Undergraduate Programs in Performance Studies
This page contains an overview of Undergraduate programs in the Department of Performance Studies. To view full unit of study outline information, press here.
The Department of Performance Studies does not offer any junior units of study. Instead, students wishing to enroll in senior Performance Studies units need to complete at least 18 junior credit points in no more than two subject areas, including 12 credit points from Table A. This basically means that we encourage all prospective Performance Studies to complete two full semesters before embarking upon PRFM 2601 and other senior units of study in Performance Studies.
There is no assumed knowledge, nor are there any prerequisites for entry into second year Performance Studies units, beyond the above.
Coordinator: Dr Paul Dwyer
The second year program in Performance Studies consists of PRFM 2601 Being There: Theories of Performance, offered in semester 1, and PRFM 2602 An Audience Prepares in semester 2. Completion of both these units is a prerequisite for PRFM 3000 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. PRFM 2602 An Audience Prepares develops, through workshops and visits to a range of performances, a language for understanding and analysing complex cultural events.
In addition, students may take PRFM 2602 Between Impro and Text: Making Performance in semester 1 and/or PRFM 2604 Sociology of Theatre in semester 2.
Coordinator: Dr Paul Dwyer
Students may select from a range of units of study to complete their major. In semester 1, 2008, we are offering
- PRFM 3603 Playing Politics and
PRFM 3604 Embodied Histories.
In semester 2, the offerings are
- PRFM 3601 Playing Around With Theatre History,
PRFM 3605 Cross-Cultural and Hybrid Performance and
PRFM 3606 Theories of Acting.
In addition, for students with a Credit average in the second year core units and those wishing to take Fourth Year Honours in Performance Studies there are two two Special Entry Units (for those intending to take Honours, these units are a prerequisite). In semester 1
- PRFM 3961 Rehearsal Studies
and in semester 2,
- PRFM 3962 Rehearsal to Performance.
Please consult the Units of Study information page (click 'Units of Study' on the left of this page, and then navigate to 'Special Entry 2008') to see details of prerequisites and timetabling for these units of study.
From 2006, to complete a Major in Performance Studies you must complete 36 credit points in Performance Studies Senior Units of Study: six units of study. Four of these units of study are mandatory; the other two you may select from the other offerings.
The mandatory units are PRFM 2601 Being There: Theories of Performance and PRFM 2602 An Audience Prepares, both of which are prerequisites for PRFM 3000 level units of study.
Students are encouraged to select one additional PRFM 2600 level unit and three PRFM 3600 level units to complete their major.
Coordinator: Dr Amanda Card
The Fourth Year program in Performance Studies involves the completion of two seminars in semester 1. These seminars will be either:
Critical Theory with Dr Amanda Card and Dr Paul Dwyer
Contemporary Performance with
or
Embodiment with Dr Amanda Card
Honours students are also required to attend the department’s weekly staff and postgraduate research seminar.
In addition, students attend a weekly, one-hour weekly Group Supervision session, in which they prepare to write both their dissertation and casebook, which are both due in semester 2.
At some point in the year, all Honours students will take part in a placement with a professional performance company, or an equivalent organization or project. The exact nature of this placement will be negotiated with the department Honours Co-ordinator, 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, also of 12-15,000 words in length, on a topic to be negotiated in consultation with the Honours Co-ordinator and a designated supervisor.
To qualify for Honours in Performance Studies, you must complete 48 credit points in Performance Studies units of study, including PRFM 3961 Rehearsal Studies and PRFM 3962 Rehearsal to Performance, and 36 credit points in other Senior Level PRFM units of study. In effect, this means completing the 36 credit point major, and additionally completing the two special entry units. A pass at Credit level or above in these units of study is required for entry into Honours.
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.