Theatre+Performance

Programme Information

Duration: 3 Years

Award: BA(Hons) Theatre and Performance

This programme is one of very few undergraduate programmes that offer a comprehensive grounding in all the elements essential to the development of creative leaders in the theatre and entertainment industry. It is catered for those who do not want to be onstage, backstage, or work in theatre administration.

There are five career roles offered as programme specialisms: Director, Playwright, Dramaturge, Theatre Critic, and Drama Facilitator. These all require the same wide understanding of history, culture, performance, dramatic structure, and more. For most of the programme, you are required to learn the procedures and terminology used in all five possible career paths. Mastering any one of these roles is not expected, but this exposure allows you to find your strengths, address your weaknesses, and develop your special interests.

At every stage, you are encouraged to direct, interact, and collaborate with fellow programme members and with students from other Performing Arts programmes, as LASALLE believes in collaboration and the importance of all contributing voices in the theatre-making process. You will be assigned to key roles on faculty productions, and will collaborate with fellow students and staff on a performance event. You will also have internships and industrial attachments as an assistant to professionals. In the final year, you can select a particular career path and grow specialist skills through personalised guidance from dedicated theatre professionals. Upon graduation, you will possess a substantial portfolio of realised work and paper projects, employable in the performing arts industry and equipped with the ability to initiate your own productions.

Level 1 introduces a range of key performance techniques and genres, covering the breadth of theatre and performance, rather than in depth. At Level 2, the range and scope of practice increases along with depth of selected practices. You will go through workshop and practical lessons in traditional art forms alongside techniques of contemporary performance, plus industrial attachments to a local theatre company, or a residential artist/group in the college. At Level 3, you learn about the practical, theoretical, and intellectual basis for intercultural practices and independent work. You are also responsible for the submission of a thesis assignment that critically traces and assesses the final year specialist project.

Teaching Methods: You will learn through a mix of seminars, practical presentations, master classes and practical classes.

Assessments: Assessment is an integral part of the learning process, and will be formative and diagnostic as well as summative and evaluative, providing feedback to students wherever appropriate. Read more about assessments here.

Placement learning is where students are offered opportunities to experience learning outside the classroom in real-life working environments or in approved partner institutions. Read more about placement learning here.

Modules

Level 1

Theatre Structures 1
This module broadly traces the main developments of world theatre from its early origins through to contemporary practice. This module seeks to provide a basis for your studies in theatre throughout the programme, through an exploration of theatre structures within their historical contexts.

The three components in this theoretical module are:

• History – Form, Style and Genre
• Architecture – Space, Actor-Audience Relationship
• History of Dramatic Literature

Performance, Theory and Analysis 1
Students are introduced to basic dramaturgical models for theatre production alongside the study of basic analytic tools for the discussion of theatre-making and theatre-watching.

The two components in this theoretical module are:

• The Field of Drama – Signs and Tools of Analysis (Semester 1)
• Performance Theories and Practices (Semester 2)

Dramatic Composition 1
This module complements the analysis of text and performance undertaken in Performance, Theory and Analysis by applying your observations and discoveries to your own practical work.

The two components in this practical module are:

• Dramatic Structures
• Dramatic Literature

Performance Practice
In this module, you begin to acquire basic skills necessary for theatre-making. Key methodologies and practitioners of the 20th Century (those taught in Theatre Structures 1 and Performance, Theory and Analysis 1) are examined through practical sessions and presentations.

The three components in this practical module are:

• Theatre-making
• Directing, Design and Actor Process
• Five Practices

Level 2

Theatre Structures 2
This module recapitulates definitions of Theatre Structures and, within a historical context, further determines manifestations of genre, style and form. This module compares both traditional and contemporary forms of theatre, and examines the impact of contemporary social, political, cultural and artistic conditions on performance theory and performance practice.

Dramatic Composition 2
This module augments the Level 1 module by further developing analytical and writing skills in structural and post-structural compositions used in traditional and contemporary drama.

The two components in this practical module are:

• Dramatic Structures: Composing and Devising – Traditional and Contemporary
• Dramatic Literature: Traditional and Contemporary

Performance, Theory and Analysis 2
This module focuses first on traditional theatres and the available resources and theoretical models that may help you to analyse a traditional performance. You then consider how these models have been incorporated into traditional theatre-making and later reflected in modern and contemporary forms of performance.

The two components in this theoretical module are:

• Traditional Drama (Semester 1)
• Contemporary Performance (Semester 2)

Traditional Theatre Practices
This module complements and applies the theory taught in Theatre Structures 2 and Performance, Theory and Analysis 2. It teaches through practice-based training, devising workshops, researching, and directing studio work with actors.

