Can academics engage performance?
Absolutely.
At the University of Chicago, the pursuit of academic excellence is the foundation of our artistic work. We pride ourselves on a long history of rigorous critical thinking, and we bring that same intensity and focus to the practice of performance. Is your image of an academic a person locked in the library? Ours isn’t. At Chicago, you can study with the country’s foremost Shakespearean scholar, then catch him in a late-night staged reading of a Sam Shepard play. Do you imagine artists create in a vacuum of history? With our studio classes, you can simultaneously isolate hip-hop movements while learning which 1920s performer developed them during the Harlem Renaissance.
Our courses include sequences in acting, directing, playwriting, screenwriting, dance, costume design, light design, and set design, as well as more esoteric options like Ensemble Creation, Solo Performance, Improvisation, Ritual Drama, Clown, and Viewpoints and Composition. Instructors include professional actors, designers, choreographers, directors, and writers from Chicago, one of the most vibrant theater communities in the country. Students may choose to major or minor in the Theater & Performance Studies. The program challenges students to take courses in the theory and practice of two media (for example, theater, film, video, dance, music, or creative writing), while building the critical skills to effectively analyze their own work and the work of others. We believe that small classes are ideal for performance, limiting our acting classes to twelve and our ultra-advanced directing or writing courses to six. Each quarter culminates in “UT Day,” where the full day of Friday of 10th week is dedicated to showings from courses and individual projects. Four years ago “New Work Week” was established to workshop and showcase student written work, and we have recently staged fifteen plays in six days, culminating with Suzan-Lori Parks 365 Days / 365 Plays.
Guest Artists Expand Our Horizons
In addition to classes, TAPS/ UT offers workshops with a wide array of artists. Recent guests include:
- About Face Youth Theatre (the youth initiative of Chicago’s gay and lesbian About Face Theatre)
- JoAnne Akalaitis (acting directing workshop)
- Albany Park Theater Project (Chicago’s ground-breaking community-generated youth theater)
- Greg Allen and John Pierson (of Chicago’s experimental theater company, the Neo-Futurists)
- Anne Bogart and the SITI Company (Viewpoints and Composition)
- Uri Caine (composition)
- Dumb Type (experimental Japanese performance group)
- B. Z. Goldberg (director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Promises)
- Kofi Jantuah (Ghanaian dancer)
- Bill T. Jones (choreography)
- Nicole LeGette (Butoh Workshop)
- Charles Newell (Artistic Director, The University of Chicago’s Court Theatre)
- Gregory Nikolov (international cinematographer)
- Frank Maugeri, Associate Artistic Director of Redmoon Theater (Puppetry Workshop)
- Rumya Putcha (Indian dancer)
- Jay Sherman (mime)
Steppenwolf’s Tina Landau Teaches Viewpoints and Composition
TAPS/UT is fortunate to bring in guest lecturers who represent some of the most innovative artists in the country. Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member Tina Landau is a writer/director whose original work has been produced at Steppenwolf, the Goodman Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, the Public Theater, Vineyard Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, American Repertory Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse. “Viewpoints” are points of awareness that a performer or creator has while working and can be used for practicing spontaneity and connection on stage, building ensemble, and generating movement. In “composition” work, the technique is extended into the creation of short, highly theatrical original pieces. Students at the UofC have had the unique opportunity to learn this ground-breaking method firsthand from one of its foremost practitioners.