Mobile Audio Theatre (AKA Ototheatre) ISLA 440: Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies Seminar Winter 2022 When: MW 4:10-6:00 PM Where: Frank E. Pilling 0252
Instructor: Dr. Lauren Beck Email: LRBeck@calpoly.edu (now active!) Office Hours: TBD on Zoom and Slack
This course explores mobile audio theatre that augments reality and casts listeners in active roles as they perform new understandings of place. Students will analyze ototheatre and create their own works using a Practice as Research model.
Required Text(s)/Materials/Supplies
Texts and other materials will be available at no charge on Canvas for students to access.
We will be using digital tools such as Canvas, Hypothesis, Zoom, and various smartphone apps. These are all free to you to access, download, and/or install.
You will need access to a desktop computer or laptop. While laptops are not required for in-class work, they are strongly recommended.
Learning Outcomes By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Analyze mobile sound works using relevant theories from performance studies, sound studies, and cultural geography.
Demonstrate an expanded understanding of theatre and performance through the lens of interdisciplinarity.
Create an audio theatre work that augments space with sound and performance.
Answer a research question using Practice as Research principles.
Communicate effectively in formal presentations.
Course Requirements and Assessment
Labor: This course will require significant commitment from each student. The University estimates that a student should expect to spend eight hours a week on homework for a four-credit class. Reading, annotation, brainstorming, writing, revision, and creative practice are crucial labor that will help you achieve the objectives of the course.
Deadlines: Believe it or not, deadlines are your friends. Deadlines give busy people like you permission to ignore other matters while prioritizing the most urgent task. However, life happens (especially during a pandemic), and occasionally you may need to turn in assignment late. Most assignments in this class are not especially time sensitive. These can be turned in up to one day late with no penalty but will receive a reduction of one letter grade each day after the first day. However, you will be expected to prioritize the completion of assignments that are labeled as time sensitive. All homework annotation assignments are time sensitive and will not be accepted late.
Attendance: You are expected to attend every class session. However, I will offer options for participation for students who cannot come to class due to illness or COVID exposure. Any time you miss class, please let me know in advance, if possible. Assignments, including homework annotations, are still due at the regular time.
You may have one free absence, no questions asked.
You may attend up to two class sessions remotely through Zoom. This must be worked out with Dr. Beck (or even better, another student who can Zoom you in on a laptop) before class.
You may have up to two additional absences excused by completing a make-up assignment. (See more on this below.)
Missed Class Make-up Assignment Each week’s module contains one recommended reading. To make up a class session, read and annotate the reading using Hypothesis like you would a regular homework assignment. Within one week of your absence, post the link to the reading in the discussion board thread titled “Recommended Reading” along with an academic summary of the article. See the assignment on Canvas for more details.
Assessment
Homework Assignments – 20%. Most of the homework will consist of reading annotations. Before each class session, you will carefully read the assigned text(s) and annotate using Hypothesis. In addition to the reading annotations, there will sometimes be other tasks that need to be completed at home to prepare for class. Homework will be assigned points based on completion
Class Activities and Discussion – 20%. Active participation in class discussions and activities will be crucial to help us all develop our own ideas about difficult texts and concepts. Students will be expected to ask discussion questions and to respond to the questions of others in each class session. Students will also be expected to enthusiastically participate in all class activities. Classwork will be assigned points based on the amount of participation of the student.
Effective participation means that you consistently:
Attend all class sessions.
Bring all materials, including readings and notes to class. This probably means that you have a laptop or tablet with you.
Demonstrate that you have done the readings through written and oral activities.
Contribute relevant comments and questions to class discussions during all sessions.
Demonstrate that you are actively listening to others by maintaining eye contact and responding constructively.
Work effectively in small groups/pairs.
Actively participate in all in-class activities.
Complete in-class assignments in a timely manner, using each minute of the class effectively.
On electronic devices: students are welcome to use laptops or tablets in class for class-related work. However, in a seminar environment, eye contact and active participation is important. Screened activities that fall outside of class business means that you are mentally absent from class. You only receive daily participation points for active engagement in the class. When necessary, I will occasionally ask students to lower their screens, during discussions and student presentations, for example.
Minutes Each student will be responsible for taking extensive notes for one class period. You will use these notes to summarize the class period and draw connections to ideas discussed in previous classes. You will post your minutes in the Minutes thread in the Canvas Discussions page. Be sure to reinforce key concepts, make connections between texts, and track recurring themes, problems and questions in the course.
Research Narrative/Proposal – 30%. Your audience for this paper is your instructor and classmates. We will use this proposal to give you feedback on your project ideas. In this 2000-word paper, you will:
Articulate a research question relating to sound, performance, and space/place.
Describe your journey through the academic sources (at least three of which are different than those read in class) that help you begin to answer your question.
Explain how you will attempt to further answer your research question with an ototheatrical project.
Create a timeline that shows the steps you will take over the rest of the semester to complete this project.
The Research Narrative/Proposal will be assessed based on the following:
Research Question: Does the writer articulate a clear, analytical, research question relating to the course topic?
Preliminary Research: Does the writer describe the evolution of their ideas through interaction with academic sources (at least three of which are different than those read in class)?
Project Proposal: Does the writer propose a creative project that addresses the research question?
Professionalism: Does the writer format the paper in MLA 8 format and include a complete and accurate Works Cited page? Is the paper polished and free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation?
Timeline: Does the writer develop a realistic plan for executing the project?
Ototheatre Project – 30%. This final project will consist of two main components: An ototheatrical work and a presentation.
