Undergraduate Programs in Performance Studies

Coordinator: Dr Daniel Johnston

Junior Units in Performance Studies

The Department of Performance Studies does not offer junior units of study. Instead, students wishing to enrol in senior Performance Studies units need to have completed at least 18 junior credit points from any subject in Table A - Units of study from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Handbook in order to enrol in PRFM2601 Being There and PRFM2602 Performance: Production and Interpretation.

Senior Units in Performance Studies

PRFM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance and PRFM2602 Performance: Production and Interpretation are prerequisites for most PRFM3000 level units. Together, these units establish the key ideas informing Performance Studies, including methodologies for the analysis of live performance.

• PRFM 2601 Being There: Theories of Performance will introduce students to the study of performance, tracing the discipline’s foundations in anthropology, theatre studies, history, phenomenology and a range of other disciplines.
• PRFM2602 Performance: Production and Interpretation develops, through workshops and visits to a range of performances, a language for understanding and analysing complex cultural events.

We also offer two "easy to access" units that can be taken by most students who are coming into Performance Studies for the first time: PRFM2603 Between Impro & Text and PRFM3606 Approaches to Acting. See below for the full list of units being offered and prerequisites.

Senior Units in Performance Studies with Prerecquisites

In semester 1, 2012, we are offering:

• PRFM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance (prerequisites are 18 Junior credit points from Table A subject areas)
• PRFM2603 Between Impro & Text (prerequisites are 18 Junior credit points of which 12 are to be from one Table A subject area)
• PRFM3604 Embodied Histories (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602),
• PRFM3619 Documenting Performance (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602),
• PRFM3620 Performance Production Internship (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602),
• PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602)

In semester 2, the offerings are

• PRFM2602 Performance: Production & Interpretation (prerequisites are 18 Junior credit points from Table A subject areas) Note: PRFM2602 is also offered in the January 2012 Summer School,
• PRFM3606 Approaches to Acting (prerequisites are 18 Junior credit points of which 12 are to be from one Table A subject area),
• PRFM3605 Cross-Cultural and Hybrid Performance (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602),
• PRFM3611 Dramaturgy (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602),
• PRFM3620 Performance Production Internship (prerequisites are PRFM2601 and PRFM2602), and
• PRFM3962 Inside Rehearsal (PRFM3961 is a prerequisite for this unit)

Students considering Honours in Performance Studies

Students with a Credit average in PRFM2601 and PRFM2602 who wish to take Fourth Year Honours in Performance Studies should take, in Semester 1:

• PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies

and in semester 2,

• PRFM3962 Inside Rehearsal

Intending honours students should complete PRFM3961 and PRFM3962 in addition to the requirements for a PRFM Major.

Major in Performance Studies

To complete a Major in Performance Studies you must complete 36 credit points in Performance Studies: six units of study. Two of these units of study are mandatory; the other four you may select from the other offerings.

The mandatory units are PRFM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance and PRFM2602 Performance: Production and Interpretation.

Honours in Performance Studies

Coordinator: Dr Amanda Card

The Fourth Year Honours program in Performance Studies involves the completion of two seminars in semester 1. In 2012 these seminars will be:

• Critical Theory with Dr Amanda Card and
• Contemporary Performance with Dr Glen McGillivray.

Honours students are also required to attend a weekly, two hour Research Methods session, in which they prepare to write both their dissertation and casebook, which are both due in semester 2.

Honours students are also expected to attend the department’s weekly research seminar series held on Friday afternoons during semester.

At some point in the year, all Honours students will take part in a placement with a professional performance company, or an equivalent organisation or project. The exact nature of this placement will be negotiated with the department Honours Coordinator, and will ideally involve a sustained observation of a rehearsal and/or performance preparation process. From this placement, students will prepare a 12-15,000 word Casebook, submitted late in semester 2. The other major component of the year is the Dissertation/thesis, also of 12-15,000 words in length, on a topic to be negotiated in consultation with the Honours Coordinator and a designated supervisor.

To qualify for Honours in Performance Studies, you must have a credit average and complete 48 credit points in Performance Studies units of study, including PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies and PRFM3962 Rehearsal to Performance. In effect, this means completing a major, and additionally completing the two special entry units.

Credit results in other Senior Level and Special Entry units of study in humanities subjects together with an appropriate practical background may, with the approval of the Faculty, be accepted as the prerequisite for entry into Honours.