Courses

The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete.

Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website. Please consult the online course catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information.

Course # (Section)	Title	Day/Times	Instructor	Location	Term	Additional Details
AS.225.100 (01)	Theatre Histories	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Gruenhut, Johanna	Merrick 105	Spring 2026	Description: Investigations into some of the many histories in the development of the drama, from Greek origins to today's global theatre. An introduction to interpretive concepts, as well as to practical elements of playmaking. This course is a good way to explore and appreciate the art of theatre, and is required for the minor. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 8/14 Tags: n/a
AS.225.101 (01)	Acting Foundations	TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Moores, Molly J	Krieger 103	Spring 2026	Description: An exploration of foundational exercises and techniques in the art of acting. Practice in voice, movement, listening, and improvisation. Students will read plays and develop interpretive and storytelling skills, building toward scene work. This class is for both new and experienced actors, and offers preparation for advanced acting and performance classes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.215 (01)	Performing Musical Theatre	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	McClendon, Forrest	Merrick 200	Spring 2026	Description: Effective performance in musical theatre demands a committed analysis of the musical and dramatic values of the song and the libretto from which it springs, in order to develop a fresh, organic interpretation. This course will provide you with the training to both analyze and interpret musical theatre scenes and songs and to make the most of them in performance. Instructor Permission Only. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.250 (01)	Elements of Theatrical Design	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Vincent, Michael P	Merrick 105	Spring 2026	Description: Students will survey theatrical design through various projects. We will develop moments based on sound, costume, space, and light, focusing on how these elements help to tell a story. Students will develop artistic statements and arguments that justify their creative choices, while practicing constructive criticism in an environment that encourages exploration and play. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.310 (01)	Stagecraft	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Roche, William C	Levering Arellano	Spring 2026	Description: A hands-on approach to the technical and theoretical elements of production. Meets in the Merrick Barn Scene Shop. Permission Required. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/8 Tags: n/a
AS.225.311 (01)	Scene Study: Everybody is Hamlet	MW 5:00PM - 6:15PM	Glossman, James; Stoll, Abraham D	Merrick 105	Spring 2026	Description: A team-taught course on investigating and playing Shakespeare, with Hamlet as primary text. We will travel the actor’s process, from reading and contextualizing, through rehearsal, to performance. Diving into the world of the play and its sources in life, we will stage several scenes from the play across the semester, giving every student the opportunity to play the part of Hamlet, to discover, re-invent, and make this classic character their own. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 2/14 Tags: n/a
AS.225.324 (01)	Adaptation for the Stage	F 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Wilder, Joshua E	Merrick 105	Spring 2026	Description: For aspiring playwrights, dramaturgs, and literary translators, this course is a workshop opportunity in learning to adapt both dramatic and non-dramatic works into fresh versions for the stage. Students with ability in foreign languages and literatures are encouraged to explore translation of drama as well as adaptation of foreign language fiction in English. Fiction, classical dramas, folk and fairy tales, independent interviews, or versions of plays from foreign languages are covered. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/8 Tags: n/a
AS.225.346 (01)	Creative Improvisation: For Theatre and for Life	TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Moores, Molly J	Krieger 103	Spring 2026	Description: An exploration of the imagination and the senses using basic techniques of improvisation: exercises, conflict resolution, ensemble building, and theatre games. No previous acting experience is required. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.350 (01)	Acting for Doctors	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Rome, Susan R	Krieger 103	Spring 2026	Description: In this cutting-edge course, an acting class designed for pre-med students who are interested in a career in either clinical work or research, we will explore ways in which collaboration, curiosity, and connection can enhance your understanding and ability to be an effective medical professional. Empathy, perspective-taking, analysis of dramatic literature with medical themes, and devising a piece around medical ethics will be the focus of the activities. No acting experience is required, just a willingness to explore your creativity in an inclusive environment. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: MSCH-HUM
