Theatre and Dance
The Department of Theatre and Dance offers a variety of complementary perspectives on performance. Our acting classes teach students to interpret dramatic texts through a combination of western and eastern techniques for training body and voice. Dramatic literature and theatre history courses place texts in historical and thematic contexts while focusing on them as a medium for performance. We provide dance courses grounded in an understanding of dance history, as well as technique and composition, and design courses that explore visual interpretations of texts in performance. Our directing classes locate performance as an intersection of all of these disciplines and train students to read texts on several levels simultaneously. Film classes and tutorials in playwriting and screenwriting are also offered.
The fully equipped Prior Performing Arts Center houses the major productions of the department and dance concerts. A range of studio productions (directed by both faculty and students), workshops, and classes takes place in the Prior Performing Arts Center and in The Studio (O’Kane 481), The Pit (O’Kane 37), and the Dance Studio (O’Kane 28). Work on any department production is open to all Holy Cross students, faculty, and staff.
Students may major in Theatre with an emphasis on either performance or design; they may minor in Dance.
Lynn Kremer, M.F.A., Distinguished Professor of Humanities, Chair
Steve Vineberg, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities
Anshuman Bhatia, M.F.A., Assistant Professor
Jimena G. Bermejo, M.F.A., Professor of Practice in Dance
Meaghan Deiter, M.F.A., Professor of Practice
I Nyoman Catra, Ph.D., Fellow and Lecturer in Balinese Music, Theatre, and Dance
Milad Azarm, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor
Joanne Caidor, B.A., Visiting Lecturer
Audra Carabetta, B.F.A., Visiting Lecturer
Patrick O'Konis, M.F.A., Visiting Lecturer
Ellen Oliver, M.F.A., Visiting Lecturer
Taylor Travassos-Lomba, B.A., Visiting Lecturer
Academic Plans within Theatre and Dance
Other Academic Plans Accepting/Requiring Theatre and Dance Coursework
DANC 111 — Dance 1 Course count: 1
This course introduces movement as a form of personal, cultural, and creative expression. It blends studio practice with discussion and research. Students engage with diverse dance traditions, from social and cultural practices to concert dance, developing foundational skills while critically reflecting on how dance shapes and is shaped by society. No prior movement experience is required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 121 — Dance History Course count: 1
This course investigates dance history through a critical lens, questioning the privileging of certain forms and recognizing the unacknowledged contributions of marginalized communities. Through movement practice, readings, video analysis, and discussions, students will explore how culture, politics, and identity intersect with dance. Students are encouraged to research and reimagine their own relationships to movement. No prior experience is required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
DANC 131 — Balinese Dance 1 - 2 Course count: 1
Balinese Dance is a dance performance class which surveys the rich classical, contemporary, and folk traditions of music, mask, dance, and theatre from Bali, Indonesia. Hinduism plays a significant role in the performing arts of Bali and will be discussed in relationship to performance. Students rehearse and perform with Gamelan Gita Sari, the Holy Cross gamelan orchestra. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 151 — Ballet 1 - 2 Course count: 1
Beginning ballet technique is offered for beginners and those with less than six months of dance experience. The course will emphasize alignment, ballet positions and vocabulary, as well as the mastery of skills such as turning, jumping, and coordination. In addition to technique, the course will introduce dance history and dance appreciation through readings, videos, and class discussion. To offer a richer and more contemporary experience of ballet, students will depart from the ballet idiom and experiment with creating a personal movement vocabulary. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 171 — Hip Hop/Breaking 1-2 Course count: 1
An introductory breaking technique course for beginners who have no prior dance experience. Students learn foundational exercises, improvisation and movement combinations. The course will emphasize the cultural and historical roots of the form along with key artists who have contributed to its evolution.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 181 — Contemporary Dance 1-2 Course count: 1
A basic introductory contemporary dance technique course for beginners or students with less than six months of dance experience. Students learn beginning contemporary dance exercises and movement combinations. The basic components of contemporary dance and its place in 20th-century art will be examined. This course can be taken for two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Fall
DANC 191 — Afro-Haitian Dance Course count: 1
This course is an introduction to movements from the African Diaspora, focusing on traditional Haitian Folkloric dances and the distinct rhythms and characters of Nago, Mayi, Ibo, Banda, Yanvalou and Kongo. Through videos, discussion, technique and embodied practice, students gain an appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of Afro-Haitian dance and its unique connection to modern dance.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
DANC 211 — Choreography & Composition Course count: 1
Dance Composition introduces students to principles and practices of creating dance choreography as a form of human expression. Methods of learning include guided improvisations, solo and small group presentations, written assignments, performance viewings (live and video), observation, motif notation, and class discussion. Students will develop an understanding of the choreographic/creative process and its relevance to other areas of study.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
DANC 212 — Broadway Dance Course count: 1
This course covers a fundamental understanding of the terminology and principles of the Broadway dance genre. Students engage in an historical approach to learning, looking at the origins of the form and famous musicals and choreographers, while mastering some of the earliest Broadway dances and traditions. They explore technical and historical aspects of various other dance genres such as jazz, tap, and ballroom and define Broadway dance in relationship to its social, cultural, and political context.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Fall
