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How do we draw the line between being yourself and performing yourself, between acting and authenticity?
“To thine own self be true,” runs the famous line in Hamlet. But which self? And why? And who’s judging? Does this injunction to be authentic even make sense today, when profiles proliferate online and surveillance is ubiquitous? Acting—the art of creating and reproducing selves—can help us navigate these questions. Just as every century’s approach to acting tells us something about their idea of personhood, so too can our own era’s quandaries around empathy, personae, identity, work, art-making and politics be explored through our approach to acting. This course will examine the construction of private and public selves across eras and disciplines, through a combination of lectures, screenings, readings, and talks. Sections and examinations will be practice-based, focused on a single basic task: students will be asked to turn into each other over the course of the term.
This is a lecture course with a strong practical component. Full course meets Wednesdays from 12pm-2:45pm for lecture and acting workshops, with additional mandatory discussion sections (1h/week) to be scheduled on Thursdays/Fridays. No previous experience of acting or English classes is required, although a willingness to immerse yourself in both reading and performance is expected.