Communications Workshops
American History Through Film and the Internet
This course combines film sources, class discussion, and internet research. Material covered will focus on four central themes: work, leisure/recreation, the urban environment, and American politics. For each of the four modules, you’ll view films on the central theme, research the theme using Internet sources, and discuss your findings and conclusions with the class.
Creative Writing
Conduct a series of experiments with words, imagination, and ideas: fiction or nonfiction prose, poetry, or playscript. What you create will depend on your group members, the Frontiers experience, and what you’ve been writing along the way.
Elements of Writing
Investigate what happens when an author chooses certain vocabulary, sentence structure, and overall organization. This approach will help you improve the expository writing you will have to do in college. You will also be given an opportunity to write college application essays in which you may reveal your individuality. You are encouraged to bring with you topics that appear on admission forms for colleges where you intend to apply.
Music
Participate in music activities and rehearse daily in an instrumental ensemble appropriate for your instrument. Perform in a concert at the conclusion of the program, presented in conjunction with the drama activities. Music selected will vary in style from jazz to pop to classical. Any student interested will also have the opportunity to improvise in a jazz setting.
Speech
Discover how to present your ideas in an organized format for optimal impact and understanding. Learn specific approaches and implement them through planned presentations that will be videotaped and analyzed. Explore the techniques that minimize the threat of nervous reactions and learn to utilize nervous energy for peak performance. The primary focus of the workshop will be on individual presentations, but some attention will be given to interactive communications (e.g., the campus interview for prospective college students).
Theatre
Produce a show from soup to nuts in under two weeks. Create a character, make a costume, hang the lights, record the sound, and build a set. Explore a wide variety of theatrical exercises and techniques, including warm-ups, expressive movement exercises, collective improvisation, and interpretive reading. Become familiar with essential elements of traditional comedy and tragedy, as well as contemporary experimental theatre. Put theory into practice by making an audience laugh, cry, and maybe even think.
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