Structure of Theater Concentration Outlined for Faculty

The structure of a concentration in Theater, Dance, and Media to be discussed at the March 3 Faculty meeting features a two-adviser program and required participation in on-campus productions, according to a proposal distributed to members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last week.

It is unlikely that there will be separate tracks in dance and media within the concentration, although the document, which faculty members shared with The Crimson, states that the concentration plans to expand offerings in both subjects. It notes that "most important partner” for developing media courses in particular will be the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies.

The concentration would also require that students participate in training modules on technical aspects of theater and theater labs, which involve working on the technical preparations for concentration productions. All courses and productions will be open to non-concentrators, except for sophomore and junior tutorials, according to the current proposal.

Coursework would emphasize both the scholarly study of theater and its practice, according to the Faculty meeting document. In light of this two-pronged emphasis, concentrators will likely receive two advisers, one focusing on practice-based courses and the other on critical and historical ones.

The document also states that affiliates from VES and the Standing Committee on Dramatic Arts, which has developed the concentration proposal, have begun discussing “a joint concentration in performance and media.” Members of the VES faculty have been invited to join the governing committee in an effort to facilitate access by Theater, Dance, and Media to VES courses and resources and access by VES to courses on directing, acting, and scenography.

In addition to completing 11 half-courses in different areas of theater studies, concentrators would also be required to participate in two productions run by the concentration and two additional shows that can be run by an extracurricular group such as the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, according to the Faculty meeting document.

If approved by the Faculty, the current proposal would require that concentrators study non-Western and “non-traditional” theater and dance by the time they graduate.

Advisers would typically be members of the concentration’s governing committee, which would be known as the Standing Committee on Theater, Dance, and Media. This committee would emerge from a restructuring of the Standing Committee on Dramatic Arts, which currently administers the secondary field in Dramatic Arts. The restructuring would go into effect on July 1.

While the secondary field would be renamed “Theater, Dance, and Media,” its requirements would remain unchanged, according to the document. The concentration will likely be housed in Farkas Hall and be responsible for running the space.

The Standing Committee on Dramatic Arts is currently chaired by English professor Martin Puchner, who has led the development of Theater, Dance, and Media since the committee began discussing preliminary ideas in 2011. University officials first announced the proposed concentration in October 2014.

Puchner will present the details of the proposal at the Faculty meeting. The Faculty are expected to vote on the concentration proposal at their subsequent meeting on April 7, according to Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris. If approved, the concentration would begin to offer courses in the fall of 2015 and allow undergraduates to declare in December. University President Drew G. Faust has allocated $5 million dollars from her discretionary funds to help launch the concentration.

—Staff writer Karl M. Aspelund can be reached at karl.aspelund@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @kma_crimson.

—Staff writer Meg P. Bernhard can be reached at meg.bernhard@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @meg_bernhard.