ECS 100a European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
[ dl hum oc ]

Explores the interrelationship of literature, music, painting, philosophy, and other arts in the era of high modernism. Works by Artaud, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Mann, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Kandinsky, Schiele, Beckett, Brecht, Adorno, Sartre, Heidegger, and others. Usually offered every fall semester.

ENG 41a Critical Digital Humanities Methods and Applications
[ deis-us dl hum ]

Introduces critical digital humanities methods and applications. Considers both theory and praxis, the issues of open and accessible scholarship and work, and the centrality of collaboration. We will investigate power relations, inclusivity, and the ethics of social justice. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 79a Screenwriting Workshop: Beginning Screenplay
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Fundamentals of screenwriting: structure, plot, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students read screenwriting theory, scripts, analyze files, and produce an outline and the first act of an original screenplay. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119b Poetry Workshop: Special Topics in Poetry
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

For those who wish to improve as poets while broadening their knowledge of poetry, through a wide spectrum of readings. Students' poems will be discussed in a "workshop" format with emphasis on revision. Remaining time will cover assigned readings and issues of craft. Usually offered every year.

ENG 139a Publishing Workshop: Literary Editing and Publishing
[ dl hum oc ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of an introductory letter including student's major, writing/editing experience, why publishing is of interest to them, any experimental literary publications/performances they've experienced. This course fulfills a workshop requirement for the Creative Writing major and minor. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within the Registration periods.

Editing and publishing a literary journal -- either digital, print, or in more experimental forms -- can be an important component of a writer's creative life and sense of literary citizenship. This experiential learning course will engage students with theoretical and historical reading as well as provide practical hands-on tools for literary publishing. Broadsided Press (www.broadsidedpress.org) will be used as a case study. A group publishing project will be part of the coursework, and this can be tied into journals already being published on campus. By the end of the semester, students will have a fuller sense of the work, mindset, difficulties, strategies, and values of a literary publisher. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 149a Screenwriting Workshop: Writing the Streaming Series
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Introduces students to the craft of writing for a variety of television programming formats, including episodic, late-night, and public service announcements. Students will read and view examples and create their own works within each genre. Usually offered every year.

HISP 85a Introduction to U.S. Latinx Literatures and Cultures
[ deis-us djw dl hum ]

Introduces students to U.S. Latinx cultural productions and to the interdisciplinary questions that concern U.S. Latinx communities. Latinxs have played a vital role in the history, politics, and cultures of the United States. U.S. Latinx literary works, in particular, have established important socio-historical and aesthetic networks that highlight Latinx expression and lived experiences, engaging with issues including biculturalism, language, citizenship, systems of value, and intersectional identity. Though the Latinx literary tradition spans more than 400 years, this course will focus on 20th and 21st century texts that decolonize nationalist approaches to Latinidad(es) and therefore challenge existing Latinx literary 'canons.' Taught in English. Usually offered every year.

ENG 60a Storytelling Performance
[ hum oc ]

This experiential course is a workshop for students to craft and perform stories for live audiences at Brandeis and elsewhere in the Boston area. Through a series of collaborative exercises and rehearsals, students will develop a repertoire of several kinds of stories, including autobiographies, fictions, folk tales, and local history. We will tell our individual and group stories, as a team, at youth programs, open mics, and other public spaces. Usually offered every second year.

FA 5b Sculpture: Blurring the Boundaries
[ ca ]

This studio course is an opportunity to work both in painting and in sculpture. Students are expected to create a dialogue between methods of collage, drawing, monotype, painting, and methods of constructing three-dimensional objects, including mixed media and installation. We use paintings as a source for sculpture, and sculpture as a source for painting. There will be an additional two hours of monitored shop time that students are required to attend weekly outside of scheduled class time. Usually offered every year.

FA 6a Sculpture: Body as Source
[ ca ]

Explores how the body can be involved in the subject of making sculpture. Examines different ways in which the body is used as a source, including observation, process, fragmentation, narrative, and performance. Projects are introduced through slides from contemporary artists implementing the concepts put forth. Usually offered every second year.