DANC 222 — Dance and Technology Course count: 1
Dance & Technology course introduces students to a range of digital media tools for performance and choreography. Students learn how to perform with live cameras and projections and gain programming skills for live video capture, chroma keying, projection mapping, and motion-tracking through Isadora software. We will also look at the history and aesthetics of screen dance and choreography for the camera. Students use video editing software through Adobe Suites to create their own screen dances.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
DANC 232 — Balinese Dance 3 - 4 Course count: 1
Advanced Balinese Dance builds on the background and techniques covered in Balinese Dance 1-2. Students delve more deeply into the traditions of Bali and perform more advanced repertoire in a concert setting. Students may take this course for two semesters with the permission of the instructor, progressing to advanced repertoire of both traditional and contemporary Balinese dances, including solos.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 252 — Ballet 3 - 4 Course count: 1
The class will follow a traditional format, Including barre, adagio, waltz, petit allegro, and grand allegro. In addition to technique, the course will include dance history and dance appreciation through readings, videos, and class discussion. To offer a richer and more contemporary experience of ballet, students will depart from the ballet idiom and experiment with creating a personal movement vocabulary. Students may take this course for a total of two semesters.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
DANC 262 — Body Stories Course count: 1
This course explores the personal and cultural narratives embedded in movement. Through readings, discussions, and movement activities, students reflect on how their bodies carry stories and how societal influences shape physical expression. Students will develop a deeper awareness of movement as both a personal and cultural practice using exploratory movement and experiential anatomy. No prior dance experience is required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
DANC 272 — Hip Hop/Breaking 3-4 Course count: 1
Students build on foundational exercises, improvisation and movement combinations, and apply these skills to study in the context of dance circles and battles. The course emphasizes the cultural and historical roots of the form along with key artists who have contributed to its evolution.
Prerequisite: 1 year of dance experience with Hip Hop and Breaking or one semester of THEA171 Hip Hop / Breaking 1-2.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
DANC 273 — Street Styles Course count: 1
This course explores the various styles that make up street dances, introducing a range of factors related to technique, history, music, and cultural context. Students navigate through the evolution of hip hop from its birthplace in the Bronx, NY through its development into a global phenomenon influenced by geopolitics, race, gender, and other social structures. Different street styles combine from fundamental movements to create more advanced choreography and freestyling.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
DANC 275 — Hip Hop: Breakbeats and Moves Course count: 1
This course is an introduction to the mutual influences between music and dance in Hip Hop culture. Students combine creative dance processes with strategic music curation to study the histories and foundations of Hip Hop; engage with marginalized voices and perspectives within Hip Hop; and develop work in both music and dance to develop insights.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
DANC 282 — Contemporary Dance 3 - 4 Course count: 1
An intermediate-level contemporary dance technique class. Students grow in understanding the aesthetic of contemporary dance both by practicing contemporary dance exercises and combinations and by engaging in critical discussion of selected dance performances in class and on video. Students may take this course for a total of two semesters, progressing to choreography and performance.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 310 — Dance Performance Course count: 1
This multi-level course is is built around an end of semester performance. Students will learn and create movement which will become a finished piece. It requires rehearsal and performance of major dance segments in a main stage production or a dance concert. Permission required.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
DANC 405 — Performance Recital Course count: 1
THEA 101 — Acting 1 Course count: 1
This course offers, through classroom exercises, improvisations and performance of scenes from plays, an approach to understanding, appreciating, and practicing the art of acting and theatre.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 110 — Theatre Practicum 1 Course count: 0
Weekly lab work introduces students to tools and techniques in costumes, scenery, properties, and lighting. Student participation in Department of Theatre and Dance major productions gives them the opportunity to put those skills into practice.
GPA units: 0.5
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 125 — American Drama 1920 To Present Course count: 1
American plays from the early work of Eugene O'Neill through that of contemporary dramatists are explored as theatre (through film and video) and as dramatic literature. This course looks at drama in historical and thematic contexts and as the expression of major American playwrights.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 126 — Asia on Stage Course count: 1
Asia on Stage focuses on the intricate classical performance traditions of theatre, dance, and music of South and Southeast Asia and how contemporary artists have borrowed from these traditions to create new or avant-garde work. Students develop analytical skill through observation of similarities and differences between counterparts in other Asian nations and the West.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 128 — Rebels & Revolutionaries Course count: 1
This course examines how artists and activists have used film and plays to explore complex and unsettling issues such as war, gender, race, sexuality, industrialism and labor, the Holocaust, and the struggles of distinct cultures to define themselves. Films and plays about politics and social issues can take up arms in a cause; they can also clarify and illuminate. In either case, what makes it exciting and sometimes moving is that it always presents an argument. This discussion course begins with a brief look at some classical texts but focuses on the plays and movies of the 20th and 21st centuries..