The two components in this practical module are:

• Workshops, Master classes and Training
• Practiced-based Research and Self-evaluation

Contemporary Theatre Practices
This module draws on work undertaken in Performance, Theory and Analysis 2 and Theatre Structures 2, and applies ideas and forms in practice-based workshops and laboratory. You will apply your directing, critical and dramaturgical skills through studio work with actors, under guidance from a professional theatre director.

The three components in this practical module are:

• Practical Application
• Practiced-based Research and Self-evaluation
• Student-devised Staging

Career Management
Learning how to manage and market your own talents and resources is as crucial as managing and marketing any performed event. This module provides you with the knowledge and skills to support your continued growth and exploration, and the advancement of understanding of professional theatre.

The two components in this module are:

• Marketing and Management
• Career skills – Proposals, Portfolio, CV and Interviews

Level 3

Theatre Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of mankind; asking questions like "What defines human life and society?". This module begins with the simple but highly debated question/premise – "What is Performance?" and examines the implications of the coinage of 'Theatre Anthropology'. You are then asked to be anthropologists and to expand and apply your knowledge of performance theories and practices learned in the last two years into examining local context and its relationship with the global.

The three components in this theoretical module are:

• Theatre Anthropology and Critical Theory
• Anthropological Study of Cultural Performances
• Intercultural Theatre Theory

Intercultural Practice: Research and Production
Cultural boundaries are continuously crossed and blurred in our contemporary world and this module allows students to experience such cross-cultural negotiations and tensions in theatre-making. The theories and practices examined in Theatre Anthropology are applied in practical exercises.

The two components in this module are:

• Intercultural Practice and Research
• Practical Production

Theatre Production and Management
This module provides you with advanced practical knowledge and production skills and advances your understanding of professional practice. You study the production management processes of selected contemporary theatre companies in Singapore and elsewhere. You plan production schedules, learn how to maximise use of funds and plan, and implement staging strategies.

The two components in this module are:

• Producing and Production Management
• Production-in-Practice in Student Productions

Specialisation Project: Research and Production
This module accelerates your development with expectations of high standards and public exposure. You will create a final performance project and its follow through analysis, and these comprise the major research platforms for the degree. In supervised work, you address a cultural, social, or aesthetical issue through a work specially created or uniquely interpreted by you.

The two components in this module are:

• Final Performance Project
• Research and Development

Faculty Members

Programme Co-ordinator, Theatre+Performance
Elizabeth de Roza

• MA Fine Arts, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
• BA (Communication Theatre & Drama Studies), Murdoch University, Australia

Elizabeth de Roza works under the genre of performance as a performer, director and solo artist. Her work draws from contemporary performance practices on notions of hybridity, interactivity and cross-disciplinary. Her training in performance making, draws from traditional Asian theatrical training/performing methods and contemporary practices. Over the last five years with the support of The Substation's Associate Artists Scheme, she has been invited to present her solo works and working methodology at the International Magdalena Theatre Festivals; Rhode Island USA (2005), Singapore, (2006) Santa Clara, Cuba (2008), Transit – Odin, Denmark (2009) and Vertice Brasilia (2010). She was also invited to present her work at the 18th International Theatre Laboratory in Lugano, Switzerland organised by Teatro delle Radici in 2006. She presented a performance installation exhibition, "Un-written" in Belgrade, Serbia in "Real Presence 2008" and attended and presented a performance cum lecture, "The Karang Guni Man imagines Utopia" at the 15th Performance Studies International (2009) in Zagreb, Croatia. presented an interactive performance at Contemporary Theatre Festival in Myanmar (2010), organized by Theatre of the disturbed & Alliance Frances. She is also the founding-member of a physical performance group THEATRESTRAYS and holds a MA, Fine Arts from LASALLE.

Entry Requirements

Academic Requirements

• Completed High School (Grade 12), Junior College or Pre-University education.
• Recognised Singapore qualification: Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' Level: Minimum 'Pass' in 2 subjects + General Paper or recognised equivalent.
• Recognised international qualifications: Please click here to view list.

Note:

• Additional subject requirement of Physics or Mathematics with a minimum 'Pass' or recognised equivalent.
• Alternative English qualification: IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL iBT80.

PORTFOLIOS & INTERVIEW REQUIREMENTS

• Evidence of theatre practice, study or work, including one direction / design concept of a chosen play.
• Include a statement on your artistic background, production involvement, and motivation to study theatre. You may include your performing experience, theatre-going, writing for performance, directing/choreographing group presentations or backstage work experience. In your statement, attention should be given to both the initial concept and the eventual result.

