C.2.b Recommended non-Theatre
courses.
To fully advantage your undergraduate
experience toward your
preparation as an artist, you need to be thoughtful in your selection
of courses
to surround your major or minor. Following are some
suggestion to help you develop
some perimeters for your selections.
For a theatre student, the
most valuable exposures are those related to
1) the workings of the arts,
2) the study of human experience, history, and
society,
3) communication skills, and
4) patterns of moral and ethical behaviors.
Understanding the common goals of the
arts, discovering the
ways in which the arts “mean” (signify, comprehend,
express), learning the
common language of the arts; these are among the most valuable of tools
the
theatre artist can acquire. One
cannot
be a successful creator in the theatre without skills and
sensitivities
derived from the other arts: music, dance, visual arts, and literature. Likewise, theatre artistry
demands advanced
communication skills of language, movement, and vocal/visual
rhythm, skills of
inference and suggestion. The
nature of
being human is the subject of all the arts—our common and
individual
experiences, the ways in which we live together, our actions as
expressions of
moral and ethical understandings.
These concerns are clearly addressed
in courses offered by
several academic departments on campus: Art, Communication, English,
Family and
Consumer Sciences, History, Languages, Music, Philosophy, Psychology,
Religion,
and Sociology.
The undergraduate degree requirements
at Seattle Pacific
include a sizable number of credits in the Common and Exploratory Curriculum. Common Curriculum, or "Core" courses are those designed to express the matter Seattle
Pacific considers to
be the essence of its mission, and deal with Christian perspectives and
our
Biblical heritage. The
Exploratory Curriculum
program seeks to introduce you to principles of self-care,
communication and
language skills, and the fundamental precepts of learning in the social
sciences, natural and mathematical sciences, literature and the arts. These requirements reflect
the heart of a
liberal arts education, one which does not emphasize technical skills,
but
broad learning as a background for specific learning (your
major). It provides
perspective for a lifetime of
continuing study.
Within the broad outline of
the Common and Exploratory Curriculum, you are given many opportunities for choice, discriminations
which
allow you to shape your learning to strengthen the fabric of your
particular
major. You are
advised to choose your
course work as much as possible to reflect those courses most
advantageous to
your needs as a theatre artist.
Following is a recommendation of
specific courses which fulfill General Education requirements and which
also
serve well your purposes in preparing yourself in theatre. They are also
chosen to avoid as many
pre-requisites as possible. These
are
only recommendations, but if you can schedule them conveniently they
will prove
of good worth to you.
Pay particular attention to your
requirement in writing and
math skills. Failure
to complete this obligation leaves
many students stranded when they should be graduating.
Several
Theatre
courses also fulfill General Education requirements.
These may double-count toward general
education and your major or minor. This is true of
TRE
2420 Tragedy and TRE 2421Comedy courses (which satisfy the Literature Options or
the Fine Arts Options categories),
TRE
1110 The Theatre Experience,
TRE 1310 Acting I: Fundamentals,
TRE
3780 The Art of the Film, TRE
1930/3930 Performance Practicum, and TRE 1931/3931 Production Practicum. It
is
recommended that you not double-up
on
these courses, but that you use the hours to explore other
disciplines.
Check the
current
catalog section Baccalaureate Degree Requirements for a listing of
Common
Curriculum, Exploratory Curriculum, University Scholars Program,
University
Foundations, and General Education Requirements for available courses.
On a final note concerning choosing
courses. It is best to
spread your major/minor requirements and
your Common / Exploratory Curriculum requirements over all four
years of your
undergraduate career. Or
over at least
three. Many Core
courses bear
upper-division numbering, as do many of your major/minor courses. Just be sure that your
Junior and Senior
years are not spent on lower-division course work.
Careful early planning will pay off in the
long term.
Next
Section: C3: Your Senior Project
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