FA 8a Introduction to Video Art
[ ca dl ]

Explores producing moving images as fine art. While a basic overview of Adobe Premiere software is offered, emphasis is on conceptual framework and cultivating methodologies that best suit ideas. Students will experiment with materials, modes of production (performance, experimental documentation, appropriation, non-linear narrative), and exhibition (video monitors, projection, theatrical, installation, Internet) in order to consider the effect of these decisions on generating meaning and to better communicate one's statement through the genre. Usually offered every semester.

MUS 106a Undergraduate Composition
[ ca ]

Prerequisite: MUS 5a or equivalent experience. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. May be repeated once for credit.

Students are introduced to a variety of compositional issues by writing five or six short pieces and one longer project. Concurrently, pertinent examples from the twentieth-century classical repertoire will be discussed. Usually offered every second year.

MUS 107a Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music
[ ca dl ]

Prerequisite: Any music course or permission of the instructor.

A course designed to give students basic studio skills and a context for listening to and working in electronic music. Topics include basic acoustics, sound design, digital and analog recording techniques, and assignments on the pioneers and current practitioners of electro-acoustic music. Involves hands-on experience in the use of MIDI-controlled synthesizers, samplers, production equipment, and includes individual studio projects based on individual studio time. Usually offered every second year.

MUS 113a Introduction to Conducting
[ ca ]

Prerequisite: MUS 103a,b or permission of instructor.

Covers the fundamentals of choral and instrumental conducting techniques and is designed for all students interested in conducting musical ensembles. Fundamentals include basic metrical patterns, dynamic shading, cues, entrances, cutoffs, and uses of the left hand. All students have the opportunity to conduct several times throughout the semester. Usually offered every third year.

MUS 160b Electronic Music Composition and Production
[ ca dl ]

Preference given to students who have taken MUS 107a or have permission of the instructor. Intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

Builds upon topics from MUS 107a and develops these into the professional skills of recording, production, and electronic composition. Students will refine these skills in both individual and collaborative projects. Work is carried out in BEAMS (Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio), but every effort will be made to equip students to compose on their own computers and to work collaboratively using contemporary tools, especially the Internet. Foundational concepts and approaches for this course will be drawn from both 20th century Avant Garde electronic composition and the commercial/popular music industry. Usually offered every other year.

THA 10a Theater as Collaboration
[ ca oc ]

Develops the student's ability to read a theatrical text through the lens of the collaborative theater artist. Reading, discussions, papers, and exercises about acting, directing, movement, design, dramaturgy, technical theater, and management will constitute the bulk of this course. Intended as the entry level course for majors, minors, and interested students with a background in theater. Usually offered every year.

THA 22b Undergraduate Singing
[ ca ]

Prerequisite: Instructor permission. May be repeated for credit.

Discover the joy in finding your singing voice! Explores the fundamentals of singing in detail, concentrating on breath and relaxation, placement and resonance, and tonal quality. Specific exercises for each facet of vocal production are covered.  Work includes solo and ensemble repertoire. No experience required, all levels are welcomed. Usually offered every year.

THA 70a Directing: Imagination in Action
[ ca dl ]

Examines the art of theater from the director's perspective. Focuses on how theory and practice meet in the crucible of actual rehearsal, production, and performance from the director's point of view. Usually offered every year.

THA 105a Singing for Musical Theater
[ ca ]

May be repeated for credit.

Fundamentals in singing techniques using the repertoire of the musical theater. Students practice healthy vocal habits for breath support, focusing resonance, extending the tonal line, and clarity of diction. The course is a combination of group sessions and individual lessons. Usually offered every year.

THA 109a Improvisation for Theatre: Acting Unscripted
[ ca ]

An approach to acting through the stimulation of the actor's imagination and creativity, freeing the actor's impulses and faith. Improvisation breaks down the elements of scene work and, through a series of exercises, makes these elements more personal and accessible to the actor. Usually offered every second year.

