BFA in Interarts Performance: Requirements
For those who wish to create new, personal works which transcend aesthetic, discipline, and genre boundaries.
Pre-college preparation
Significant involvement in theatre and art is recommended. Talented students without previous experience in one or the other may apply.
Degree Requirements:
Studio Courses
Two types of Art & Design and Theatre courses comprise the studio component of the program:
1) introductory studio courses taken during the first two years, and
2) advanced studio courses taken during the third and fourth years.
Considerable individual latitude is available for students in the studio course options. This latitude is possible with regular, intensive faculty guidance.
Introductory studio courses provide the conceptual and physical foundation required to communicate ideas physically and visually. Students learn that techniques and materials are somewhat neutral tools used to express subjective notions about the world. They can be used in any context to create work. By being introduced to a wide variety of tools, students gain the advantage of many possible options.
Advanced studio courses build upon the introductory experiences, challenging students to work more independently and with greater focus. As a capstone advanced studio, students undertake a two-semester Integrative Project course during their final year. This course is designed to accomplish a number of objectives:
- the development of an ambitious student-initiated project
- the synthesis of academic and studio work
- a public presentation of the project
In this course, the student works with both A&D and Theatre faculty. The final presentation engages a public context and is documented in both written and visual portfolios.
The program also includes comprehensive reviews at the end of the second and fourth years. All students must present a summary of their work to date in the program to an ad hoc committee, which includes faculty teaching in the program. A successful second-year review is required for continuation in the program, and a successful fourth-year review is required for graduation.
A semester or summer of international study during the third year is also highly recommended. In this age of growing international awareness and connections, every student is encouraged to arrange and carry out a summer or semester of study and travel in another country. Flexibility in the program's curriculum allows for a semester of international study without impeding progress toward graduation. Students will be encouraged to begin planning during the freshman year for a junior-year international study experience.
Academic Courses
Academic Courses in A&D and Theatre provide students with visual culture and performance histories and current practices that cover a wide variety of media and artistic tendencies, and provide the opportunity to experience the potential of contemporary live art and artists.
One new, jointly offered course, Live Art Survey, is required for all entering majors in the program.
Art & Design Perspectives Courses: One 3-credit course required, selected from the following:
ARTDES 150: Art & Design Perspectives I: The Creators
ARTDES 151: Art & Design Perspectives II: Society
Art & Design Lecture Series: Eight 1-credit courses required, one each semester. A special section of this course will be designated for all majors.
ARTDES 160: Lecture Series I
ARTDES 161: Lecture Series II
ARTDES 260: Lecture Series III
ARTDES 261: Lecture Series IV
ARTDES 360: Lecture Series V
ARTDES 361: Lecture Series VI
ARTDES 460: Lecture Series VII
ARTDES 461: Lecture Series VIII
Theatre academic courses, two 3-credit courses are required from this group.
THTRE 211: Introduction to Drama
THTRE 212: Intro to World Performance
THTRE 222: Intro to Black Theatre
THTRE 321: History of Theatre I
THTRE 322: History of Theatre II
THTRE 323: American Theatre and Drama
THTRE 324: Contemporary Black Theatre
THTRE 325: Contemporary American Theatre & Drama
THTRE 326: Script Analysis for Black Writers and Directors
THTRE 385: Performing Arts Management
THTRE 399: Topics in Drama
THTRE 400: Directed Reading
THTRE 402: Ideas of Theatre
THTRE 403, 404: Design & Production Forum I, II
THTRE 427: Advanced Playwriting
THTRE 440: Special Topics in African American Theatre
THTRE 441: Design for Directors
THTRE 466: History of Décor
THTRE 468: History of Theatre Architecture and Stage Design
THTRE 477: History of Dress
Academic courses in liberal arts provide students with a combination of required and elective courses designed to develop basic familiarity with the three traditional components of a liberal arts education - humanities, social sciences and natural sciences; an introduction to analytical reasoning; an awareness of other cultures; and familiarity with contemporary environmental issues.
The liberal arts component requires that students distribute 36 credits of the Academic course module as follows:
| English Composition | 4 credits |
| Humanities | 3 credits |
| Social Science | 3 credits |
| Natural Science | 3 credits |
| Analytical Reasoning | 3 credits |
| Environmental Studies | 3 credits |
| Cultural Diversity | 6 credits |
| Free Academic Electives | 11 credits |
| TOTAL | 36 credits |
Students may use AP credit to fulfill any of the academic requirements, with the exception of English composition.