Programme Information

Duration: 3 Years

Awards: BA(Hons) Theatre and Performance

This programme is one of very few undergraduate programmes that offer a comprehensive grounding in all the elements essential to the development of creative leaders in the theatre and entertainment industry. It is catered for those who do not want to be onstage, backstage, or work in theatre administration.

There are five career roles offered as programme specialisms: Director, Playwright, Dramaturge, Theatre Critic, and Drama Facilitator. These all require the same wide understanding of history, culture, performance, dramatic structure, and more. For most of the programme, you are required to learn the procedures and terminology used in all five possible career paths. Mastering any one of these roles is not expected, but this exposure allows you to find your strengths, address your weaknesses, and develop your special interests.

At every stage, you are encouraged to direct, interact, and collaborate with fellow programme members and with students from other Performing Arts programmes, as LASALLE believes in collaboration and the importance of all contributing voices in the theatre-making process. You will be assigned to key roles on faculty productions, and will collaborate with fellow students and staff on a performance event. You will also have internships and industrial attachments as an assistant to professionals. In the final year, you can select a particular career path and grow specialist skills through personalised guidance from dedicated theatre professionals. Upon graduation, you will possess a substantial portfolio of realised work and paper projects, employable in the performing arts industry and equipped with the ability to initiate your own productions.

Level 1 introduces a range of key performance techniques and genres, covering the breadth of theatre and performance, rather than in depth. At Level 2, the range and scope of practice increases along with depth of selected practices. You will go through workshop and practical lessons in traditional art forms alongside techniques of contemporary performance, plus industrial attachments to a local theatre company, or a residential artist/group in the college. At Level 3, you learn about the practical, theoretical, and intellectual basis for intercultural practices and independent work. You are also responsible for the submission of a thesis assignment that critically traces and assesses the final year specialist project.

Teaching Methods: You will learn through a mix of seminars, practical presentations, master classes and practical classes.

Assessments: Assessment is an integral part of the learning process, and will be formative and diagnostic as well as summative and evaluative, providing feedback to students wherever appropriate. Read more about assessments here.

Placement learning is where students are offered opportunities to experience learning outside the classroom in real-life working environments or in approved partner institutions. Read more about placement learning here.

Modules

Level 1

Theatre Structures 1
This module broadly traces the main developments of world theatre from its early origins through to contemporary practice. This module seeks to provide a basis for your studies in theatre throughout the programme, through an exploration of theatre structures within their historical contexts.

The three components in this theoretical module are:

• History – Form, Style and Genre
• Architecture – Space, Actor-Audience Relationship
• History of Dramatic Literature

Performance, Theory and Analysis 1
Students are introduced to basic dramaturgical models for theatre production alongside the study of basic analytic tools for the discussion of theatre-making and theatre-watching.

The two components in this theoretical module are:

• The Field of Drama – Signs and Tools of Analysis (Semester 1)
• Performance Theories and Practices (Semester 2)

Dramatic Composition 1
This module complements the analysis of text and performance undertaken in Performance, Theory and Analysis by applying your observations and discoveries to your own practical work.

The two components in this practical module are:

• Dramatic Structures
• Dramatic Literature

Performance Practice
In this module, you begin to acquire basic skills necessary for theatre-making. Key methodologies and practitioners of the 20th Century (those taught in Theatre Structures 1 and Performance, Theory and Analysis 1) are examined through practical sessions and presentations.

The three components in this practical module are:

• Theatre-making
• Directing, Design and Actor Process
• Five Practices

Level 2

Theatre Structures 2
This module recapitulates definitions of Theatre Structures and, within a historical context, further determines manifestations of genre, style and form. This module compares both traditional and contemporary forms of theatre, and examines the impact of contemporary social, political, cultural and artistic conditions on performance theory and performance practice.

Dramatic Composition 2
This module augments the Level 1 module by further developing analytical and writing skills in structural and post-structural compositions used in traditional and contemporary drama.

The two components in this practical module are:

• Dramatic Structures: Composing and Devising – Traditional and Contemporary
• Dramatic Literature: Traditional and Contemporary

Performance, Theory and Analysis 2
This module focuses first on traditional theatres and the available resources and theoretical models that may help you to analyse a traditional performance. You then consider how these models have been incorporated into traditional theatre-making and later reflected in modern and contemporary forms of performance.

The two components in this theoretical module are:

• Traditional Drama (Semester 1)
• Contemporary Performance (Semester 2)

Traditional Theatre Practices
This module complements and applies the theory taught in Theatre Structures 2 and Performance, Theory and Analysis 2. It teaches through practice-based training, devising workshops, researching, and directing studio work with actors.

