New Voices in Theater

PAFT 373 - CRN 73631 / 73635

T 12:15 – 3:15
W 12:15 – 3:15

Professor: Nidra Sous la Terre, Lecturer

E-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours: upon request, room 510 + remotely via Zoom

Course Description:

This course this semester will be conducted Synchronous (SYNC) online: delivered fully
remotely with no on-campus components, in real time using Zoom. Students will be required
to participate at set times from their own home/residence hall or remote location.

This course is included in the FTVC Junior year course load and focuses on developing and
cultivating the actor's knowledge of a varied, eclectic and inclusive contemporary American
playwrights and plays. It will expand their knowledge of a few select playwrights and
production history of their plays, examination of their playwrighting style, dissection of the
social and political implications of the material and eventually allow actors space to explore
scene work within these plays.

Required Materials:
• The Brothers Size, Tarell Alvin McCraney
• Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Rajiv Joseph
• Water by the Spoonful, Qiara Alegria Hudes
• Stick Fly, Lydia R. Diamond

Course Overview:
The goal of this course is for the actor to expand their awareness of contemporary American
theater, especially as it pertains to BIPOC and marginalized playwrights, actors and
audiences. Students will explore plays, writing styles, contexts and production histories from
the works of Tarell Alvin McCraney, Rajiv Joseph, Quiara Alegria Hudes and Lydia R. Diamond.
The semester will include reading one play from each playwright in its entirety; script analysis
work, dramatic readings and scene work with the texts, research on playwrights’ lives and
careers, and analysis of present-time relevance and sociopolitical implications.
The scene work will also include work on listening, given circumstances, action, establishing
and playing objective, physical activity, moment before, the development and trust in the
imagination and moment-to-moment acting.
Learning Objectives:
• Analyze and perform contemporary play scripts
• Practice technical skills of acting fueled by the imagination and emotional memory
• Applying tools in technical acting toolbox to intentionally craft preparations
• Demonstrate skills of concentration, imagination and focus
• Utilize sense memory in preparation and in action
• Demonstrate an ability to work actively with a scene partner on contemporary text
Learning Outcomes:
Communication-Learn to express ideas clearly and effectively.

Analysis-Think clearly and critically. Fuse experience, reason and training into considered
judgment. Comprehend, interpret and analyze texts, processes, and media.

Intellectual depth, breadth, integration and application –Examine, organize and use
disciplinary ways of knowing and apply them to specific issues and problems in intellectual,
professional, and community life.

Aesthetic response- Study important works of the human imagination in order to develop
esthetic and literary sensibility. Make and defend judgments about the quality of artistic
expressions.

Course Requirements:
In-Class work + Attendance: 50%
Out of class preparation, homework, readings and rehearsals: 25%
Final Assignment (Presentation of on-camera scene) 25%

• Always arrive on-time and ready to work. Lateness will not be tolerated. Your grade
will drop a ½ letter after your third lateness and so on from there.
• After two absences, grade drops a full letter point for each absence.
• Excused absences are allowed for (1) family emergencies and (2) sickness, only with a
signed doctor's note.
• You must rehearse with your scene partners outside of class.
Course Calendar:
This course meets once a week for 3 hours, for 15 weeks across the semester.

Date Topic Assignments & Notes

Intro, Review syllabus Read The Brothers Size
8/25 Why this syllabus now?
8/26 A discussion about students’ experience as
audience members in American theater.
Tarell Alvin McCraney research
9/1 In-class dramatic reading of The Brothers Size Scene rehearsal
9/2 Discussion about themes, writing style and
script analysis
Assign scene partners
9/8 The Brothers Size scene work
9/9
9/15 Exploration of McCraney’s other works Read Bengal Tiger at the
9/16 Baghdad Zoo
Rajiv Joseph research Scene rehearsal
9/22 In-class dramatic reading of Bengal Tiger at
9/23 the Baghdad Zoo
Discussion: themes, writing style and analysis
Assign scene partners
9/29 Bengal Tiger scene work
9/30
10/6 Exploration of Joseph’s other works Read Water by the Spoonful
10/7
10/13 Quiara Alegria Hudes research Scene rehearsal
10/14 In-class dramatic reading of Water by the
Spoonful
Discussion: themes, writing style and analysis
Assign scene partners
10/20 Spoonful scene work
10/21
10/27 Exploration of Hudes’ other works Read Stick Fly
10/28

11/3 Lydia Diamond research Scene rehearsal

11/4 In-class dramatic reading of Stick Fly
Discussion: themes, writing style and analysis
Assign scene partners
11/10 Stick Fly scene work
11/11
11/17 Exploration of Diamond’s other works
11/18
11/24 FINAL PRESENTATIONS
12/2
Pace University COVID-19 Safety:
CDC guidelines and University policy require proper face covering use in all classrooms, conference rooms, hallways, elevators,
and other common areas. Face coverings are required even if you are more than 6 feet from another individual in a common
indoor area. We must work together to protect others and ourselves from the transmission of COVID-19. Any student entering
class without a face covering will be asked to: a) don a face covering or b) go to Security to obtain a face covering if the student
does not have one. Students who do neither of these things will be asked to leave class and they will be marked absent for the
session. Students are expected to be familiar with the current COVID-19 regulations, which are posted on the Return to Campus
website. See also up-to-date policies and announcements and more information about Pace University’s response to COVID-19.