AS.225.370 (01)	Creativity in Arts Management	TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Willson, Nicoleen	Merrick 105	Spring 2026	Description: Creativity in Arts Management is designed for those involved or passionate about the arts, offering a comprehensive exploration of arts management and the transferable skills that apply across various career paths. This practitioner-focused course delves into a wide array of arts disciplines, including theater, orchestra, visual arts, literary arts, and more. By examining different artistic genres, the professionals within these fields, and the strategies and systems of arts management, students will gain not only a deeper understanding of these specific areas but also the ability to apply these insights beyond the arts. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 6/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.410 (01)	Theater and Philosophy	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Lichtenberg, Drew	Merrick 105	Spring 2026	Description: This course focuses on a powerful current in theater and thought from ancient works to the modern day: plays that self-consciously use the means of theater, such as a play-within-the-play, to represent the world. This type of play, along with its close relative, the Dream Play, traces its origin more to Plato and his motif of the Theatrum Mundi (the theater of the world/the world as theater) than to Aristotelian mimesis (the imitation of reality), and poses an alternative to the realist tradition. An ancient, alternate modality, this non-realistic line is also a modern one, recurring throughout history. By the 20th century, this “secret smuggler’s path” becomes a dominant language for theater itself, posing an alternate dialectics, an alternate metaphysics, an alternate hermeneutics for our ability to understand reality as well as illusion. This course—which lies at the intersection of both disciplines—will be cross listed between Theatre Arts and Philosophy. We will read plays from across histories as well as philosophical and theoretical texts, unearthing surprising correspondences in the two overlapping (Shakespeare would say "undistinguishable") fields. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 3/10 Tags: n/a
AS.225.502 (01)	Independent Study		Stoll, Abraham D		Spring 2026	Description: Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.225.502 (02)	Independent Study		McClendon, Forrest		Spring 2026	Description: Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.225.502 (03)	Independent Study		Glossman, James		Spring 2026	Description: Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.502 (04)	Independent Study		Denithorne, Margaret		Spring 2026	Description: Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Canceled Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.502 (05)	Independent Study		Vincent, Michael P		Spring 2026	Description: Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.555 (01)	Theatre Practicum		McClendon, Forrest		Spring 2026	Description: Academic credit for in-depth contributions to a JHU Theatre production. Actors, designers, members of the creative team in a Mainstage or Playshop production may choose to register for Practicum credit. Student will develop an independent syllabus in collaboration with Practicum instructor. Students may register for 1, 2, or 3 credits. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 4/8 Tags: n/a
AS.300.346 (01)	Revolution in Theatre, 1880-1930	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Lisi, Leonardo	Gilman 208	Spring 2026	Description: The years 1880-1930 constitutes one of the most intense periods of experimentation in Western drama. We will look closely at texts and performance practices from this time to trace how dramatists upended the conventions that had governed the theatre since the time of Shakespeare and imposed a completely new understanding of the artform. Authors to be read will include August Strindberg, Maurice Maeterlinck, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, W. B. Yeats, Sophie Treadwell, Luigi Pirandello, Federico García Lorca. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 7/12 Tags: CTAL-TEXT
AS.001.253 (01)	FYS: The Drama of Artificial Intelligence	MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Flombaum, Jonathan; Gruenhut, Johanna	Gilman 288	Fall 2026	Description: From the rise of machine consciousness to the ethics of automation, artificial intelligence has captured the human imagination. This First-Year Seminar explores how playwrights and theater artists engage with AI as a dramatic subject, a creative tool, and a lens for examining the human condition. Through an interdisciplinary approach, and co-taught by faculty in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Theatre, students will analyze plays and performances that grapple with the hopes and anxieties surrounding AI. Works such as Karel Čapek’s R.U.R. (which introduced the word “robot”), Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime, Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, and Nick Payne’s Constellations will serve as key texts alongside contemporary plays such as Julia Cho’s The Language, Rolin Jone’s The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, The Effect by Lucy Prebble, and Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler. We will also discuss experimental performances that integrate AI technologies. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 12/12 Tags: n/a
