Description: In the last ten years or so the development of new technologies available to the theatre artist and student has grown at a pace comparable to that of many other disciplines. The professional theatre artist, whether a designer, director, playwright or dramaturge, has been increasingly using a wide array of technologies ranging from computer drafting programs for set, lighting, and costume design to 3D imaging programs for the director. There are now special formatting and word processing programs for the playwright, and use of the WWW for a variety of historical, critical, pictorial, documentary and professional research activities has become widespread. The proliferation and the usefulness of these new technologies, as well as the incredible amount of theatre and drama related information on the WWW, need to be taken into account within the Theatre Department curriculum. If the Department is to provide its students with a well rounded education in theatre and drama, it is imperative that we familiarize our students with the tools to make their knowledge of the subjects deeper, more accessible, and &endash;&endash; in light of every student's academic workload &endash;&endash; more efficient.
This project seeks to enable theatre students to make use of the technology in their studies, and by so doing to improve the quality, and possibly change the nature of the classroom work. In our preliminary research we have been able to identify a number of programs available to the theatre artist and scholar and have decided on a two-tier approach to the implementation of the project. Two areas of interest have emerged: (1) the study and use of computer programs in design, directing and playwriting; and (2) the use of the WWW for research in the above disciplines, as well as for the theoretical, historical and critical components of a well rounded education in the field. Thus, for example the theatre curriculum requires students in the design classes to produce drafts and drawings of scenery, lighting plots, calculation of angles, beam spreads, light levels for lighting designs, filling out different technical forms, etc. All of this work is necessary, yet extremely time-consuming, and the use of new technology can minimize the student's mundane work in order to concentrate on the broader artistic and scholarly issues within the given subject. At the same time the historical and theoretical components of the curriculum requires students to conduct broad research on a given period, playwright, director or a specific production. For example, reading a wide array of theatre reviews on a given production or play across regional, national and indeed global boundaries is an invaluable component in understanding not only the play or production itself but also the different esthetics, philosophies, and sensitivities of cultures and artists around the world. The WWW is a perfect tool for such research, and its use should become an everyday tool of any student of the theatre.
There are many more examples of direct curricular application of programming and information technology in the directing and playwriting course work, as well as in thesis work, where the student's use of the WWW should be instrumental.
Impact at Reed and elsewhere: The implementation of the proposed ideas would affect every student in the Theatre Department's history and theory classes, directing and playwriting classes as well as the numerous design classes. The use of technology in lighting and design classes would greatly reduce the focus on methodology, and increase the focus on creativity, history, theory and analysis. The history, theory and thesis student would be able to efficiently navigate his or her way through the WWW, thus accessing a greater amount of information, eliminating lengthy and sometimes unsuccessful library searches, and avoiding useless trivia. The directing student, who would have the opportunity to try out directing choices in a virtual space and to research a given play, production or a playwright on the WWW, would be better prepared for the actual physical staging of a scene or a play. The playwright would reduce the tedious and time consuming task of formatting his or her play, and so save valuable time to concentrate on the structure and the ideas that he or she wants to express.
In addition to the theatre student population, the project would potentially benefit students in the English and foreign language departments. There are a number of drama and theatre related courses offered in Russian, German, French and Spanish, as well as in the English department, and the knowledge of the WWW as a research and documentary tool in theatre and drama knows no cultural and language barrier. Additionally, every academic year approximately ten percent of Reed's students are active participants in a theatre production, class or an array of production related activities. Any enhancement in the scope and efficiency of the production and class work will therefore benefit a great number of students involved with the theatre department.
Timeline: Several steps will be needed to implement the project successfully. First, Max Muller and I &endash;&endash; with the help of a student assistant &endash;&endash; will identify the appropriate technology and databases during the spring semester (98). This step is of prime importance, and will involve a rather time consuming "wading through" the large number of programs and information available on the net. As with any technology and information network, there is often a fine line between usefulness and mere entertainment or trivial value. The identification of truly useful technology and usable sites on the WWW will therefore be the first step of our research. This may involve some hit and miss strategy. However, we have identified some individuals and trade conferences whose advice and expertise should help us to develop a short list of programs and web sites which we plan to master in the second step of the project. In addition, we are planning to invite one or two identified experts in the field to the theatre department in order to advise on and demonstrate some of the possible uses of the technology in the curriculum.
This second step, during the spring and part of the summer (98) will involve the actual acquisition of those programs. Again with the assistance of a student assistant we will develop a mastery of these programs and chart up the ways in which these programs and research tools can be incorporated into class work. We will develop a detailed plan with the appropriate changes in the curriculum, as well as student assignments, that will directly involve the new technology and research tools. Since many of the programs require large capacity computers, we will need to acquire a computer able to run those programs.
In the final step we will introduce the tools into the class work (fall semester 98). We will familiarize students with the technologies in several class meetings; we will assign tasks directly involving the technology and require the students to manifest its use. For example, a lighting student will present a lighting plot developed on a computer; set design students will present their drafts created with the technology; history students will be assigned a specific play and asked to research the critical response and the different directorial approaches to that play using Internet research tools; the playwriting students will be asked to present their drafts in a specific format using the formatting programs; and the directing student will be asked to develop a ground plan and preliminary blocking plan with the use of the 3D imaging program. We will pay special attention to the student evaluation of those tools, elicit their responses as far as the usefulness of the programs is concerned, and implement any necessary modifications to the project. It is our hope that at the end of this trial period a clear picture of the usefulness of the new technology in the theatre education will emerge and lead to a permanent modification of the theatre curriculum, starting with the spring semester (99).