry(completed)

Working: Glengarry Read thru

OCTOBER

6th

No Lecture

OCTOBER

Monday 11th

Scene Selection

Reading: Glengarry

Working: Glengarry

OCTOBER

Wednesday 13th– Group 3

Class Focus: viewingStreetcar

OCTOBER

18th, 20th

Who are the characters?

Reading: Glengarry

OCTOBER

25th, 27th

“Actions”

What are they doing?

Reading: Glengarry

Working: GlengarryOff Book Part II

NOVEMBER

Monday 1st

Objectives – each character wants something in every scene

Working: Glengarry

NOVEMBER

Wednesday 3rd– Group 4

Class Focus: viewingM. Butterfly.

NOVEMBER

8th

No Lecture

NOVEMBER

10th

“Status”

Scene Selection

Working: Glengarry Walk Thru

NOVEMBER

15th

No Lecture

NOVEMBER

15th, 17th

Working: Glengarry Walk Thru

NOVEMBER

Monday 22nd

“Where are they?”

Working: Glengarry Walk Thru

DECEMBER

(29), 1

Context – What happened before? What happens after?

Reading: Glengarry

Working: Glengarry Walk Thru

DECEMBER

Monday 6th

“When – Time of day?”

Scene Selection

Working: Glengarry Walk Thru

DECEMBER

Wednesday 8th

Working: GlengarryOff Book Part III

December

Thursday 16th

Final Exam/ Scene 3:30pm to 5:30pm.

PRESENTING CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRES 20%

NAMES and LAST 3# OF SUNY ID: ______

PLAY: ______

Act#, Scene#, Page#: ______

Time Into The Movie ______

Role: ______

ONE or TWO WORD answers:

The Relationship of the characters speaking?

1) Characters/Relationship______

2) Characters/Relationship______

How is each character trying to make the other Feel (Action)?

3) Character/Action______

4) Character/Action______

5) What Time is it? ______

6) What was the character doing Before this scene? ______

7) Where are they, location? ______

8) Where are they going After they exit, Location? ______

What do I Want from the person they are speaking to (my Objective)?

9) Character/Objective______

10) Character/Objective______

Why do they want from Life (my Super Objective)?

11) Character/Super Objective______

12) Character/Super Objective______

GRADING QUESTIONNAIRES 20%

Group # ______- rate 1 thru 5 points for each question

How Timely and Organized did the class start? ______

How many of the character presentations were Clear? ______

Do you have a greater Understanding of the Play?______

How well did The Group discuss how the play addresses a problem in current society? ______

GROUP TOTAL (should add up to between 1through 20) ______

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