Stories for a Changing Planet / THR 386 ENV 386 / Spring ’24
Princeton University / 9 Students / Taught Face to Face
A 13-week course investigating a) what makes an “environmental” story onstage? and b) how can we harness the power of theatrical storytelling to address the impacts of environmental injustice?
I was invited to teach this course alongside Steve Cosson of The Civilians as part of an initiative called The Next Forever. The syllabus was developed from the version of this course I taught at College of the Atlantic, and The Civilians’ investigative theater approach. Artists and scholars whose work we studied and/or performed include: Marie Clements, Steve Cosson and Michael Friedman, Héctor Tobar, Heather Houser, Glass Half Full, Kate Douglas, Elena Araoz, Ericka Dickerson-Esperanza, Lisa Woynarski, Manuela Infante.
Fundamentals of Acting / TD 303 / Spring ’22
The University of Texas at Austin / 12 Students / Taught Face to Face
A 16-week course structured in 4 units that moves students back and forth through a range of scripted works (realism, devised, heightened realism, open scene) to develop their understanding of the craft of acting and their relationship to it.
I was assigned to teach this course as part of my graduate studies at UT Austin, the syllabus was developed from scratch and borrowed very loosely from previous iterations of this course. Artists and whose work we studied and/or performed include: Henrik Ibsen, Annie Baker, Yasmina Reza, Sam Shephard, Tanya Saracho, the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma!, Federico Garcia Lorca,Suzan-Lori Parks, Anna Ouyang Moench, Marcela Salinas, Stacy Klein & Double Edge Theater, William Shakespeare.
Native American Drama / AD 3078 / Spring ’22
College of the Atlantic / 10 Students / Taught via Zoom
A 10-week course that investigated how theatrical performance has both advanced the colonialist project in the United States / Turtle Island and resisted it, by studying plays by, for and about Native American and Indigenous communities.
I pitched this course to the Arts & Design faculty at College of the Atlantic, and taught it as a Visiting Faculty. The syllabus was designed in conversation with the Critical Companion to Native American and First Nations Theatre and Drama, and it was inspired by this essay by Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee). Artists and scholars whose work we engaged include: Larissa FastHorse, Suzan-Lori Parks, Arthur Kopit, Lucy Nicolar Poolaw / Princess Watahwaso, Mary Alice Nelson / Molly Spotted Elk, Lynn Riggs, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Headlines Theatre & Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, Kent Monkman / Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Alex Timbers & Michael Friedman, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Spiderwoman Theater.
Introduction to Theater / TD 301 / Fall ’21
The University of Texas at Austin / 294 Students / Taught on Zoom / 3 Full time TAs
A 16-week course structured in 3 units that moves students through three essential questions: what is theater? how do we make it? and why do we make it? To investigate the origins, craft and dramaturgical purpose of contemporary play production.
I was assigned to teach this course as part of my graduate studies at UT Austin, the syllabus was developed from scratch and borrowed very loosely from previous iterations of this course, but employed a range of pre-existing audio-visual materials. Artists and whose work we studied and/or performed include: Chinua Achebe, Bharata Muni, Valmiki, Nina Paley, the anonymous author of Everyman, Henrik Ibsen, Aristotle, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Anne Washburn, Aleshea Harris, Ann G. Wrightson, Elinor Fuchs, KJ Sanchez, Susan Mickey, Bill Bloodgood, Daniel Alexander Jones, Robert Ramirez, Sins Invalid, Ken Cerniglia, Willa Taylor, Larissa FastHorse, Jordan Tannahill, Dave Malloy, Darren O’Donnell, Nandita Dinesh, Broderick Chow.
Performance & Ecology: What can Theatre Do? / AD1057 / Fall ’21
College of the Atlantic / 16 Students / Taught in Person
A 10-week course structured to study the various elements of theatre by asking how might they contribute to an ecological ethos. The four loose units of the course included Narrative, Performance, Objects & Energy, and Relationships.
I pitched this course to the Arts & Design faculty at College of the Atlantic, and taught it as a Visiting Faculty. The syllabus was designed from scratch. Artists and scholars whose work we engaged include: Vicki Angelacki, Michael Chemers, Anne Washburn, Heather Houser, Theresa May, Unsettling Dramaturgy, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Manuela Infante, Chantal Bilodeau, Marie Clements, the Animal Facts Club, Glass Half Full Theater, Rude Mechanicals, The Civilians, Verdenstraet, Grupo Sotz’il, and Mammalian Diving Reflex.
Musical Theater on Stage and Screen / TD 309K / Spring ’21
The University of Texas at Austin / 35 Students / Taught on Zoom / 1 TA
khristián méndez aguirre 