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Senior Project:

The Senior Project is an Independent Study in which you incorporate what you have
learned about theatre and theatre performance within your studies in the Actor
Training Program. It is to be created primarily on your own. While the faculty allow
you to potentially write your own project, the overriding goals of the project are to
effectively demonstrate key elements of your work you have developed in the ATP.
These key elements your faculty wish to see exemplified are:

1. An interactive, imaginative, visceral, and objective-oriented approach to


acting.
2. An expressive, informed, and flexible use of voice and speech, incorporating
either contemporary or classical text work.
3. Movement that demonstrates physical self-use that is healthy and
responsive, and also shows an awareness of physical expressivity and / or
transformation. (Any physicality involving stage combat or weapon-based
work - “found” weapons or traditional - will require the oversight of Chris
DuVal).

Written Proposal:
1. What form will your Senior Project take? (Self-written, monologues, a one-act,
etc…)
2. Why this project? What do you hope to learn? What are the primary questions
that working on this project addresses in your continued training? How does this
Senior Project address your continued learning?
3. In what ways are you planning to work on it? Will it be a collaborative effort
between you and another member of class? What research - if any - will take
place? In what ways will you incorporate what you have learned in the ATP - and
how?
4. What aspects of your studies in the ATP will be explored within the Senior
Project? If you are interested in a movement-based piece, there must also be a
textual component. We are interested in your application of voice, movement, text,
dialect, acting, Shakespeare, styles - in your work. How those pieces come together
and what exactly you include are open for you to investigate and propose - but know
that we are evaluating your proposal partially based on how you are able to
incorporate multiple aspects of your training in the ATP.

Faculty Mentorship:
The entire ATP faculty will serve as mentors for each project and they will each
provide feedback, following specific rehearsals observed by individual faculty:

1. Each faculty member (Chris, Sarah, Scott, Jerry) will be invited by you to see
1 or 2 rehearsals and / or will be invited into a meeting to discuss your
project. The Head of the ATP will coordinate with you to ensure times are
scheduled in which your faculty members will be invited into your process.
2. Faculty members will focus – but not limit - their feedback on the following
areas of expertise:
a. Sarah (Acting / Voice / Speech)
b. Chris (Acting / Stage Combat / Voice)
c. Jerry (Movement / Acting / Devising Approaches)
d. Scott (Acting / Movement / Devising Approaches)

Required Running Times:


1. One person: 20 – 30 minutes
2. Two people: 30 – 40 minutes
3. Three or more people: 45 – 90 minutes

Suggestions for Types of Piece:


1. A one-person show – either self-written or extant. (In the case of a self-
written piece, your faculty will determine if the text, style, and themes of the
project will fulfill the requirements of the Senior Project. While we encourage
you to develop work that compels you artistically, the goal of the project is to
demonstrate “character”-based work that has its foundation in a theatrically-
based and imaginative construct, rather than biographical or as a therapeutic
revealing of your personal life. The work can and should be personal, however,
we are interested in your personality being applied to character-based thought
and action. As is evident throughout all your ATP studies, the Senior Project is
simply a continuation and summation of the work – which is about applying
your uniqueness as artists within imaginary circumstances for the purpose of
theatrical story-telling. See “Overview” above for an additional review of the
goals we are requiring).
2. A collection of scenes that expand your acting / movement / voice / text
vocabularies in unique ways.
3. One act plays.
4. One act of a play.
5. A collection of monologues put together around a theme – war, love, despair,
death, hope for the future, etc.
6. A collection of different writings – poetry, prose, and monologues –
artistically organized to explore a theme.
7. The piece may contain music/singing and movement but it should be
predominantly text-based.
8. All performed material (including textual and physical work) must be new
for you, rather than material you have previously performed in class or in
production.

Technical Specifications:
1. Lights up and lights down.
2. Furniture and costumes that you can find yourself without going to Props or
Costume staff, faculty, or students.
3. If you make a sound track then you need to have a classmate operate it.
4. If you need a piano and player it is your responsibility to organize it.
At the completion of your Senior Project, each student will have an Exit Interview to
discuss the project, the goals accomplished, and future work to be developed and
explored.

Exit Interview Requirements:


Graduating BFA candidate seniors will have an exit interview with the ATP faculty
where they will be given - in advance - two questions:

1. The first question asks the student to discuss, summarize, and self-evaluate
their creative and academic experiences (both inside and outside the
department) during their candidacy within the BFA Program.
2. The second question asks the student to address their goals and objectives
for the future.

This exit interview will be reflected in the student’s ATP Lab grade within their final
semester in residence.

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