Introductory Studio Courses
A&D Introductory Course Options (15 Credits)
ARTDES 100: Digital Studio I: Image & Document (3)
ARTDES 110: Drawing Studio I: Light & Form (3)
ARTDES 120: Tools, Materials and Processes I: Construction (3)
ARTDES 121: Tools, Materials and Processes II: Messages (3)
ARTDES 220: Tools, Materials and Processes III: Time (3)
ARTDES 130: Concept, Form and Context I: The Human Being (3)
ARTDES 230: Concept, Form and Context II: Culture (3)
ARTDES 231: Concept, Form and Context IIII: Nature (3)
T&D Introductory Course Options (15 Credits)
THTRE 172: Movement I (2)
THTRE 181: Acting I (3)
THTRE 182: Acting II (3)
THTRE 192: Voice I (3)
THTRE 227: Playwriting I (3)
THTRE 233: Acting and the Black Experience (3)
THTRE 240: Introduction to Design (3)
THTRE 241: Directing I (3)
THTRE 242: Directing II (3)
THTRE 245: Introduction to Stage Management (2)
THTRE 250: Introduction to Technical Theatre Practices (3)
THTRE 251: Production Practicum I (1)
THTRE 252: Production Practicum II (1)
THTRE 256: Lighting Design I (3)
THTRE 260: Scene Design I (3)
THTRE 261: Production Practicum III (1)
THTRE 262: Production Practicum IV (1)
THTRE 270: Costume Design I (3)
THTRE 271: Movement II (2)
THTRE 272: Movement III (2)
THTRE 274: Stage Combat I (2)
THTRE 281: Acting III (3)
THTRE 282: Acting IV (3)
THTRE 291: Voice II (3)
THTRE 292: Voice III (3)
Advanced Studio Courses
ARTDES 300 - Advanced Studio Courses (12-15 Credits)
3-D and Interactive Technologies: Conjuring for Non-Wizards
Advanced Drawing: Realism, Cubism, & Collage
Advanced Painting
Advanced Photo
Advanced Tactical Media
Aesthetics of the Autobiographical
Analytical Product Design
Animation
ArtECO
Aspects of Graphic Language
Audio Narratives
Beyond Symmetry
Bio-Built; Re-Inventing Life
Bronze Casting
Ceramics: Aesthetics, Kinesthetics, and Pyrometrics
Color
Come As You Are: Multi-media Performance of Identity
Considering the Future of the Great Lakes
Conspicuous Consumption; Food as Material
Design in the Third Dimension
Designing Images, Objects, and Spaces
Devices of Japanese Animation as Art Therapy: Metal Sculpture
Digital Typefounding
Documentary Storytelling
Dressing Up & Down: Making Costumes & Other Wearables
Entanglement
Experimental Ethnographic Video
Exploring Self & Society Through Photography
Field Sketching: Yellowstone
Figures in Context
Guerilla Video
Identity Systems
Imagining Place: an Interdisciplinary Experience
Imagining the Genomic Era
Information Designing
Installation
Interactivity & Behavior
Interlacing & Surface Designing
Internet Communications
Invention and Innovation
Life-Size Figure Sculpture
Light, Space & Time
Modeling Space and Marking Time: Experiments in Video
More with Less
Motion Capture in the Arts and Sciences
Multiples and Meaning
Muscles, Bones, Skin & Soul
Narrative Art/Comics: Autobiography
Narrative Mapping: Integrating Type and Image
Narrative/Comic Art: The Dream
Organizing Visual Space: An Exploration of Oil Painting
Painting with Clay: Tile and Low Relief
Pieces and Parts: Advanced Metals
Print Matrix
Publication Design
Representational Sculpture
Shaping Space & Modeling Time
Show Me the Money
Sound
Sound for Video
Studio Photography
Stuff & Creative Practice
Text, Image, and Visual Communication
The Better Mousetrap
The Moving Image: Techniques in Motion Graphics
The Repetitive Gesture in Print Media
The Serial Image in Printmaking
Video Installation: Shaping Architectural Space
Visual Literacy and the Elementary School Curriculum
Voices: Type in Context
Wearable Narrative: Metals
ARTDES 310 - Outreach Advanced Studio Courses
After Gepetto: Performing Objects from Puppets to Parades
Alternatives for Girls
Art of Wander: Devices of Memory
Art Workshops in Prisons
Beyond Symmetry
Bodies in the World: Representing Human Rights
Bureau of Creative Solutions: Food from Farming to Feast
Detroit Connections
Hysterical Reenactment: Embodying History and Presenting the Present
Journeys, Dreams, & Fellow Travelers
Mental Ecology
Retaining Identity: Exploring the Role of Creative Work in Healthcare
Trouble in Paradise: Devices of Post-Utopian Society
Veteran's Video Project
Ways of Seeing: Working with the Visually Impaired
We Are Family
Where the Wild Things Aren't
T&D Advanced Studio Courses (12-15 Credits):
THTRE 327: Playwriting II
THTRE 332: Performing Gender: Dramatizing from Oral Sources
THTRE 340: Black Theatre Workshop
THTRE 341: Directing III
THTRE 342: Directing IV
THTRE 345: Stage Management Practicum: Plays
THTRE 350: Scenic Construction I
THTRE 351: Production Practicum V
THTRE 352: Production Practicum VI
THTRE 353: Sound for Theatre
THTRE 356: Lighting Design II
THTRE 360: Sound Design II
THTRE 362: Drafting & Model Making
THTRE 370: Costume Design II
THTRE 371: Physical Theatre
THTRE 374: Stage Combat II
THTRE 381: Acting V
THTRE 381: Acting VI
THTRE 386: Practicum in Performing Arts Management
THTRE 395: Stage Dialects
THTRE 401: Independent Study
THTRE 429: Playwriting Toward Production
THTRE 442: Directing Project
THTRE 462: Drafting
THTRE 464: Scene Painting for the Theatre
THTRE 470: Costume Design III
THTRE 472: Stage Make-Up
THTRE 483: Acting VIII
THTRE 484: Acting IX
THTRE 499: Special Topics in Theatre
THTRE 557: Light Lab
THTRE 574: Advanced Scene Painting
Dance
Videodance (Taught with Film and Video Studies)
Cultural Concepts of Dance
261: Dance Composition
Dance Improvisation
Dance and the Related Arts
Performing Arts Technology
331: Sound Recording
201/401: Microcomputers and Music
441: Music and Media
