Theater and Performance Studies Program Description

Chair of Theater and Performance Studies: David Bevington, G-B 510, 702-9899, bevi@uchicago.edu

Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Theater and Performance Studies: Heidi Coleman, RC 304, 834-9153, coleman@uchicago.edu

Theater and Performance Studies Administrator: Patti Lahey, RC 301,702-9315, plahey@uchicago.eduTheater and Performance Studies seeks to animate the intersection of theory and practice in the arts. The program is multiply comparative, requiring that its students acquire facility in the practice of two media (e.g., theater, film, video, dance, music, creative writing) while gaining fluency in the critical analysis of those media. To this end, students receive training in both performance practice and analysis, acquiring the fundamental tools for artistic creation while developing a nuanced and sophisticated vocabulary with which to analyze creativity. In this way, the program aims to contest the ready separation of academic theory and artistic practice or, for that matter, theorists and practitioners.The program is designed to be flexible (to afford students as much latitude as possible in pursuing their particular interests) and exacting (to guarantee the development of comparative practical skills and rigorous analytic capacities). Students should work closely with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and with the preceptor assigned to the program in order to shape an individual course of study that reflects the student’s interests while fulfilling the program’s interdisciplinary and comparative requirements. The student’s faculty adviser on the B.A. project (see below) will provide additional direction during the senior year.

TAPS Major

TAPS Form Major 

TAPS COURSE CATALOG (same information as online) 

Program Requirements

Students in the TAPS program must meet the following requirements:(1) Six courses in theory and analysis, encompassing the history, theory, aesthetics, and analysis of theatrical and/or performance practice. These courses in the theory and analysis rubric may be selected from the TAPS course offerings listed below or from related course offerings in the College. Ideally, at least four of these courses will be taken from members of the faculty or resource faculty in TAPS. Course selection is subject to the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.(2) Six courses in artistic practice. Of these, no more than four will include the student’s primary medium; at least two will include a qualitatively different medium. Many of these courses will be found in the practical course offerings of TAPS listed below, as well as the course offerings in the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies, the Committee on Creative Writing, the Department of Visual Arts, and the Department of Music, among others. Students may need to supplement these course offerings with individually designed “reading” courses. Here, too, the student undertakes course selection in consultation with, and subject to the approval of, the Director of Undergraduate Studies.(3) Two courses devoted to the preparation of the B.A. project to be taken in the student’s fourth year.

Critical Paper. As the first step in completing the program’s B.A. requirements, students must complete a critical paper that will presumably become the foundation for the fourth-year performance project. Students must complete this paper by Spring Quarter of their fourth year.

B.A. Project. As the culmination of an undergraduate program combining aesthetic theory and practice, B.A. projects in Theater and Performance Studies will encompass both performance of an original work (e.g., writing a play, choreographing a dance performance, shooting a film, creating an installation) and analysis (e.g., B.A. paper).B.A. project proposals are selected by the student in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to the approval of the Chair of Theater and Performance Studies, and supervised by a faculty member. Selecting a B.A. project adviser from the core and resource faculty in TAPS is encouraged but not required.A preceptor (typically a graduate student with special expertise in theater and performance studies) assigned to the program will serve as a supplementary adviser for all B.A. projects, working with students on the mechanics of writing and providing tutorial assistance.The problems addressed and encountered in the B.A. project will be further explored in the TAPS B.A. Colloquium taken during the student’s fourth year. This colloquium will extend over two quartersl students will receive course credit and a grade for one course. Deadlines for the B.A. project, assuming spring graduation date, are as follows: a completed draft of the creative project by the end of Winter Quarter, the final draft by Friday of fifth week in Spring Quarter for honors consideration, Friday of eighth week in Spring Quarter for graduation.The Chair of TAPS and the Director of Undergraduate Studies will jointly coordinate the evaluation of B.A. projects as a final degree requirement, in consultation the with faculty advisor and preceptor assigned to each case, and will report recommendations to the Associate Dean and Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division as to grade and any recommendation concerning honors.

Summary of Requirements

13 total

Application. Students wishing to enter the program should consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Spring Quarter of their first year or as soon as possible thereafter. Students must apply to the program by the end of their second year or, in extraordinary circumstances, no later than the end of Autumn Quarter of their third year. Participation in the program must be declared to the Director of Undergraduate Studies before registration.TAPS Form Major

Grading. All courses in the major must be taken for a quality grade.

Honors. Eligibility for honors requires an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher, a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the courses taken for the Theater and Performance Studies major, and a B.A. project that is judged by the first and second readers to display exceptional intellectual and creative merit.

TAPS Minor

TAPS Form Minor 

Students who are not Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) majors are invited to complete a minor. Such a minor requires 6 courses plus a public performance of original work (e.g., staged-reading, site-specific installation, solo performance piece, choreography, etc.). At least two of the required courses must be advanced level Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS) courses (i.e., 2000-level or higher), at the advanced level. The remaining required courses must bear a clear and coherent relationship specifically related to the intended B.A. creative work component of the TAPS minor. At least one of these courses must encompass critical theory course and analysis. In addition, each student must participate in the two-quarter TAPS B.A. Colloquium. This is to be presented by the fifth week of the quarter in which the student intends to graduate. Each student must also submit a statement of critical methods as accompaniment to the public performance.Students who elect the minor program in TAPS must meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor and identify courses. Approval for the minor program should be submitted to a student’s College adviser by the deadline above on a form obtained from the adviser.Attendance in the two-quarter TAPS B.A. colloquium is required in the development of the critical analysis and resulting creative work. This will count as one course toward the total of six required for the minor. Moreover, the amount of work required for the minor B.A. project is designedly not as extensive as for the major. The extent of participation over the two-quarter period will be calibrated accordingly for TAPS minors.Courses in the minor (1) may not be double counted with the student’s major(s) or with other minors and (2) may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for quality grades, and at least half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.Summary of requirements for the minor program:

TAPS Faculty

D. Bevington (Emeritus, Chair), T. Christensen, H. Coleman, J. Comaroff, T. Gunning, L. Kruger, D. J. Levin, L. Norman, D. N. Rudall (Emeritus), D. Rutherford, H. Sinaiko

TAPS Resource Faculty

P. Bohlman, T. Bruguera, D. English, Y. He, L. Letinsky, M. Jackson, A. Lugo-Ortiz, I. Manglano-Ovalle, W. Mazzarella, C. Sullivan, J. Zeitlin

TAPS Lecturers

T. Burch, P. Pascoe, T. Trent