Summer, 2005

Welcome Theatre in Chicago students:

As a student enrolled in the Discover Chicago Program, your first week at DePaul University will likely be a memorable one. It will certainly be a busy one. Former participants report the experience to be intense, exhausting, enlightening, and fun. We hope you will find the class you’ve chosen to be all those things and more!

Each Discover Chicago course is developed and taught by a team made up of an academic instructor, a student leader, and a staff professional. Your instructor for the course is Dean Corrin (Dean is his name, though he is also the Associate Dean of The Theatre School – but not a real Dean at all), an associate professor in The Theatre School and a member of the Playwrights Ensemble at Chicago’s Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theatre. Your student mentor is Kara Brodhead. She is a second year Digital Cinema major hailing from Frederick, Maryland. The first time she ever set foot in Chicago was her Premiere DePaul Freshman Orientation and she hasn't looked back since. Your staff assistant is Mark Burns who has worked for DePaul University in the Office of Development for about five years. This is his second Discover Chicago class as a staff professional. Mark has worked in the theatre as an actor, improv performer and playwright. Two of his ten minute plays have been produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and a one-act of his had a public reading in June at Chicago Dramatists. He has also performed locally as a musician in the rock band Melanie's Waiting.

The Discover Chicago Program is divided into two phases. The first one is termed the Immersion Week and is largely experiential in nature. Various site visits are taken around the City during the week before regular fall classes begin. For our course, this means that we will be visiting theatres around Chicago to meet with local theatre artists and attend performances. We’ll see shows ranging from the Broadway musical Wicked to American Rock Anthem, a brand new play written and produced by DePaul University graduates. The second phase, called the Plus Part, continues into the seventh week of autumn quarter. (Discover Chicago classes meet for fewer hours than other autumn quarter classes because a lot of course work is already completed during the Immersion Week.) In the Plus Part, we will read and discuss articles by critics and theatre artists about theatre and its relationship to communities. We will apply the ideas from these articles to our analysis of the performances we have seen and create proposals for performances we would like to see. There also is non-academic co-curricular component called the Common Hour associated with the Plus Part. This segment of the class consists of sessions dedicated to programming about various University resources and campus activities.

We realize all this information is a bit much to take in at once. Rest assured you will hear more about everything again on the first day of class, which is Monday, August 29.  In the morning there will be a general welcome and orientation, after which we will meet as a class to go over what is planned for the upcoming week and then attend a BBQ. That afternoon we’ll spend some time exploring the campus and the neighborhood (visiting some theatres in the area).

The various activities Theatre in Chicago are still being worked out, but will include attending performances at a variety of Chicago venues. (There will be no textbook to purchase for this class but there will be an activity fee to cover the cost of tickets. This fee will be less than $100. Please be prepared to pay this fee by cash or check on the first day of class.) We intend to sample a broad range of work that will represent a sampling of the many different kinds of theatre produced by Chicago artists. We’ll also meet with theatre artists and administrators to talk about their work and the missions of their theatres. After a week of viewing and talking about theatre, we will conclude our Immersion Week with a community service activity on Tuesday, September 6^th. We will probably visit TimeLine Theatre Company. It was founded in 1998 by graduates of DePaul and was recently hailed by The New York Times in an article on Chicago theatres. We’ll learn about their history, their mission and their plans for the future before helping out with some volunteer work like stuffing envelopes, painting, or cleaning. After that we’ll return to campus and end Immersion Week with a celebratory picnic in the quad late that afternoon.

Throughout our activities we will be concerned not only with what we see on the stages of these theatres but also with the other elements that make up the theatre-going experience. We will observe the interaction between the audience and the performers, the interaction among the audience, the physical characteristics of the theatre and the nature of the community (both geographically and demographically) in which the theatre is located. We will use articles by theatre artists, theorists and journalists to frame our discussions. Some readings that should be completed before our first class will be posted on Dean’s website at http://condor.depaul.edu/~dcorrin/. Look for the “Discover Chicago” link. If you don’t have access to the web, let Dean know so that these articles can be mailed to you. We’ll add additional readings when we get underway in September.

During our site visits you will be required to keep a journal recording your observations and responses. Some of our initial work together will be establishing criteria about what should be included in these entries. In order to begin this process there is some work to complete before you arrive. First, write two journal entries recording your observations of two performances you attended this summer. (These could include plays, concerts, athletic contests, lectures, political rallies, religious services, etc. Live events would be preferable but you could include attending a movie if that is your only alternative.) Record in your entries as many details about the event as you can. Include activities you observe or take part in before and after the event. Remember to consider the audience and the location as much as the performance. These journal entries are not reviews or essays. Think of these entries as collections of data you might use later to analyze or write about these performances. Second, write one paragraph (approximately 250 words) responding to this question, “Do the performing arts serve a purpose?” Please carefully proofread this paragraph to make sure that your position is clear, your sentences complete and your spelling correct. Send these (typed) assignments to Dean by e-mail (or by snail mail if you don’t have e-mail access) by Monday, August 22.

There is a lot of information to absorb in this letter, but we’ll repeat the highlights (and add two new items):

· Our first meeting will be on Monday, August 29 after the general orientation and welcome.

· Our Discover Chicago schedule runs from Monday, August 29 through Tuesday, September 6. (We will not meet on Saturday, Sunday or Monday.) Because we will be attending performances, we will meet primarily in the afternoons and evenings, and we will be going to a late show on Friday night. Plan to go to the theatre every evening during the Immersion Week.

· There will be no textbook to buy but there will be an activity fee (under $100) payable to Dean by cash or check at the first class.

· Readings will be posted on Dean’s website that should be completed before our first class.

· Two journal entries and a one paragraph response are due before August 22.

· Because we will be attending these events as both observers and participants, we will want to fit in with the rest of the audience. Plan to wear casual but “nice” clothing. You don’t need to look like you are on the way to the Academy Awards but please don’t look like you’re on the way to the beach either. Also, we’ll be doing a lot of walking and running up steps to catch the “el” so you’ll be doing yourself a favor by wearing comfortable shoes.

· If you have any special needs or medical conditions that the instructors should be aware of to make this class successful for you, please let us know so that we can plan accordingly.

With all that, we hope you can enjoy what's left of your summer.  The team is looking forward to meeting you and personally welcoming you to DePaul.  In the meantime, if you have any questions about the course or the University in general, please don't hesitate to contact any of us.

Sincerely,

Dean Corrin Kara Brodhead

Chair, Theatre Studies Department Sophomore, Digital Cinema

Associate Professor, The Theatre School kbtoys426@aol.com

dcorrin@depaul.edu

773-325-7932

773-531-1762

Mark Burns

Office of Development

mburns3@depaul.edu

312-362-5651