2014-15 Fall
(HART 1031)
1 Credit | Can be used to fulfill Common Core Requirement (Core Elective: Arts Area)
Teaching Medium: English
Course Description
Documentary Theatre is created based on real life stories such as personal experiences, social issues or historical events. Primary documentary materials including recorded interviews, newspaper articles, video footages or photographs will be interpreted and composed to create a theatrical representation of the events. Unlike written texts or edited films, Documentary Theatre offers a multi-perspective and three-dimensional way into understanding real life experiences in depth through live performances by performers making use of different dramatic expressive means.
In this course, students will explore different models of documentary theatre, focusing on the relationship amongst the Form, the Purpose and the Content. Students will also have the opportunity to choose a local issue or community of their own interest, conduct face-to-face interviews, interpret and edit the collected data, create a dramatic structure from the research materials, devise an original piece of documentary theatre, and give a performance at the end of the course.
- Acquire and apply the various models and forms of Documentary Theatre.
- Apply the understanding of the social and artistic significance of Documentary Theatre in forming and analyzing theatrical works, and to make connection with one’s personal experience and knowledge.
- Work collaboratively to collect materials, interpret and compose a piece of Documentary Theatre with appropriate styles.
- Rehearse and perform with appropriate content, skills and good collaboration in the final performance.
- Make critical, specific reflection and comments on the performances by themselves and peers.
PHASE 1: Basic understanding of documentary theatre
Week 1: Basic theories, models and significance of Documentary Theatre
Week 2: Sample Play I – “Oh, What a Lovely War?”
Week 3: Sample Play II – “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992”
Week 4: Sample Play III –“The Laramie Project”
Week 5: Interview techniques
Week 6: Mini-Documentary Theatre
PHASE 2: Creative Process and Performance
Week 7: Focus questions and preparation on interview
Week 8: Conducting Interviews
Week 9: Interpretation of data and choice of forms
Week 10: Dramatic Structure
Week 11: Polishing, Rehearsal and Feedbacks
Week 12-13: Final Presentation and Reflection
- Kaufman, M. et al. (2001) The Laramie Project. New York: Dramatists’ Play Service
- Smith, A. D. (2003) Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. New York: Dramatists’ Play Service
- Theatre Workshop. (2000) Oh What a Lovely War. Edited by Joan Littlewood. London: Methuen
- Hare, D. et al. (2008) Verbatim: Techniques in Contemporary Documentary Theatre. Edited by Will Hammond & Dan Steward. London: Oberon Books
- Briggs, Charles L. (1986) Learning How to Ask: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the Interview in Social Science Research. (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Spradley, James P. (1979) The Ethnographic Interview. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers
- Smith, A. D. (2000) Talk to me. Listening between lines. New York: Random House
Enrolment Details
Course Registration : 04-04 Oct 2024Add/Drop : 04-04 Oct 2024
Instructor
Krissy Yin LAM
Assessment
| Attendance | 10% |
| Class Participation | 35% |
| Critical Commentary | 25% |
| Final Performance | 30% |