THA 110b Contemporary Dance and Movement
[ ca hwl2 pe-1 ]

Offers a variety of fundamental dance/movement methods, while focusing primarily on the basic forms and movement vocabulary of Contemporary Dance. Students will learn to appreciate contemporary dance as a valuable art form and engage in collaborative creative projects, history, research, and a variety of choreographic styles such as floor work, development movement, and release technique. Students will develop physical and mental strength and flexibility by participating in warm-ups, traveling phrases across the floor, combinations, and structured improvisations. Usually offered every year.

THA 111b Stage Combat
[ ca hwl2 pe-1 ]

Prerequisite: Instructor permission required.

The course's purpose is to teach the basic skills necessary for the creation of effective and safe stage combat. At the completion of the semester, student competency will be tested by means of a choreographed "fight" utilizing compulsory moves and safety techniques. Usually offered every year.

THA 120b Movement and Dance Theater Composition
[ ca ]

Counts as one activity course toward the physical education requirement.

A studio course designed to teach the art of making dances and movement theater. Students will learn from the story of this artform and how it involves exploring the use of space, theme, rhythm, repetition, and music. The online course offers an introduction to the process of creating original dance and movement theatrical work for the stage and presents exercises and tools for creating dance movement using inspiration from autobiographical material, visual and oral content, poetry, literature, forms of all kinds in a variety of disciplines. Usually offered every year.

THA 125a Acting for the Camera
[ ca ]

A process-based acting class. Emphasis is on developing the actor's ability to work honestly and creatively in front of the camera. All work is videotaped. Students regularly review their performances in order to advance their critical understanding of the work. Usually offered two consecutive years with a third-year hiatus.

THA 130a Suzuki
[ ca hwl2 pe-1 ]

Counts as one activity course toward the physical education requirement. Undergraduates may repeat this course twice for credit.

Developed by the Japanese theater artist Tadashi Suzuki, the Suzuki method of acting training develops physical strength, stamina, and agility while engaging the imagination and will of the actor. Through a series of walks, statues, and marches, students are taught to breathe and move from the core of their bodies. This training allows students to act from physical impulse, resulting in a deep and personal experience of language and the world of play. Usually offered every semester.

THA 132a Collaborative Creation
[ ca ]

May be repeated once for credit.
 

The COVID pandemic exposed the ongoing questions of how we make theater. This course asks if we could reinvent the theater, how would we transform what is possible in performance, design, text, and collaboration? We will explore the process of collaborative creation from the idea to performance. All students work as performers, directors, writers, and designers in a creative laboratory supporting the creation of original and adapted theater pieces, based on material that resonates with the group. You will be challenged to grow artistically in your area of interest. Students will learn particular devising techniques, such a Viewpoints and Moment work. Usually offered every second year.

THA 199a Senior Seminar: The Professional Experience
[ oc ]

Open only to Theater Art majors. Instructor permission required. Yields half-course credit.

Professional field exploration and preparation for all seniors graduating with a degree in Theater Arts, covering a variety of topics through in-depth seminars with working professionals, faculty, and staff. Students will be exposed to all of the possibilities awaiting them within the professional field and will gain skill in presenting their own work In theater. Students in the seminar will work extensively on their oral communication skills in professional and presentational settings. Usually offered every year.

AMST/ENG 47a Frontier Visions: The West in American Literature and Culture
[ hum oc ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took ENG 47a in prior years.

Explores more than two centuries of literary and visual culture about the American West, including the frontier myth, Indian captivity narratives, frontier humor, dime novel and Hollywood westerns, the Native American Renaissance, and western regionalism. Authors include Black Hawk, Cather, Doig, Silko, Turner, and Twain. Usually offered every third year.

ECS 100a European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
[ dl hum oc ]

Explores the interrelationship of literature, music, painting, philosophy, and other arts in the era of high modernism. Works by Artaud, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Mann, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Kandinsky, Schiele, Beckett, Brecht, Adorno, Sartre, Heidegger, and others. Usually offered every fall semester.