Academic Integrity
Students are required to be honest and ethical in satisfying their academic assignments and requirements. Academic
integrity requires that, except as may be authorized by the instructor, a student must demonstrate independent
intellectual and academic achievements. Therefore, when a student uses or relies upon an idea or material obtained
from another source, proper credit or attribution must be given. A failure to give credit or attribution to ideas or
material obtained from an outside source is plagiarism. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden. Every student is responsible for
giving the proper credit or attribution for any quotation, idea, data, or other material obtained from another source that
is presented (whether orally or in writing) in the student’s papers, reports, submissions, examinations, presentations
and the like.

Individual schools and programs may have adopted additional standards of academic integrity. Therefore, students are
responsible for familiarizing themselves with the academic integrity policies of the University as well as of the individual
schools and programs in which they are enrolled. A student who fails to comply with the standards of academic integrity
is subject to disciplinary actions such as, but not limited to, a reduction in the grade for the assignment or the course, a
failing grade in the assignment or the course, suspension and/or dismissal from the University. View the Pace University
Academic Integrity Code (PDF).

Students can get help at http://www.pace.edu/library/pages/instruct/plaig.html.

Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

The University’s commitment to equal educational opportunities for students with disabilities includes providing
reasonable accommodations for the needs of students with disabilities. To request an accommodation for a qualifying
disability, a student must self-identify and register with the Coordinator of Disability Services for his or her campus. No
one, including faculty, is authorized to evaluate the need and arrange for an accommodation except the Coordinator of
Disability Services. Moreover, no one, including faculty, is authorized to contact the Coordinator of Disability Services on
behalf of a student. For further information, see Information for Students with Disabilities on the University’s web site. To
receive accommodation for any disability, students must contact the campus Counseling Center (Pace Plaza, 212-346-
1526; Westchester, 914-773-3710).

Technological Assistance
• All Pace Information Technology Services are listed at http://www.pace.edu/its.
• For live assistance with a technological concern, contact the Pace Helpdesk at
914-773-3648, or create a work request at
https://help.pace.edu/helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk.
• The university Academic Calendar is available at
http://webevents.pace.edu/?filter=academiccalendar.

Family/Medical Emergencies
If you have a medical or family emergency that will cause you to miss more than one or two classes, e-mail me about the
problem and then contact your College/School advisement office. They will verify your emergency and send me a note.
Only then will I consider excusing you from class or giving an extension on an assignment. Please be aware that if the
emergency results in you missing a lot of class and/or many assignments, it may become necessary for you to withdraw
from the course.

Incompletes
In order to ensure that all students are treated fairly, a grade of Incomplete will only be granted if you have a medical or
family emergency at the end of the semester that prevents you from submitting your assignments by the final due
date(s). If such an emergency occurs, follow the above “Medical and Family Emergencies” policy.

Sex-Based Misconduct Policy and Procedure:

Pace University is committed to providing a safe environment for every member of its community and to ensuring that
no student, faculty or staff member is excluded from participation in or denied the benefits of any University program or
activity on the basis of sex. Accordingly, the University prohibits the following forms of Sex-Based Misconduct: sexual
assault, sexual harassment, gender-based harassment, dating violence, domestic violence, sexual exploitation and
stalking.

Instructors are a non-confidential resource and have an obligation to report any information about sexual assault with
Ms. Lisa Miles, Executive Director of Institutional Equity and Title IX Coordinator (163 Williams Street, Room 1017, 212-
346-1310, [email protected]). The Title IX/Affirmative Action Office is responsible for investigating violations of the
sexual misconduct policy. For more information about the Pace University sexual misconduct policy, see the Sex-Based
Misconduct Policy and Procedure (PDF).

Members of the University community who believe that they have been subjected to Sex-Based Misconduct are
encouraged to report such incidents to the University and, where applicable, to local law enforcement. Confidential
resources include the University Counseling Centers, Offices of Sexual and Interpersonal Wellness and University
Healthcare. Contact information for those offices may be found in the self-care section below.

Self-Care:

Your academic success in this course and throughout your college career depends heavily on your personal health and
well-being. Stress is a common part of the college experience, and it often can be compounded by unexpected life
changes outside the classroom. The Pace Community strongly encourages you to take care of yourself throughout the
term, before the demands of midterms and finals reach their peak. Please feel free to talk with me about any difficulty
you may be having that may impact your performance in this course as soon as it occurs and before it becomes
unmanageable. Please know there are a number of other support services on campus that stand ready to assist you. I
strongly encourage you to contact them when needed.

Department Pleasantville New York City

Counseling Center 914-773-3710 212-346-1526

Dean for Students Office 914-773-3351 212-346-1306

Health Care Unit 914-773-3760 212-346-1600

Residential Life 914-923-2791 212-346-1295

Student Development and Campus Activities 914-773-3861 212-346-1590

Office of Multicultural Affairs & Diversity Programs 914-773-3775 212-346-1563

Sexual Assault Prevention & Education 914-597-8783 212-346-1931

Academic Advisement

Advising Center for Exploring Majors 914-773-3847 212-346-1798

College of Health Professions 914-773-3961 914-773-3552

Dyson College 914-773-3781 212-346-1518

International Student / Scholars 914-773-3425 212-346-1368

Lubin School of Business 914-773-3531 212-618-6550

Pforzheimer Honors College 914-773-3941 212-346-1697

Seidenberg School 914-773-3254 212-346-1864

Study Abroad 914-773-3447 212-346-1368