http://www.dancetheatre.uncc.edu/ajhartle/

The following syllabus is subject to change. The definitive schedule and policies will be maintained on-line through my home page: http://www.dancetheatre.uncc.edu/ajhartle/

This syllabus contains the policies and expectations Kelly and I have established for this Honors Performing Shakespeare class. Please read the entire syllabus carefully before continuing in this course. These policies and expectations are intended to create a productive learning atmosphere for all students. If you do not abide by these policies and expectations, you will be removed the course.  

Class policies:

Please do not expect the following rules to be bent or broken except in the most extraordinary and tragic of circumstances (in which category, temperamental cars, damaged or capricious computer equipment, belligerent room mates, non-life threatening ailments, over indulgence of any kind, or being busy or “stressed out” because of other classes/activities, do not qualify).

Required texts and reading:

Required Texts for this class are Signet Classic editions of Shakespeare’s

Twelfth Night

Henry V

If you wish to use a different edition you must show it to us first. All are different and many (esp. the cheaper, older editions, or complete works volumes based on very old editions which are usually 100 years old in order for the present publisher to sidestep copyright) are inadequate, inaccurate or unnecessarily difficult to use.

We will not be assigning class time to the discussion of every page of every book assigned. Much of what we don’t specifically deal with, however, will underlie the way we approach the plays throughout the semester and you should thus read them all and keep them to hand as references.

Be sure to HAVE READ any text assigned for class PRIOR to our meeting. Failure to stay up with the reading (and that means having read it thoughtfully, attentively and critically so that you have things to say about it) renders you present only in body and we will thus mark you absent. You cannot possibly grasp the material effectively if you rely on other people’s discussion of it in the classroom.

Attendance, tardiness, participation and conduct:

Attendance is mandatory. A class like this depends on active participation for its success. Non attendance thus has a negative impact on everyone involved, particularly since the class meets only once per week. You are permitted one excused absences after which you will merely be considered absent regardless of the validity of your excuse unless the circumstances are extraordinary (e.g. a documented death in the family). You should thus save your absences for genuine emergencies. For each absence beyond the one allowed, you will lose one letter of your participation grade. You can fail the participation portion by any combination of absences, tardiness (see below) unpreparedness (see above), and failing to be actively engaged in class discussion and activities. Mere attendance is not enough to pass this portion of your grade.

Tardiness is defined as not being present when class begins. You will be considered tardy if you arrive up to 10 minutes late unless a valid excuse has been submitted in advance of the class. Two tardies equal one absence. If you are more than 10 minutes late you will be considered absent.

If your absences (including tardies and unpreparedness) totals 20% or more of the total class time for the semester, you will automatically fail the course. Since presence in class is vital to a course like this, even legitimate excuses can not compensate for your not being present.  Since we have only 14 regular class sessions, missing three classes will result in an automatic F.

We will conduct this class in an atmosphere of mutual respect. I encourage your active participation in class discussions. The conflict of ideas is encouraged and welcome. The orderly questioning of the ideas of others, including the teachers’, is similarly welcome. However, this class is unusually dependent on all participants feeling comfortable, and Kelly and I will thus exercise our responsibility to manage the discussions and rehearsals so that they can proceed in an orderly and respectful fashion. Behavior which is in any way disruptive, particularly that which takes focus from what we are trying to do or makes participants feel inadequate or uncomfortable, is absolutely forbidden. You should expect that if your conduct during class discussions seriously disrupts the atmosphere of mutual respect we expect in this class, you will not be permitted to participate further.  To make this absolutely clear, there will be a non-negotiable ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy which would result in administrative withdrawal and an F for the course. If you are not comfortable with this, you should not take the class.

As part of the participation portion of your grade, there will be several exercises and small presentations which will need to be prepared out of class. These must be completed in the scheduled slot to count towards your grade, and it is thus imperative that you come on-time and ready to go.

One class session per week will not be enough to adequately rehearse and prepare your performance pieces. Students will be expected to get together out of class to hone their work. In such meetings, the same standards of respectful and constructive behavior must be observed.

Performances in this class will be as professional as is reasonably possible, which means that unless noted in advance they will not be script-in-hand. You must budget your time to MEMORIZE your parts so that you can perform them off-book.

If the teacher is late in arriving to class, you must wait a full 20 minutes after the start of class before you may leave without being counted absent, or you must follow any written instructions the teacher may give you about my anticipated tardiness.  