Mobile Audio Theatre Work: You will develop an ototheatrical work that attempts to answer a research question relating to sound, performance, and space/place. Your work will consider the PAR constituents: Starting Points, Aesthetics, Location, Transmission, and Key Issues. Your work need not be a perfect and polished piece that is ready for a gallery or professional theatre, but it must be a complete work that can be enacted by an audience. The work must take place on the Cal Poly campus, though it may or may not be intentionally site-specific. Our class will serve as your participants in either Week 10 or Finals Week. You will complete a labor log to record your process for weeks 7 through 9.
Artist’s Statement Presentation: This presentation will be in the form of a PechaKucha, 20 image slides for 20 seconds each (approximately 800-900 words). After your performance (in either Week 10 or Finals Week), you will submit your slides and script with a complete works cited page. This presentation should emphasize the answer to your research question and how you got to that answer.
The assessment of the Ototheatre Project will be based on the following:
Innovative Thinking: Does the creative project present a unique idea or format to approach the research question? Does the project provide new experiences and understandings for audiences?
Design Process: Does the artist’s statement articulate a clear Practice as Research methodology?
Answers to Research Question: Does the artist’s statement discuss the answers to the research question, or possibly indicate limitations and future directions?
Connection to Existing Theory and Practice: Does the artist’s statement articulate how the author is creating new knowledge based on incorporation or extension of existing theories, methodologies, and creative practices?
Audience Experience: Is the audience able to have an experience that connects to the intent of the work? Is the work high enough quality for the audience to reasonably achieve the goals of the artist?
Presentation Quality: Does the presentation conform to PechaKucha standards (20 slides, containing single images, presented for 20 seconds each)? Does the speaker appear practiced and confident? Does the presentation last 6 minutes and 40 seconds?
Labor and Time Management: Does the student provide clear evidence of the process for creating the project through a labor log?
Weekly Schedule
The materials for each week will be posted in weekly modules on Canvas.
Week 1: Introduction to Ototheatre Mon. 1/3
Activity: Read and annotate "Walkmanology" with Hypothesis.
Wed. 1/5
Read: Beck, Lauren. “Ototheatre: Summoning Theatricality” in Performance Research 24, no. 4 (2019): 80-87. Doi: 10.1080/13528165.2019.1641328
Week 2: Introduction to Practice as Research Mon. 1/10
Read: Kershaw, Baz. “Practice as Research: Transdisciplinary Innovation in Action.” In Research Methods in Performance, edited by Baz Kershaw and Helen J. Nicholson, 63-85. Edinburgh University Press, 2011.
Wed. 1/12
Read: Droumeva, Milena. “Soundmapping as critical cartography: Engaging Public listening to the environment.” Communication and the Public
Week 3: Geography, Space, and Place Tues. 1/18 - Monday's class will take place on Tuesday this week due to MLK Jr's Birthday.
Listen: SwimPony. TrailOff. https://trailoff.com/
Read: Butler, Toby.
Wed. 1/19
Read: Butler, Toby.
Week 4: Augmenting Reality Mon. 1/24
Listen: Cardiff, Janet. Her Long Black Hair, (2004)
Read: Myers, Misha. “Vocal Landscaping: The Theatre of Sound in Audio Walks.” In Theatre Noise: The Sound of Performance, edited by Lynne Kendrick and David Roesner, 70-81. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011.
Wed. 1/26
Read: TBD
Listen: https://citiesandmemory.com/
Week 5: Public/Private and Private/Public Mon. 1/31
Read: Bull, Michael. “The Audio-Visual iPod: Aesthetics and the City.” In Sound Moves: iPod Culture and Urban Experience, 38-49. Routledge, 2007.
Wed. 2/2
Listen: Shechter, Hofesh. “Everyday Moments 5: Audio Drama for Private Performance,” (2011).
Read: Ihde, Don. “The Auditory Dimension.” In the Sound Studies Reader, edited by Jonathan Sterne, 23-28. Routledge, 2012.
Week 6: Project Proposals Mon. 2/7
Discuss: Project Proposals
Activity: Informal presentations and with feedback
Wed. 2/9
Due: Research Narrative/Proposal
Discuss: Project Proposals
Activity: Informal presentations and with feedback
Week 7: Sound and Recording Mon.2/14
Read: Excerpt from Blesser, Barry, and Linda-Ruth Salter. Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?: Experiencing Aural Architecture, MIT Press, 2009.
Wed. 2/16
Read: Lastra, James. Excerpt from Sound Technology and the American Cinema: Perception, Representation, Modernity, Columbia University Press, 2000.
Week 8: Audio Drama and Narrative Mon. 2/21 No Class – Washington’s Birthday observed Wed. 2/23
Listen: Six to Start and Naomi Alderman. Zombies, Run! (2012-2021).
Read: Thibaud, Jean-Paul. “The Sonic Composition and the City.” In The Auditory Culture Reader, edited by Michael Bull and Les Back, 329-342. Berg, 2003.
Week 9: COVID and Post-Covid Theatre Mon. 2/28
Read: Curtin, Adrian. “Recalling the Theatre Phone.” In Theatre, Performance, and Analog Culture, edited by Kara Reilly. Palgrave, 2013.
Wed. 3/2
Read: Forthcoming COVID essay
Week 10: Student Presentations Mon. 3/7
Student Presentations – Creative Project
Wed. 3/9
Student Presentations – Creative Project
Finals Week: Mon. 3/14
Student Presentations – Creative Project.
Project Files, Slides, Script, and Works Cited due.