AS.001.277 (01)	FYS: Foundations of Acting - Presence, Performance, and the Art of Interpretation	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Rome, Susan R	Krieger Laverty	Fall 2026	Description: This First-Year Seminar introduces acting as a rigorous practice of attention, interpretation, and collaboration. Working as an ensemble, students explore foundational approaches to voice, movement, listening, and improvisation as tools for understanding how meaning is created and communicated—on stage and beyond it. Through close reading of selected plays and embodied studio work, students investigate how stories are shaped by text, context, and performance choices. The course emphasizes interpretive thinking, expressive clarity, and responsiveness to others, culminating in scene and monologue work that integrates analysis with performance. No previous acting experience is required. This class welcomes students from all academic interests and offers preparation for acting and performance courses while cultivating presence, collaboration, and expressive confidence—skills that strengthen communication and creative thinking in any field. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 12/12 Tags: n/a
AS.213.312 (01)	Topics in German Literature: Theater Heute	M 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Pahl, Katrin		Fall 2026	Description: Wie antwortet das Theater heute auf die dringenden Fragen unserer Zeit? In Deutschland und Österreich hat das Theater traditionell und aktuell einen hohen gesellschaftlichen Stellenwert. Aufgrund langjähriger großzügiger Förderung konnte das nicht-kommerzielle Theater im deutschsprachigen Raum eine Vielfalt von zunächst experimentellen Ästhetiken entwickeln. Das postdramatische Theater hat die Theaterlandschaft geprägt. Das postmigrantische Theater hat die Theaterkultur verändert. Queere und feministische Themen und Ästhetiken haben sich etabliert. Theaterkollektive sowie namhafte Regisseurinnen arbeiten in den Kulturhauptstädten sowie in der Provinz auf vielfältige Weise daran, die wichtigen Themen unserer Zeit zu reflektieren. Wir werden zusammen Videos von Inszenierungen anschauen, Theatertexte lesen und uns mit den jeweiligen sozialen und politischen Kontexten sowie mit der Geschichte und Theorie des Theaters beschäftigen. Language of Instruction: German Credits:* 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 10/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.100 (01)	Theatre Histories	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Gruenhut, Johanna	Merrick 105	Fall 2026	Description: Investigations into some of the many histories in the development of the drama, from Greek origins to today's global theatre. An introduction to interpretive concepts, as well as to practical elements of playmaking. This course is a good way to explore and appreciate the art of theatre, and is required for the minor. Credits: 3.00 Status: Waitlist Only Seats Available: 0/14 Tags: n/a
AS.225.101 (01)	Acting Foundations	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	McClendon, Forrest	Krieger 103	Fall 2026	Description: An exploration of foundational exercises and techniques in the art of acting. Practice in voice, movement, listening, and improvisation. Students will read plays and develop interpretive and storytelling skills, building toward scene work. This class is for both new and experienced actors, and offers preparation for advanced acting and performance classes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Waitlist Only Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.101 (02)	Acting Foundations	TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Moores, Molly J	Gilman 77	Fall 2026	Description: An exploration of foundational exercises and techniques in the art of acting. Practice in voice, movement, listening, and improvisation. Students will read plays and develop interpretive and storytelling skills, building toward scene work. This class is for both new and experienced actors, and offers preparation for advanced acting and performance classes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Waitlist Only Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.310 (01)	Stagecraft	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Roche, William C	Levering Arellano	Fall 2026	Description: A hands-on approach to the technical and theoretical elements of production. Meets in the Arellano Theatre Scene Shop. Permission Required. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/8 Tags: n/a
AS.225.311 (01)	Scene Study: Moment Work for the Actor	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Vincent, Michael P	Merrick 200	Fall 2026	Description: Take your acting to the next level by using the traditional techniques of Stanislavsky, Meisner, and Hagen to work on scenes from several plays. We will explore further through a focus on Moment Work, which utilizes all the elements of theatre, such as lighting, props, and costumes, to find the full theatricality of our scenes. Class will take place in the John Astin Theatre in Merrick Barn. