Transforming Text

This course is open to the Institute by Permission of Instructor on Course Advising Day. This class considers the conceptual and practical aspects of adapting existing texts (whether from drama or literature) when using puppets or performing objects as integral elements in a theatrical work. This collaboration is essential in the development of new work for that incorporates puppets or objects, as the puppet serves a double use as both an element of the design and as a performing object/actor. While conceiving and designing these objects as a part of the dramaturgical approach, students will examine the ways in which the use of puppets can unlock a text or create a world. Through viewings and assignments, students will explore issues such as scale, doubling, ambiguity, the use of metaphor, and the relationship of actor to puppet, while examining the historical use of the performing object as an essential theatrical tool of the avant-garde.