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Comprehensive Exam - Oral and Written
2007-08 SENIOR COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
The Written Examination
For the written examination, you should assume the role of artistic director for a middle-size, liberal arts college or university theatre that produces a three-play season. Your theatre is located within a small metropolitan area containing a sizable, established arts audience with a wide range of intellectual and entertainment interests and tastes. You are to engage in your role as artistic director by developing a season of three plays (one each in the fall, winter, spring) that is reflective of three different historical periods in theatre and in a variety of production styles for directing, acting, and design. In assembling the season, choose one of the following broad themes, (or something similar of our own choosing) which will interconnect the three plays and write a rationale for your choices:
1. Theatre and politics
2. Theatre and the family as a social unit
3. Theatre and humankind’s relationship to the Divine
- Theatre and a contemporary social issue
- Another theme of your choice
Part of this exam is research. Even if you choose to stage a Greek tragedy in a contemporary fashion, we expect you to write something about the playwright, the function and purpose of theatre in that particular period, and how space, design, text, and performance style were used in a production (if only to support why you might be departing from the original period). Part of this exam is also making artistic choices. You must address the areas of acting, design, and directing for each play in your productions and how they are a part of your season theme.
*We have examples of past exams on permanent Closed Reserve (under Menta).
Requirements of the Written Examination
1. A minimum of 25 full pages, typed, double-spaced, 12-point font, based on a three-play season following one of the themes noted above.
2. Due 3rd week, Winter 2008 term, Tuesday, January 22, 2008 by 5:00 PM.
3. Use the MLA as a guide to form and style and works cited (use parenthetical rather than footnotes.)
4. Be certain that you develop your season from a solid thesis introduced at the beginning of your essay. Consider the wide range of plays you have studied over the years and select those three that you believe can best serve the theme you have chosen. You may choose a musical or opera as one of your three choices.
5. Consider your audience. What are your objectives for the audience? Are you attempting to entertain, to educate, or politicize them?
6. Your main effort should be devoted to building a strong season without much concern for expenses. Remember to address each area of acting, design, and directing for each play. A specific design metaphor that is directly or indirectly related to the text will be very useful!
7. Assume that you have a talented core of students, community members, and professionals working on the productions. Plays should be selected based on their fitting with your theme and the talent you have available.
8. Assume that the audience is reasonably intelligent, is socially and politically diverse, and enjoys coming to your productions.
9. The exam must be turned in by the due date and time. Grammar, spelling, and overall form will be considered, as well as content, in determining the final grade of pass, fail, or honors. Written and oral exams will be graded separately. You must achieve a grade of honors on both parts of the exam in order to have an honors grade for the exam registered on your transcript. (In order to earn departmental honors there is a separate policy.) Refer to the section "Theatre Arts Comprehensive Exam Rubric" for more information on grades for both parts of the exam.
10. Approximately two weeks after turning in your written exam, the Theatre Arts Department faculty will meet with all seniors in a response session. Please bring a copy of your exam to this session! The faculty may ask questions about support for your research: “On page 16, you say that there were no known women playwrights in the Restoration period. Can you tell us your source on that?” The faculty may also ask questions to clarify and support your production choices, metaphors, and themes: “On page 17, you say that your approach to rehearsal of the play will be Artaudian. Can you tell us what you mean by Artaudian?” Finally, the faculty may ask questions about the structure and organization of your exam. Following the response session and discussion, the faculty will assign you one of the three plays you employed in your written exam as the basis for your oral examination.
- You may consult with the faculty while preparing your written exam.
The Oral Examination
For the oral examination, you will expand verbally on one of the plays from your written examination by developing a directorial concept and theatrical design for it to be performed on a thrust stage similar to the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, a black box similar to the Dungeon, a proscenium-like stage similar to Dalton, or another "found space" (if choosing this last option, please seek faculty permission). Your directorial concept and design should reflect an expansion of the distinct style you previously addressed in your written examination. Notes, research, photographs, sketches, renderings, models, slides, ground plans, and section drawings will be appropriate support materials for the oral presentation. You should be prepared to speak specifically about the relation among the following:
•directorial concept
•design metaphor
•acting style
•use of space
Printed materials you need made into slides, processing costs, and ordering of any audio visual equipment are all the responsibility of the student (at your own
expense, if any). All seniors and faculty will listen to each oral presentation. Your total presentation is limited to 15 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions from faculty.
Requirements of the Oral Examination
1. Much of the basis for your orals shall have been established while preparing for the written exam.
2. Due Exam Week in the Finals slot for Senior Seminar (it may have to start earlier and end later than the actual exam slot).
3. While the objective of the written exam was to cover a broad theme, the oral exam will focus upon a specific play in a great detail as if you actually were directing and designing it.
4. You should develop a clear plan for your oral presentation. Remember that at least half of all oral presentations depend upon the skill of delivery. Proceed by explaining how the one play fits into your season, how you would develop the concept into an actual production addressing the requirements of the director, actors, and the scene, costume, lighting, and sound designers. What we are really interested in through the orals is how you envision the play coming alive for the stage.
5. Visual materials are important, but keep them in perspective so you may complete your presentation within the 20-minute time frame including time for questions. (Again, your time is limited to a 15-minute presentation.)
