Theatre 101

This course was taken in Fall 2019 with Professor Stephanie Howieson. During this course, I learned about theatre from the past and present, including Shakespearean theatre, renaissance theatre, and modern day Broadway.

Overall, this course was very enjoyable. I felt that Prof. Howieson was very passionate about the subject, which helped make the topics more interesting for her students. She would include activities in her lessons that made classes more lively and fun. These activities ranged from watching plays written by playwrights we learned about in class, to silent, slow-motion sword fighting to demonstrate the importance of nonverbal communication between actors. After taking this course, my appreciation for theatre has grown tremendously. This is because I now know where modern day theatre originated from, and the hurdles that were jumped to get theatre to where it is today: a creative outlet for everyone.

The artifact below is part of my final project for this course. My group and I created a concept for a Children’s theater, including a poster showcasing our theater and the four shows it would preform. I wrote a script for one of those four shows, Please Miss Bear, and my group and I presented this play to our class as our final exam. While writing the script I had make sure that the play was understandable and enjoyable for children, while also teaching a lesson parents would approve of: the importance of saying “please.”