ENG 60a Storytelling Performance
[ hum oc ]

This experiential course is a workshop for students to craft and perform stories for live audiences at Brandeis and elsewhere in the Boston area. Through a series of collaborative exercises and rehearsals, students will develop a repertoire of several kinds of stories, including autobiographies, fictions, folk tales, and local history. We will tell our individual and group stories, as a team, at youth programs, open mics, and other public spaces. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 109a Poetry Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

A workshop for poets willing to explore and develop their craft through intense reading in current poetry, stylistic explorations of content, and imaginative stretching of forms. Usually offered every year.

ENG 109b Fiction Workshop: Short Fiction
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

This workshop will focus on short fiction--stories ten pages and under in length. We will use writing exercises, assigned readings, and essays on craft to discuss structure, character development, point of view, and other elements of fiction. While appropriate for all levels, this workshop might be of special interest to writers who want a secure foundation in the basics. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119a Fiction Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

An advanced fiction workshop. Students are expected to compose and revise their fiction, complete typed critiques of each other's work weekly, and discuss readings based on examples of various techniques. Usually offered every year.

ENG 139a Publishing Workshop: Literary Editing and Publishing
[ dl hum oc ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Students will be selected after the submission of an introductory letter including student's major, writing/editing experience, why publishing is of interest to them, any experimental literary publications/performances they've experienced. This course fulfills a workshop requirement for the Creative Writing major and minor. Please refer to the Schedule of Classes for submission formats and deadlines within the Registration periods.

Editing and publishing a literary journal -- either digital, print, or in more experimental forms -- can be an important component of a writer's creative life and sense of literary citizenship. This experiential learning course will engage students with theoretical and historical reading as well as provide practical hands-on tools for literary publishing. Broadsided Press (www.broadsidedpress.org) will be used as a case study. A group publishing project will be part of the coursework, and this can be tied into journals already being published on campus. By the end of the semester, students will have a fuller sense of the work, mindset, difficulties, strategies, and values of a literary publisher. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 139b Screenwriting Workshop: Intermediate Screenwriting
[ hum oc wi ]

Prerequisites: ENG 79a. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

In this writing-intensive course, students build on screenwriting basics and delve more deeply into the creative process. Participants read and critique each other's work, study screenplays and view films, and submit original written material on a biweekly basis. At the conclusion of the course each student will have completed the first draft of a screenplay (100-120 pages). Usually offered every year.

HSSP 118b Viewing Medicine and Health Policy Through the Lens of Literature
[ oc ss ]

Literature–fiction, memoir, poetry, and drama–offers a powerful lens for studying key health policy issues. By harnessing the power of authors' imaginations, insights and compelling stories, students can gain deeper insight into topics including: patient centered care, ethics in research, access to healthcare, obesity and hunger, role of the pharmaceutical and tobacco, aging policy, disability, and clinicians' roles and training. Usually offered every second year.

WGS 135b Postcolonial Feminisms
[ hum oc ]

Examines feminist theories, literature, and film from formerly colonized, Anglophone countries in South Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa. It takes the shared path of decolonization and postcoloniality to discuss the development of feminist discourse and the diverse trajectories of gendered lives. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 19a Introduction to Creative Writing Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis.

A workshop for beginning writers. Practice and discussion of short literary forms such as fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Other forms may also be explored. Usually offered every year.

ENG 79a Screenwriting Workshop: Beginning Screenplay
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Fundamentals of screenwriting: structure, plot, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students read screenwriting theory, scripts, analyze files, and produce an outline and the first act of an original screenplay. Usually offered every year.

ENG 109a Poetry Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

A workshop for poets willing to explore and develop their craft through intense reading in current poetry, stylistic explorations of content, and imaginative stretching of forms. Usually offered every year.

