PMA 3885 - Stage Combat: Technique, Staging, Analysis

(LA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Permission of instructor required.

T. Black.

This course explores stage combat as a unique form of dramatic storytelling. Students learn fundamental techniques of stage combat (armed and unarmed) while exploring stage combat as embodied knowledge. Building upon fundamentals from acting and directing courses, students will engage with dramatic texts and improvised scenarios to consider interpretive choices around enacted violence. Through research, readings and viewings from across performance history, students will discover that combat choreography incorporates all essential elements of theatre: theme, plot, character, rhythm, language and spectacle. Research assignments will also demonstrate the intersections and changing representations of identity roles in relation to “winner” and “loser” in stage combat. All techniques taught/performed under SAFD safety guidelines. (EP)