The curricular and extracurricular activities of the department of performance and communication arts (PCA) are guided by a number of fundamental assumptions:
- All performances are acts of communication, and all acts of communication are performances;
First performance: "Audience"
- All humans communicate, and all humans perform;
- Performance entails not merely the disingenuous act of faking but more importantly the creative and constructive act of making;
- Communication entails not merely the transmission and reception of messages but more importantly the community-inducing communion among humans that the transmission and reception of messages makes possible;
Second performance: "Untitled", Dance concert performance: "Bewilderments", Bewilderments Recap video, Theater as a Sign System blog post
- Performance and communication are not just acts in which humans sometimes engage but rather the fundamentally humanizing acts that shape who we are and how we negotiate our relationships with others and with the material world in which we live; and
Judith Butler and Rita Lasar blog post, Dance concert performance: "Bewilderments", Bewilderments Recap video - Examination of the basic components of performance and communication theory, when coupled with repeated practice in the art of shaping performances and engaging in communicative acts, enables students to become more effective and ethical producers and more discriminating and critical consumers of performances and other communicative behaviors.
Research and process, analysis of texts, blog writing and reflections on the project