106-421 Advanced Theatre/Performance Writing

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in English and successful completion of either 106-027 Writing Scripts or 106-091 Writing for Performance or folio.

In this subject, students will write a script for theatre/performance to professional workshopping standard. All aspects of this will be discussed and workshopped each week. Development of crafting, writing and creative/critical thinking skills will be developed through discussions, lectures, guest speakers and feedback from teachers and students presenting to each other in small groups or to the whole group. You will, in this way, develop and extend cooperation and collaboration abilities. Each week you will discuss readings from the Subject Reader and Recommended Reading List in either lecture, guest speaker, video or student-led tutorial format. The subject will include: studying theories and strategies on craft from writings of Egri, McKee, Hatcher, etc.; the history of theatre and performance both locally (eg. Pram Factory, La Mama, Melbourne Women's Theatre Group), nationally (eg. Nimrod, New Wave) and internationally (Stanislavsky, Brook, development of performance art); regular student presentation of short excerpts from classic theatre or performance texts. This familiarity with plays and playwrights will be extended through the requirement that students attend at least two live performances and write a 500 word review of each as part of their assessment. Each week students will bring material to share with the group for a professional file eg. funding opportunities, grant applications etc. It is envisaged that invited guest speakers from Arts Victoria and/or Australia Council will discuss funding and grant application procedures. We will also have invited guests from theatre companies eg. Melbourne Worker's Theatre, Ilbijerri Indigenous Theatre.

• develop public speaking skills through extensive presentation of work-in-progress during workshops and in public presentation;

• develop and expand understanding of, and access to, creative processes and abilities in a focused and confident way;

• demonstrate an ability to use research and theoretical material practically, conceptually and creatively;

• gain an understanding of the effects of gender, indigeneiety and ethnicity and the ways in which they relate to social, ethical and cultural contexts and thus gain practical insights into the politics of representation.

Attendance at two live theatre performances followed by the submission of two critical reviews of 500 words one for each performance 10 (due mid-semester and at the end of semester), a 10-15 minute script of 4000 words crafted and formatted to professional production standard 70 (due at the end of semester) and class participation 10. Students are required to attend a minimum of 80 of seminars/workshops in order to qualify to have their written work assessed.

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.