1. Establish, develop and operate a professional theatre company and realise your material through rehearsal, production and performance.
Application

2. Demonstrate mastery in your own practice, drawing on cutting edge professional working methods of your choosing, framed by academic discourse and understanding
Learning, Knowledge and Understanding.

3. Apply and critically appraise feedback mechanisms to your work.
Application and Problem Solving

4. Implement an advanced, informed, ethical and innovative set of critical, creative and interpretive theatre making skills.
Enquiry and Application

5. Critically reflect upon the efficacy of your rehearsal, production and performance processes, and articulate, justify and/or defend choices made, evidencing how these impacted on the project’s creation, development and performance.
Analysis and Reflection

Company Project Pitch LO 1,3
Project: Performance LO 1,2,3,4,
Dissertation or negotiated equivalent LO 2, 5. (Negotiated Dissertation or negotiated equivalent eg extended viva with accompanying documentation and evidence).

In this module you will collaborate with others to create and run your own professional Theatre Company.

Your work will be informed and supported by your previous learning on the MA, which we hope will prepare and empower you to take collective ownership: initiative apposite and innovative processes and practices: and take responsibility and control of your work.

You will be asked to determine an identity and ethos for your company, establish your target audience(s) and agree on the theatrical material you wish to generate and present for public performances.

You will determine your specific role or roles for your company and identify any areas where you may need to bring in additional help. This may include professional actors or specialist digital or support. Your company will receive a budget, which you will be collectively responsible for allocating and managing.

You and your company will be responsible for contacting venues and arranging opportunities to pitch, market and sell your product. You will be expected to take ownership of the creative processes, challenges and logistics of running your company.

You will be asked to review and analyse your work through a dissertation or negotiated alternative that will be approved by a negotiated learning contract
.
Finally, at the end of the module you will receive summative feedback for your learning journey throughout the MA and consider your future career possibilities and trajectories

The practical work for this module is student-led, informed and supported by the learning to date on the MA programme. It actively encourages and promotes heuristic principles of learning. Students will determine their own working timetable, modes and methods of working, establish targets and set deadlines and take collective control and ownership of their work. They will work independently, interpersonally and under pressure with flexibility, imagination, self- motivation and organisation. They will explore critical perspectives on relevant theories and debates in relation to performance creation , referring to histories, traditions of performance and the practice of relevant theatre makers.

After the completion of the project they will be involved in a series of staff and student led feedback practices and processes. They will then analyse and reflect upon their creative achievement and learning in the form of a negotiated and agreed assessment which will be 6,000 words or equivalent.

The Library Home Page [which includes a Summon search box along with other resources]
https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/libraryresources

Preliminary recommended reading

Deiorio, V. The Art of Theatrical Sound Design: A Practical Guide (Backstage) Bloomsbury 2018
Holden A. Structural Design for the Stage – (2015)
Huaixiang, Tan. Character Costume Figure Drawing – Focal Press (20100.
Leher, Jonah. Imagine - How Creativity Works – Houghton Mifflin (2012).
Moran N, Performance Lighting Design: How to Light for the Stage, Concerts and Live Events (2019)
Mulcahy Liz, British Theatre Companies, 1998 – 2014, Allworth Press
Murray, B How to Direct a Play - Oberon Books (2011).
Pallin, G, Stage Management: The Essential Handbook – (2010)
Saunders G, British Theatre Companies 1980 -1994 - Methuen

Each mentor will also recommend specific reading during tutorials.

Rehearsal studios, tutorial and seminar space, with facilities for portfolio creation.
Presentation facilities for formal presentations.
University Library
IT facilities
Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment will support this module where relevant.
Budget and technical support and provision to engage professional actors and/or additional technical support (This has been included in the agreed budget for the MA.) .
Online and electronic resources including:
Drama on line - https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/v
BBC Box of Broadcasts - https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/libraryresources