6. In evaluating the orals, consideration will be given to the quality of the content, the quality of the oral presentation, and the strength of responses to questions. You will receive a separate final grade for the oral exam of pass, fail, or honors.
Notification of grade will be given to each senior shortly following each exam. Failed exams may be retaken following consultation with the Department chair.
TIMETABLE AND STEPS FOR THEATRE COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
1. DUE: Fall 2007 term, Week 2 Monday, October 1, 5:00 PM. Selection of three plays plus two alternates, and season theme. Remember that play choices must reflect three different historical periods in theatre and a variety of production styles in directing, acting, and design. Failure to submit this list on time means that a student will receive a grade of "F" for the Comprehensive Exam and s/he may not -re take the exam in the 07-08 academic year. Send to Ed Menta, Theatre Arts Department, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI 49006, or email: menta@kzoo.edu.
2. DUE: Fall 2007 Term, Week 7 Monday, November 5, 5:00 PM. A full sentence outline which contains a thesis, major points in analysis, acting, directing, and design of the three plays, concluding point of view, and bibliography.
3. DUE: Winter 2008 Term, Week 3, Tuesday, January 22, 5:00 PM. Completed exam.
*BE AWARE THAT THE DAY BEFORE IS MLK DAY AND THE COLLEGE IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED. You will have to plan ahead on using college computers and printers.
4. SESSION WITH FACULTY: Approximately two weeks after turning in your written exam, probably during Senior Seminar. Shortly after this session, seniors will be informed of their grade for the written exam and assigned one of their three plays for a more comprehensive presentation for their Oral Exam.
5. ORAL EXAM: will be scheduled in the Finals slot of Senior Seminar in Exam week. Shortly after this session, seniors will be informed of their grade for the oral exam.
DEADLINES, PENALTIES, & GRADES
Failure to meet any of the deadlines listed above automatically sacrifices the possibility of an Honors grade on any part of the exam.
Seniors cannot advance to the next step of the exam without completing the previous step.
Seniors who do not submit their three plays and season theme by Week 2 Monday October 1, 2007 @ 5pm will receive an "F" on the exam and they will not be allowed to take the Comprehensive Exam during the 07-08 academic year.
Seniors who fail to submit their completed written exams on time or receive a failing grade will be required to choose three new plays on which to write a new 30 page exam, due on a date determined by departmental faculty. Their oral exams will be scheduled for the Spring Quarter.
THEATRE ARTS COMPREHENSIVE EXAM RUBRIC
A reminder that a grade of Honors is a truly distinctive and unusual achievement. The exams must be judged by the theatre arts faculty to be of superior, not just "very good" quality.
FOR A GRADE OF PASS (both for Written & Oral)
ALL deadlines are met promptly. The slightest delay (even an extra 15 minutes in submitting an outline or list) is grounds for a grade of NO CREDIT for either exam. Research is thorough, scholarly, and comprehensive. There is an extensive and varied use of multiple, different sources (books, journals, the net, live interviews, including the most recent scholarship available); additionally, the sources are used throughout the written exam or presentation, so there is not a reliance on just a few sources. All claims and choices are accurate and well supported. The entire exam, whether written or oral, reflects strong organization in every aspect.
All aspects of the written exam, including bibliography, citation, and pagination, follow MLA style guidelines.
For the oral exam, there must be some visual or aural aids to support your ideas - whether it is a collage, a model, groundplans, music, performing a scene, etc. Although it is unnecessary to pre-block the entire play, there should be a sense of how the space would be used. There is an attention-grabbing introduction, and an effective summary. Transitions make the presentation very easy to follow. During the Q & A period there is careful listening before answering, while your answers are concise, complete, and honest.
FOR A GRADE OF HONORS (Written):
The exam goes beyond the required 25 pages, not necessarily in length but in terms of scope. In all, the writing is more than just clear, effective, and informative. It is confident, and sophisticated in its word choices, sentence construction, and tone. At most, the exam has a few minor typos, errors in syntax, punctuation, or grammar. The writing reflects a deep understanding of the playwrights, the texts, the periods of theatre history and production styles in directing, acting, and design. In other words, the exam doesn’t just address the plays and periods, it illuminates them. Your choices in metaphor, directing, design, and performance are not just appropriate, they are strong and thoughtful choices that reflect a sophisticated understanding and research of theatre history, dramatic literature, acting, directing, and design. All choices and suppositions feature plenty of concrete examples from supporting materials. Finally, an Honors Written Exam is more than just a report on three plays, and information about the playwrights, and ideas for staging the three plays! An Honors Written Exam reflects a deep understanding of the art of theatre and its connections with culture, history, politics, art, religion, etc.
FOR A GRADE OF HONORS (Oral):
The presentation and delivery aspects are not just effective in communicating ideas - they are extraordinary in all aspects. Superior organization and creativity are strongly supported by superior use of visual and/or aural aids. There is absolutely nothing "last minute" in regard to any aspect of the presentation. It is well rehearsed and polished, yet it is "in the moment." The effort to communicate is outstanding.
CONSULTING WITH FACULTY
Seniors are encouraged to consult with any of the Theatre Arts faculty at ANY step in the above process concerning artistic choices. However, questions regarding PROCEDURE should be directed only to Ed Menta. Faculty emails: lpotts, menta, kberthel, and jreeves.
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