The two components in this practical module are:

• Workshops, Master classes and Training
• Practiced-based Research and Self-evaluation

Contemporary Theatre Practices
This module draws on work undertaken in Performance, Theory and Analysis 2 and Theatre Structures 2, and applies ideas and forms in practice-based workshops and laboratory. You will apply your directing, critical and dramaturgical skills through studio work with actors, under guidance from a professional theatre director.

The three components in this practical module are:

• Practical Application
• Practiced-based Research and Self-evaluation
• Student-devised Staging

Career Management
Learning how to manage and market your own talents and resources is as crucial as managing and marketing any performed event. This module provides you with the knowledge and skills to support your continued growth and exploration, and the advancement of understanding of professional theatre.

The two components in this module are:

• Marketing and Management
• Career skills – Proposals, Portfolio, CV and Interviews

Level 3

Theatre Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of mankind; asking questions like "What defines human life and society?". This module begins with the simple but highly debated question/premise – "What is Performance?" and examines the implications of the coinage of 'Theatre Anthropology'. You are then asked to be anthropologists and to expand and apply your knowledge of performance theories and practices learned in the last two years into examining local context and its relationship with the global.

The three components in this theoretical module are:

• Theatre Anthropology and Critical Theory
• Anthropological Study of Cultural Performances
• Intercultural Theatre Theory

Intercultural Practice: Research and Production
Cultural boundaries are continuously crossed and blurred in our contemporary world and this module allows students to experience such cross-cultural negotiations and tensions in theatre-making. The theories and practices examined in Theatre Anthropology are applied in practical exercises.

The two components in this module are:

• Intercultural Practice and Research
• Practical Production

Theatre Production and Management
This module provides you with advanced practical knowledge and production skills and advances your understanding of professional practice. You study the production management processes of selected contemporary theatre companies in Singapore and elsewhere. You plan production schedules, learn how to maximise use of funds and plan, and implement staging strategies.

The two components in this module are:

• Producing and Production Management
• Production-in-Practice in Student Productions

Specialisation Project: Research and Production
This module accelerates your development with expectations of high standards and public exposure. You will create a final performance project and its follow through analysis, and these comprise the major research platforms for the degree. In supervised work, you address a cultural, social, or aesthetical issue through a work specially created or uniquely interpreted by you.

The two components in this module are:

• Final Performance Project
• Research and Development

Faculty Members

Programme Co-ordinator, Theatre+Performance
Elizabeth de Roza

• MA Fine Arts, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
• BA (Communication Theatre & Drama Studies), Murdoch University, Australia

Elizabeth de Roza works under the genre of performance as a performer, director and solo artist. Her work draws from contemporary performance practices on notions of hybridity, interactivity and cross-disciplinary. Her training in performance making, draws from traditional Asian theatrical training/performing methods and contemporary practices. Over the last five years with the support of The Substation's Associate Artists Scheme, she has been invited to present her solo works and working methodology at the International Magdalena Theatre Festivals; Rhode Island USA (2005), Singapore, (2006) Santa Clara, Cuba (2008), Transit – Odin, Denmark (2009) and Vertice Brasilia (2010). She was also invited to present her work at the 18th International Theatre Laboratory in Lugano, Switzerland organised by Teatro delle Radici in 2006. She presented a performance installation exhibition, "Un-written" in Belgrade, Serbia in "Real Presence 2008" and attended and presented a performance cum lecture, "The Karang Guni Man imagines Utopia" at the 15th Performance Studies International (2009) in Zagreb, Croatia. presented an interactive performance at Contemporary Theatre Festival in Myanmar (2010), organized by Theatre of the disturbed & Alliance Frances. She is also the founding-member of a physical performance group THEATRESTRAYS and holds a MA, Fine Arts from LASALLE.

Entry Requirements

Entry Requirements

Academic Requirements

• Completed High School (Grade 12), Junior College or Pre-University education.
• Recognised Singapore qualification: Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' Level: Minimum 'Pass' in 2 subjects + General Paper or recognised equivalent.
• Recognised international qualifications: Please click here to view list.

Note:

• Additional subject requirement of Physics or Mathematics with a minimum 'Pass' or recognised equivalent.
• Alternative English qualification: IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL iBT80.

PORTFOLIOS & INTERVIEW REQUIREMENTS

• Evidence of theatre practice, study or work, including one direction / design concept of a chosen play.
• Include a statement on your artistic background, production involvement, and motivation to study theatre. You may include your performing experience, theatre-going, writing for performance, directing/choreographing group presentations or backstage work experience. In your statement, attention should be given to both the initial concept and the eventual result.