ENG 109b Fiction Workshop: Short Fiction
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

This workshop will focus on short fiction--stories ten pages and under in length. We will use writing exercises, assigned readings, and essays on craft to discuss structure, character development, point of view, and other elements of fiction. While appropriate for all levels, this workshop might be of special interest to writers who want a secure foundation in the basics. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119a Fiction Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

An advanced fiction workshop. Students are expected to compose and revise their fiction, complete typed critiques of each other's work weekly, and discuss readings based on examples of various techniques. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119b Poetry Workshop: Special Topics in Poetry
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

For those who wish to improve as poets while broadening their knowledge of poetry, through a wide spectrum of readings. Students' poems will be discussed in a "workshop" format with emphasis on revision. Remaining time will cover assigned readings and issues of craft. Usually offered every year.

ENG 129a Creative Nonfiction Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Students will learn how to use a wide range of literary techniques to produce factual narratives drawn from their own perspectives and lives. Creative assignments and discussions will include the personal essay, the memoir essay and literary journalism. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 139b Screenwriting Workshop: Intermediate Screenwriting
[ hum oc wi ]

Prerequisites: ENG 79a. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

In this writing-intensive course, students build on screenwriting basics and delve more deeply into the creative process. Participants read and critique each other's work, study screenplays and view films, and submit original written material on a biweekly basis. At the conclusion of the course each student will have completed the first draft of a screenplay (100-120 pages). Usually offered every year.

ENG 149a Screenwriting Workshop: Writing the Streaming Series
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Introduces students to the craft of writing for a variety of television programming formats, including episodic, late-night, and public service announcements. Students will read and view examples and create their own works within each genre. Usually offered every year.

GECS 130b The Princess and the Golem: Fairy Tales
[ hum wi ]

Conducted in English.

Compares Walt Disney's films with German and other European fairy tales from the nineteenth and twentieth century, focusing on feminist and psychoanalytic readings. Usually offered every second year.

THA 142b Women Playwrights: Writing for the Stage by and about Women
[ ca deis-us wi ]

Introduces the world of women playwrights. This course will engage the texts through common themes explored by women playwrights: motherhood (and daughterhood), reproduction, sexuality, family relationships, etc. Students will participate in writing or performance exercises based on these themes. Usually offered every second year.

AMST/JOUR 113a Long-form Journalism: Storytelling for Magazines and Podcasts
[ dl oc ss ]

What makes for a great story? This course will examine the hallmarks of successful narrative nonfiction, in both written and audio form. Students will analyze award-winning magazine stories as well as reporting-based podcasts that have injected new energy and financial success into the journalism world. They will learn story structure and techniques to capture and hold the audience's attention. And they will learn by doing, producing their own podcasts and written pieces. his course fulfills the Reporting requirement of the Journalism minor. Usually offered every year.

ENG 19a Introduction to Creative Writing Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis.

A workshop for beginning writers. Practice and discussion of short literary forms such as fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Other forms may also be explored. Usually offered every year.

ENG 79a Screenwriting Workshop: Beginning Screenplay
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Fundamentals of screenwriting: structure, plot, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students read screenwriting theory, scripts, analyze files, and produce an outline and the first act of an original screenplay. Usually offered every year.

ENG 109b Fiction Workshop: Short Fiction
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

This workshop will focus on short fiction--stories ten pages and under in length. We will use writing exercises, assigned readings, and essays on craft to discuss structure, character development, point of view, and other elements of fiction. While appropriate for all levels, this workshop might be of special interest to writers who want a secure foundation in the basics. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119a Fiction Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

An advanced fiction workshop. Students are expected to compose and revise their fiction, complete typed critiques of each other's work weekly, and discuss readings based on examples of various techniques. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119b Poetry Workshop: Special Topics in Poetry
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

For those who wish to improve as poets while broadening their knowledge of poetry, through a wide spectrum of readings. Students' poems will be discussed in a "workshop" format with emphasis on revision. Remaining time will cover assigned readings and issues of craft. Usually offered every year.

ENG 149a Screenwriting Workshop: Writing the Streaming Series
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Enrollment is by instructor permission after the submission of a manuscript sample. Please refer to the schedule of classes for submission information. May be repeated for credit.

Introduces students to the craft of writing for a variety of television programming formats, including episodic, late-night, and public service announcements. Students will read and view examples and create their own works within each genre. Usually offered every year.