THA 181 - Play Production

3 credit hours - One hour of lecture and four hours of laboratory weekly; one term.
Participate on one of the crews of a fully realized theatrical production and explore a non-profit theatre company’s production process. Ascertain a production’s needs, generate a plan to complete your crew’s requirements, and operate the technical aspects of the performances in a safe, feasible, and punctual time line prior to the opening performance. Course may be repeated up to three times with different content (repeat credits may not transfer). Permission of department chair needed to repeat this course. Repeated course will appear on student records as THA 181, THA 182 and THA 183 and will not be considered a general education humanities course.

Note: Industry and four-year university standards require students to work on different tasks such as management, scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, projections, and other potential professional disciplines. In accordance with those standards, each semester’s production will focus on a variety of these tasks.

Students must commit to time outside of class for rehearsals, build calls, production meetings, and performances outside of regular class time. Students are encouraged to meet with the instructor prior to enrolling to identify scheduling conflicts. Typically offered at MC; fall and spring terms.

Course Outcomes:

Describe and apply proper safety procedures and equipment in a theatrical production environment.
Deduce a production’s needs from both its script and production design, and determine the feasibility of realizing them onstage in front of a live audience.
Describe all, and produce at least one, of the standard production disciplines of theatrical production, including, but not limited to, stage and production management, scenery, props, lighting, sound, costumes, and/or projections.
Appraise available personnel, time, and physical and financial resources, and formulate an action plan for one or multiple standard production disciplines based on that appraisal.
Improvise solutions to challenges that arise with scant time to develop and test multiple strategies.
Evaluate the success or failure of a theatrical production’s technical aspects in order to inform future decision-making.