Spring 2026 Course Search

Malicious Compliance, or The Canterbury Tales — LIT2580.01

Instructor: Manuel Gonzales
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

According to "All Englang," Joan Acocella's essay in The New Yorker, Geoffery Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, "was the freshest, clearest, and sweetest of the great English poets." She goes on to say that, living in the 14th century, he was also perhaps the first great English poet. Still.

Projects in Translation — LIT4606.01

Instructor: Mariam Rahmani
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

This intensive advanced translation workshop focuses on student work. Meant for those who have taken Ethical Translation and learned the nuts and bolts of translation there – or otherwise have translation and/or extensive foreign language experience – here we dig into your longer translation projects. The aim of the course is to leave with a polished translation that is worthy of publication and a general audience.

An Actor’s Technique: Nuts and Bolts — DRA4127.01

Instructor: Shawtane Bowen
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

How do actors bridge the gap between themselves and the role they are playing? How do actors rehearse with other actors in order to explore the world of the play? 

This non-performance based class is designed to help individual actors discover their own organic, thorough rehearsal process. Step by step we will clarify the actor’s process: character research, character exploration, text analysis, identifying actions, working with scene partners, emotional preparation, and scene presentation. 

Advanced Dramaturgy — DRA4190.01

Instructor: Maya Cantu
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

The dramaturg serves as a powerful medium in the theatre. They bridge the past and the present, the creative team and the audience, while providing critical generosity and historical and literary insight. Focusing upon the practical application of dramaturgy, this course will offer students a credited platform for dramaturgical work oriented toward production.

The Living Play — DRA2387.01

Instructor: Abe Koogler
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

This course is designed for new (or new-ish) playwrights, although more experienced playwrights who want to dig into the fundamentals are also welcome. We will focus on eight essential elements of playwriting craft: character, language, subtext, power, place, theatricality, surprise, and an elusive element called the gap. We will experiment with a variety of ways to start a play, and we will gain a greater understanding of our own individual creative methods and routines.

Reading and Writing: the Personal Essay — LIT4617.01

Instructor: Jo Ann Beard
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

The essay is an intellectual and an artistic endeavor, and work in the form means work in thinking—about life, values, our own ideas and the ideas of others. Good personal essays entertain, inform and move us through the rendering of, and reflection over, our own life experiences. Essays and stories by artists such as Virginia Woolf, E. B. White, Daniel Orozco, Annie Dillard, Alexander Chee, Alice Walker, and James Baldwin will provide students with a foundation for approaching and understanding their own stories.