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 5/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.314 (01)	Theatre: Tech Direction	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Roche, William C	Gilman 77	Fall 2026	Description: An introduction to Technical Direction including pre-production and production with an overview of materials, tools, rigging and safety, together with design and its implementation. Credits: 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 9/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.327 (01)	The Art of the Dramaturg	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Lichtenberg, Drew	Merrick 105	Fall 2026	Description: This upper-level seminar is designed for students with some background in theatre or in dramatic literature, with aspirations to do further work in the art form. Students will gain an understanding of the theory and practice of working with dramatic texts in preparation for a theatre production. This will involve reading and discussing influential theorists who explore dramatic structures and styles and theatre practices. Additionally, there will be a practical component. Students will select and work on a couple of scripts, once classic and once contemporary, and create a "model book" for whichever becomes the student's primary project, including the script, notes, research, and visual samples for a hypothetical production: or possibly a real one. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 12/14 Tags: n/a
AS.225.330 (01)	Playwriting Strategies	F 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Wilder, Joshua E	Gilman 10	Fall 2026	Description: A workshop in playwriting, designed for both experienced playmakers and those first exploring the art. Students will investigate the creative process, from the initial imaginative impetus, to drafts and revisions, to presentation of the work. The course will explore fundamental playwriting techniques, such as writing effective dialogue, attending to story, and delineating character. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 4/8 Tags: n/a
AS.225.333 (01)	Hamilton: Civics and Character	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Blanks Jones, Jasmine; McClendon, Forrest	Gilman 75	Fall 2026	Description: Disney’s filmed release turned the hit musical Hamilton into a streaming-era cultural phenomenon, but the show had already been on stage in multiple countries across four continents. This course will unpack the historically sourced lyrics of Hamilton to study the bedrock of American civics – separation of powers, states’ rights and the Bill of Rights. For problem-solvers and performers alike, this unique exploration of the show’s complex characters will highlight the civic participation of all in the forging of a new nation. Hamilton and this course offer a fun, encyclopedic dive into the rousing debate about the start of the American experiment. No acting experience necessary. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 3/14 Tags: CSC-CE
AS.225.350 (01)	Acting for Doctors	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Rome, Susan R	Krieger Laverty	Fall 2026	Description: In this cutting-edge course, an acting class designed for pre-med students who are interested in a career in either clinical work or research, we will explore ways in which collaboration, curiosity, and connection can enhance your understanding and ability to be an effective medical professional. Empathy, perspective-taking, analysis of dramatic literature with medical themes, and devising a piece around medical ethics will be the focus of the activities. No acting experience is required, just a willingness to explore your creativity in an inclusive environment. Credits: 3.00 Status: Waitlist Only Seats Available: 0/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.370 (01)	Creativity in Arts Management	MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Willson, Nicoleen	Merrick 105	Fall 2026	Description: Creativity in Arts Management is designed for those involved or passionate about the arts, offering a comprehensive exploration of arts management and the transferable skills that apply across various career paths. This practitioner-focused course delves into a wide array of arts disciplines, including theater, orchestra, visual arts, literary arts, and more. By examining different artistic genres, the professionals within these fields, and the strategies and systems of arts management, students will gain not only a deeper understanding of these specific areas but also the ability to apply these insights beyond the arts. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 9/12 Tags: n/a
AS.225.501 (02)	Independent Study		Glossman, James		Fall 2026	Description: Permission only. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.225.501 (03)	Independent Study		Wilder, Joshua E		Fall 2026	Description: Permission only. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.225.501 (04)	Independent Study		Rome, Susan R		Fall 2026	Description: Permission only. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.501 (05)	Independent Study		McClendon, Forrest		Fall 2026	Description: Permission only. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.501 (06)	Independent Study		Vincent, Michael P		Fall 2026	Description: Permission only. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.501 (07)	Independent Study		McClendon, Forrest		Fall 2026	Description: Permission only. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 4/4 Tags: n/a
AS.225.555 (01)	Theatre Practicum		Staff		Fall 2026	Description: Academic credit for in-depth contributions to a JHU Theatre production. Actors, designers, members of the creative team in a Mainstage or Playshop production may choose to register for Practicum credit. Student will develop an independent syllabus in collaboration with Practicum instructor. Students may register for 1, 2, or 3 credits. Credits: 1.00 - 3.00 Status: Approval Required Seats Available: 8/8 Tags: n/a