Writer's Workshop

Course:ENGL 220 D 
When: MTRF 2-5 pm
Where: unavailable
Instructor: Joe Hilsee
Office: PAC 240
Phone: (530) 898-5424
E-Mail: JHilsee@csuchico.edu
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Required Texts:

There is no required text for this course. We will study some or all of the
following poems for dramatic interpretation:

"The Wind-struck Music" Robinson Jeffers
"The End of the World" Archibald MacLeish
"Richard Cory" Edwin Arlington Robinson
"How to Treat Elves" Morris Bishop
"Departmental" Robert Frost
"Permanently" Kenneth Koch
"The Art of Love" Kenneth Koch
"The First Men on Mercury" Edwin Morgan

We will also explore dramatic adaption of some or all of the following short
stories by Raymond Carver:

A Small, Good Thing
Cathedral
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Where I'm Coming From
Why Don't You Dance

Suggested Readings:

See Above

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Evaluation Procedures:

At the end of the three-week session, you will receive a grade based upon your daily class participation and contribution as well as the overall quality of your writing. This evaluation process will include a certain amount of self-evaluation, since artistic work is often best judged by whether it has truly sprung from necessity (to paraphrase Rilke).

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Course Requirements:

ATTENDANCE. Daily attendance is mandatory.

JOURNAL ENTRIES. Each entry is one-page minimum and is a response to the days exercises.

GROUP AND PERSONAL WORK CULMINATING IN FINAL PERFORMANCE. You will participate in choosing the content and the form for your group's final performance.

NOTE: There is a prerequisite to this class: Successful completion of advanced creative writing courses or the equivalent. You should have a body of work upon which you can draw for the final performance.

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Weekly Schedule:

Week 1 
Topics for discussion: 

The relationship between performer, material and audience..The physical
aspects of performance, specifically, the use of voice in performance in
terms of: breath control; volume, control and focus of projection; pitch and quality; rate and pause; and intelligibility of speech.

Journal entry on Koch's "Art of Love" 
What 'voices' are used in the poem? 
Choose one section for journal entry and class discussion.

Group and Personal work: 

Bring own work to class. Themes, issues? Brief overview. Title, genre,
description, theme. Persona, locus, audience. What do you want to perform before an audience? How? Why?

Does one person have to read his/her poem? Are there other voices in the poem? Could they be given to others? Same with prose. No choice in drama. 

Form and content: You will discuss and begin informing and enriching your work with other various genres or discourses, such as letters, essays, biography, diaries, news reports, music.

Begin forming thematic groups for the culminating performance, sharing work, exploring ways in which their work might be performed (solo, choral, etc.).  Each group will be responsible for a beginning performance of one short work or part of a work in front of the class by the end of the week.

What will be the overall title for culminating performance? 

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Week 2 

Topics for discussion: 

A continuing look at poetry in terms of language and types or forms
(dramatic, lyric, narrative). Introduction to inherent dramatic elements of
the short story in terms of stage adaption. 

Discussion of solo and group performance of drama in terms of: working a scene; rhythm; style; and scenography.

Exploration of group performance of literature, contrasting it with solo
performance of literature. We will also look at readers theatre and chamber theatre.


Group and Personal work:

Group adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories.

Focus on the narration in your work, looking at: point of view; action and
plot; character; dialogue; setting; and cutting and excerpting.

Groups will make a written plan or map of the materials they are performing as a culminating project: the cast for each; the director for each; an analysis of each in terms of performance.

You will begin staging your complete work, focusing on: control; memorizing lines (if needed); setting the scene; properties; embodying characters; coordinating voice and bodies of characters; physical contact; and interplay of characters. Throughout, class members will critique each group's performance.

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Week 3 

Focus on final performance:

Rehearsals, critiques and run-throughs of culminating solo and group
performances.

Class will make final decisions on timing of final performance. It will also
prepare programs and flyers to advertise the performance.