• Building upon the foundations of Directing I and II, Theat461 is the capstone directing course of the department. As with the previous two directing courses, the workshop environment is designed to provide the student-director with a high level of experimentation in solving advanced problems.

• The overriding objective of Performance III: Directing is to develop skills in directing non-realistic theatre. Whereas Directing II was focused on gaining confidence in directing representational, realistic theatre, Directing III focuses exclusively on gaining skills and confidence in directing presentational, stylistic performances.

• Since acting and directing are inextricably related disciplines, Performance III: Directing is scheduled at the same time as Performance III: Acting in order to provide mutually beneficial training opportunities for both acting and directing students. At times the Directing and Acting classes will be held separately, but frequently they will be brought together to experiment with mutually challenging director/actor, collaborative exercises. Simultaneous scheduling provides both the acting and directing students of Performance III with a highly practical, experientially based, learning laboratory.

• Our primary training strategy for cultivating creative approaches to non-realistic theatre is via mask characterization. Both directors and actors will experiment extensively with neutral masks, life masks, and character masks. By experimenting with masks themselves, directors will come to realize the vast potential of mask training, learning for example, that masks:

1. help actors break out of their own personal rhythms and centers, expand preconceptions about a role

2. stimulate physical imagination

3. (and) bring greater variety to a character.

• Covering the face enables actors to hide from their individual persona, and temporarily separated from their own identify they and their directors can access new realms of inspiration. Having something to hide behind means, paradoxically, that they have no longer need to hide and can therefore take greater risks. Instead of imitating life in behavioral terms, mask characterization allows actors and directors to find very powerful dramatic expression.

• More than any other approach, mask work helps to jump start and sustain the student director's stylistic imagination. In many ways mask work is a follow through of the Silent scene and “Brecht Test” approach of Directing I that was designed to sharpen visual skills and avoid the “talking heads” syndrome.