Students in this course seeking accommodations to disabilities must first consult with the Office of Disability Services and follow the instructions of that office for obtaining accommodations

All students are required to abide by the UNC Charlotte Sexual Harassment Policy (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-61.html) and the policy on Responsible Use of University Computing and Electronic Communication Resources (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-66.html). Sexual harassment, as defined in the UNC Charlotte Sexual Harassment Policy, is prohibited, even when carried out through computers or other electronic communications systems, including course-based chat rooms or message boards.

Communication:

I will maintain the syllabus on my own web site: http://www.dancetheatre.uncc.edu/ajhartle

My e-mail address is: ajhartle@email.uncc.edu

I will also make use of the e-mail lists provided through the university. It is imperative that you check this e-mail address regularly (at least once a day) in order to stay up to date with announcements, instructions etc. Failure to complete required work according to guidelines, deadlines etc. which were sent to you because you did not get the message in time will not be considered an adequate excuse. If you don’t use the e-mail address the school has on file for you, you need to start doing so.

As with regular checking of your e-mail account, you are responsible for communicating directly with me if you have problems or issues which cause you to be behind, delayed or in any way unprepared for class or related assignments. E-mail is the best way of reaching me. That said, e-mail can be temperamental, so you should always check back with me to ensure I received what you sent if you have not had some kind of receipt from me within 12 hours of sending. This is particularly important where late papers are concerned. You will not be given credit for papers you thought you had sent but which never reached me.

Papers:

Paper 1 due Oct 26th:

Write a 4 page paper in which you select one of the characters from either play we have been studying and write about the performance choices you would make for that character in any single scene. These choices must be based on what you can learn about that character from the play as a whole.

The assumptions behind this paper are that there are no definitive performances, that there are an infinite number of approaches to playing a given role, but that the performance choices must be anchored in the text. Grading will be based upon the choices themselves, how well you explain and defend them, and the level of cohesion and sentence-level articulation in the paper itself.

Remember to cite your text and use MLA for quotations and related style issues.

Final paper details here.

All papers should be turned in on the day specified on the syllabus. Unless there are extraordinary extenuating circumstances, late papers will be penalized at the rate of one entire letter grade per day of lateness. I will accept late papers up to 5 days late (that 5 days includes weekends, holidays, and the day the paper was due). Papers reduced to a failing grade which are turned in within those 5 days will receive an F like any other failing work, thus getting partial (but not passing) credit. Papers turned in after the late period is over will receive a zero.

Late papers should be e-mailed to me as Word attachments so I have a clear sense of exactly when they came in, with hard copies left in my Theatre dept mail box as soon after as is possible. See above (‘Communication’) for further details about electronic submissions.

All papers must be adequately documented according to MLA style, with parenthetical citation and full works cited page. If you are unsure how to do this, please review the MLA handbook or review an online guide to it such as that at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

Exams:

This class contains both midterm and final exams, the latter of which will be a small public performance with a talkback. Anything discussed during a class may appear on the test and you should get into the habit of good note taking, particularly annotating your script for textual notes, blocking etc. The final will involve you turning in annotated materials including your script.

Course Requirements:

Participation: 25%

Midterm paper (4 pages): 15%

Midterm exam: 15%

Final paper (8-9 pages): 20%

Final exam (public performance with talkback): 25%

Class Schedule

Several class sessions are currently blank. This does NOT mean there will be no class that day, just that what those classes will contain has not yet been finalized. The purpose of an electronic syllabus is that it permits adjustment according to the evolving needs of the class. Expect this schedule to change and check on it periodically to be sure. Do NOT simply print it off and expect it to remain constant.

On days marked “physical work” and rehearsal days, students should come to class dressed in appropriate attire for work that will likely involve rolling around on the floor among other things, and that does not include flip flops, tight jeans, and short shorts, but instead work-out/sweat clothes and either barefoot or tennis shoes.

Aug 24 Introduction to the course, its policies and activities.

Aug 31 Begin work on Henry V

Sept 7 Henry V

Sept 14 Physical work

Sept 21 Begin work on Twelfth Night

Sept 28 Twelfth Night

Oct 5 Physical work.

Oct 12 Imagery work; sounds; rhythms, scansion and meter

Oct 19 Character work: centers, animal imagery. Intention work: gesture, tactics, objectives

Oct 26 Begin mounting scenes

Nov 2

Nov 9

Nov 16

Thanksgiving Break

Nov 30 Last Class and evening performance/exam

Final paper Due Dec 5th Details of paper here