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 134 — Television Comedy Course count: 1
Television Comedy is designed to introduce students to the history of television comedy, key artists and situation comedies, and theoretical frameworks for examining these works both in and out of context. The goal is for students to learn to analyze television from a variety of standpoints as well as the ways it has both influenced and been influenced by time, place, and culture.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 135 — Comedy on Stage and Screen Course count: 1
This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of comic styles as represented in theatre and film from the Classical period to the present with an emphasis on twentieth-century works.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 136 — Horror Films, Sex & Gender Course count: 1
This course is designed to examine the horror film using Queer, Gender, and Feminist theory. The course will explore seminal works from the genre and examine the horror film's evolution using these critical lenses. The goal is for students to develop a foundational understanding of the conventions of the genre and its relationship to evolving notions of identity.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 139 — Great Film Actors Course count: 1
This course is designed to introduce students significant film actors who embody different approaches to acting. Students will study acting theory and film criticism, applying those concepts to films of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 145 — Queer Theatre Course count: 1
Queer Film and Theatre is designed to examine how art (specifically film and theatre) helps us define ourselves, both collectively and individually. Films and plays from different periods and cultures allow the students to examine the evolution of the human condition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered populations.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 160 — American Film Course count: 1
This introductory course teaches the student how to read a movie. Films are presented by genre and conventional examples of each genre are paired with movies that play with, undercut, or expand the conventions. The syllabus includes American movies from 1930 to the present.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 161 — Theatre History Course count: 1
Focuses on theatre in Europe, Asia and North America from the classical period until the mid-1800s. Readings include: Euripides, Moliere, Calderon, Montzaemon, Behn, and Boucicault.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 165 — World Film Course count: 1
Like American Film, this is an introductory course that teaches the student how to read a movie. However, the content is exclusively non-American films, viewed thematically and historically, as well as in their cultural contexts. The syllabus typically includes films from France, Italy, England, Japan, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Mexico, Germany, Canada, and other countries.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
THEA 170 — Modern Drama Course count: 1
Surveys the major aesthetic movements of the last century, employing dramatic texts and theoretical writings to illustrate successive ideas. Movements such as naturalism, symbolism, expressionism, surrealism, and the absurd are examined through a close reading of works by Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw, Wedekind, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, and others.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Literature
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 172 — Modern British Drama Course count: 1
Modern British Drama uses literary texts and movies to explore how English playwrights have grappled with the post-war loss of empire; the search for a new national identity, the emergence of Thatcherism, the vapid materialism of the Sloane Rangers, the challenges of multiculturalism, and the impending catastrophe of Brexit. In a seminar setting, students will read, reflect and critically analyze a series of challenging (and often disturbing) works of contemporary British literature.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 199-F03 — Middle East: Unheard Voices Course count: 1
This course explores the history and aesthetics of theatre and performance in the Middle East, challenging dominant Western narratives that have often marginalized the region. Through plays, films, and critical theory, students examine how artists from across the MENA region and its diasporas have used performance to engage with questions of identity, politics, gender, and resistance over the past century.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
THEA 199-S04 — Movement 1 Course count: 1
Movement 1 introduces actors to the body as an instrument for performance, communication, and creative expression. Through individual, partner, and ensemble exercises, students develop physical awareness, expand their range of movement, and discover how to develop characters with nuanced physicality. No previous movement or dance training required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 199-S05 — Women on Stage Course count: 1
The course uses theatre to explore social and cultural questions with a particular focus on womens experiences and voices. Many of the plays studied are written by women or center on female characters. By the end of the semester, students will recognize different theatrical forms and understand how form itself shapes meaning, identity, and the way stories about gender and society are told on stage.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 199-S06 — American Musical Theatre Course count: 1
The course analyzes the structure and technique of American musicals over the last century, beginning with Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein IIs Show Boat. It focuses on thirty musicals, some famous and some lesser-known.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 202 — Voice In Acting 1 Course count: 1
Students learn how to correct regionalisms, support the voice, and increase range in songs and dramatic texts. Healthy vocal production, flexibility, relaxation, and power are emphasized.
