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The differences between MFA and PhD degrees in Theatre, detailing the requirements and expectations for each degree track. Topics include production and theatre studies, research and scholarly activities, vocal and physical training, and related production design areas.
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California State University, Stanislaus Department of Theatre Elaborations URPTC Approved effective Fall 2018
Retention, Promotion, and Tenure Criteria Elaborations
Revised by Department Committee 5/14/
The California State University, Stanislaus Theatre Department recognizes and endorses the dual teacher/creative artist role of our faculty. Exemplary teaching is recognized as the primary consideration in Retention, Promotion and Tenure (RPT). Research, scholarship, creative endeavors, and service to the University and community-at-large are also considered important aspects of RPT particularly as they contribute to the goal of excellence in teaching.
The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree is the appropriate terminal degree for faculty appointments related to creative/production activities involved in the public performance of theatrical events; while, the PhD is the requisite degree for faculty appointments related to theatre history, performance studies, and dramaturgical research activities involved in advancing general or specific knowledge of the field in the academy.
II. TEACHING
As teaching is recognized as the primary consideration in Retention, Promotion and Tenure the expectation for departmental faculty involved in the RPT process will be to engage in both formal and informal teaching methods. Formal teaching encompasses traditional lecture and studio classes, seminars, laboratories, and independent studies. Informal teaching encompasses interaction with students in production-based work including studios, rehearsals and performances, as well as advising, coaching, designing, directing and mentoring on an ongoing basis.
Formal teaching methods evaluation include:
Informal teaching methods evaluation include:
Theatre is both a collaborative and an ephemeral art. Performance is the conclusion of an integrated process entailing direction, dramaturgy, acting, scenic, costume, lighting and sound design, technical direction, choreography, scenic artistry, and production and stage management. Playwriting and historical/technical research are also included among these activities. The resulting achievement, a live performance, exists only in the moment; its documentation (apart from immediate witness) is necessarily retrospective and only suggestive of the quality of the performance itself. When evaluating the production-based creative work of a candidate for promotion and/or tenure, the Department appreciates that the candidate’s contributions are legitimately assessed both in the creative process leading up to public performance, but also in the context of the success of the production as a whole. The candidate’s work need not invariably be singled out in reviews and other documentation in order to be credited for the success of the ensemble. The candidate’s research, scholarly, and creative activities may follow one of two tracks or a combination of both; track 1 is Production, track 2 is Theatre Studies.
Vigorous participation in departmental theatrical productions is a normal mode of creative expression for theatre artists in the academy and is considered a form of research and creative activity. Significant research is required in the processes of design, production, performance, and direction; with the communication of the results of this research embodied in the theatrical performance itself. The creative process is documented by the visual record of the production and by the graphics and organizational materials prepared in the planning of the production, which may include the following based on area of specialization:
While faculty are appointed based on a specific area of interest and departmental need (either Production or Theatre Studies) the theatre department accepts and encourages but sets no expectations with regard to how the candidate may be involved in activities from both areas. The submitted dossier may reflect both creative and scholarly pursuits as defined above.
In addition to Department, College and University committee assignments, the Theatre Department views the following activities to be significant University, Department, and Community service:
B. Literature and History
The costume designer is an artist who designs the costumes that enhance a given production in general and characterization in particular. The designs should also enhance or harmonize with the other visual elements such as scenery and lighting.
The range of proficiency typically required of a costume designer includes:
A. Production Expertise
B. Literature and History
The lighting designer is an artist who designs the theatrical lighting for productions. Theatrical lighting should express the lighting designer’s visual interpretation of the production and support, reinforce and enhance the artistic statements of the other members of the production team.
Lighting is a combination of artistic work and technical knowledge and ability. Traits exhibited by individuals usually include both of these areas, but in wide variance. Many excellent lighting designers know or attribute little importance to technical details leaving that work to electricians. Other lighting designers have a highly technical background and organize many or all of the technical details themselves, considering that to be an important part of the lighting design process.
The range of proficiency typically required or the lighting designer includes:
A. Production Expertise
B. Literature and History
The technical director is an artisan/scholar/teacher charged with directing the technical aspects of a theatre’s production operation. The technical director typically oversees the work of staff, student, and volunteer technicians, and sometimes student designers. Thus, the technical director must be evaluated as both a practicing technician and an administrator.
Though individuals vary greatly in their depth or knowledge and ability in any one area, the range of proficiency typically required of the technical director includes:
A. Production Expertise
B. Literature and History
The stage director is an artist who is responsible for preparing a theatre production for public performance by researching, casting, rehearsing, staging, collaborating with designers and the production team, and managing the time and (in some cases) the budget. The director develops the stylistic interpretation of the drama unique to the production in collaboration with the acting and production ensemble. The production should be accessible to the audience.
Though accomplished stage directors vary greatly in their depth of knowledge and ability in any one area, the range of proficiency typically required of the stage director includes:
A. Production Expertise
B. Literature and History
and style, textual analysis and interpretation, public address and interview skills, vocal design and its application to theatrical or musical production.
B. Literature and History
The movement specialist is an artist who is responsible for training and coaching students and/or professional performers in the use of the physical body for theatre performance. The movement specialist’s job is to foster artistic growth, personal freedom, and safe and respectful exploration of the physical components of communication, and effective, efficient motion. Within his or her own unique expertise, specialists practice creativity and freedom of expression; empower students/clients, themselves and the organization; promote research into related fields. To achieve these objectives movement specialists will employ reasonable and accepted practices such as: visual demonstration and modeling, physical contact, written text, observation, and discussions that foster understanding.
The movement specialist’s work with students/performers in production includes, but is not limited to: (1) Collaborating with the director and production staff to design a unique physical life for a production and a work process for the movement coach and or choreographer; (2) Creating a process for the performing artist in which they create, enter and inhabit the internal and external elements of a performance space; (3) Assisting in the ability of a physical instrument to maintain freedom from tension, vivid expression, a released and aligned vertical silhouette, and remain responsive to the world of the script while demonstrating specific physical character dynamics implementing the imagination; (4) Coaching the physical and experiential crafting of a specific character life involving physical, vocal, and experiential choices that are related to the character, not the performer, including: rhythm, tempo, styles, strength and articulate character definition, and choreography; and (5) Developing a warm up process specifically designed to address the demands of the rehearsal period and the production.
The movement specialist may also be engaged in: (1) Consultations with professional artists, teachers, and other professionals from all walks of life in the public sector; (2) Direction and/or creation of dramatic works, performance pieces of original work; (3) Teaching of other approaches to performance including: acting, musical theatre, singing or performing in film, television or broadcast media, vocal approaches to character and style, textual analysis and interpretation; and (4) Research and scholarship including, but not limited to, historical investigations, pedagogical advances, and performance reviews. Though accomplished movement specialists vary greatly in their depth of knowledge and ability in any one area, the range of proficiency typically required of the movement specialist includes:
A. Production Expertise