Prerequisite: THEA 101
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 203 — Advanced Acting Course count: 1
An intensive scene study class. Plays ranging in style from contemporary to Restoration are analyzed and performed. Physical and vocal exercises from Basic Acting and Voice in Acting will be continued with the addition of period style work.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
THEA 204 — Singing for Broadway Stage 1 Course count: 1
Students will develop an approach to learning and performing pieces from musical theatre with equal focus on musicianship, vocal technique, and physical interpretation. Students will be assigned both solo and ensemble pieces and the course will culminate in a public showing of the work.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 205 — Speaking and Communication Course count: 1
This course explores techniques of effective communication. Topics covered include creating clear intentions and objectives for moments of public speaking; connecting to others and listening actively in both casual and formal interactions; and cultivating strong, flexible vocal production. To develop these skills, interactive exercises inspired by theatre techniques serve as building blocks. Both impromptu and prepared speech techniques are explored with projects encompassing academic presentations, interview techniques, and presenting personal stories.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
THEA 210 — Advanced Theatre Practicum Course count: 0
Students participate in Department of Theatre major productions through crew assignments in scenery and props, lighting, costumes, sound, and stage management. Schedule for the course is determined by the production schedule. This course is taken pass/fail as an overload and may be taken multiple times. Theatre majors must take it twice.
Prerequisite: THEA 110
GPA units: 0.5
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
THEA 214 — Singing for Broadway Stage 2 Course count: 1
Students will refine their approach to learning and performing musical theatre repertoire with equal focus on musicianship, vocal technique, and physical interpretation, building on the foundation established in the first level of the course. Particular attention will be given to building an audition book of diverse repertoire. The course will also dig deeper into exploring the history of musical theatre and examining its great composers. Students will be assigned both solo and ensemble pieces and the course will culminate in a public showing of the work.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
THEA 227 — Scene Design Course count: 1
Principles of scenic design and script analysis are used to create an environment for the action of the play. Includes a historical survey of scenic design, theatre architecture, period style, drafting, and rendering techniques. Work on a set for a Fenwick Theatre production provides practical experience.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
THEA 228 — Lighting Design Course count: 1
A study of the properties of light and the objectives of stage lighting in drama and dance, this course includes basic electricity and its control, lighting equipment, and drafting. Practical experience is obtained through designing and running a production.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
THEA 230 — Costume Design Course count: 1
An introductory course which involves the student in the process of script and character analysis as it relates to costumes. It develops sketching and painting techniques as well as research of Greek, Renaissance, and 18th- and 19th-century fashion.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 240 — Directing 1 Course count: 1
Introduces students to the craft and theory of theatrical production. Students function as autonomous artists-writers, dramaturgs, and directors, producing a series of dramatic pieces in a workshop environment. This practical work is augmented by extensive scholarly research that provides a theoretical underpinning. Emphasis is placed upon conceptualization, composition, blocking, textual analysis, and working with actors.
Prerequisite: THEA 101. Students without the prerequisite should consult the department.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall
THEA 263 — Selected American Film Artists Course count: 1
This advanced course is an intensive study of the work of two playwrights and/or filmmakers. The authors on the syllabus vary, according to the current offerings of the Fenwick Theatre season and other considerations. By permission.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 264 — Cult Films & Camp Movies Course count: 1
This course is designed to examine films created outside the studio system or those whose unique, marginal qualities have led to significant critical and cultural discourse and reappraisal. The course will use readings and viewings to reframe analysis of film narratives, challenge canonical thinking, and develop students unique critical voices.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 340 — Advanced Directing Course count: 1
Explores advanced theories and practices of theatrical direction. The course begins with a series of lectures that introduces the avant-garde ideas and practices of artists such as Grotowski, Beck, Chaikin, Serban, Wilson, Akalaitis, Bogart, and Boal. Students are expected to put some of these ideas into production as they tackle a short classical piece (Greek or Elizabethan) and then mount a full-length one-act by a major figure of the modern theatre (e.g., Chekhov, Strindberg, O'Neill, Pirandello, Beckett).
Prerequisite: THEA 240
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
THEA 360 — Shakespeare Through Performance Course count: 1
Functioning as scholarly artists in a laboratory setting, students - working from both the Folio and modern editions - master the rudiments of Shakespearean performance, become acquainted with historical and contemporary staging conventions, investigate the notion of textual integrity, and explore dramaturgical issues. Particular emphasis is placed upon the desirability and/or need to subvert problematic texts through performance.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
THEA 361 — Film As Narrative Course count: 1
This advanced course deals with narrative issues in film (point of view, time, structure, style, tone, adaptation). The syllabus includes American, British, French, Italian, Japanese and Scandinavian movies.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
THEA 370 — Performance Art Course count: 1
Students write, coach, design, and act in original work that they develop. Directors, actors, and theorists who stretch the limits of performance stylistically, socially, or conceptually serve as models for students.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
THEA 400 — Tutorial Course count: 1
Tutorials consist of directed study in selected theatre, dance, and film topics such as acting, directing, play- writing, literature, dance, stage management, set, costume, lighting and sound design, film, and screenwriting.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring