Principles of Design OpenCourseWare: A Free Undergraduate Musical Arts Design Course by MIT

Published Jan 27, 2009

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Jump into the world imagined in a script and bring it to life in 'Principles of Design,' free OpenCourseWare provided by MIT. Students design scenery, sketch costume renderings and develop lighting cues for a theatrical production. This free course is suitable for students in an undergraduate Theater Arts degree program.

Principles of Design: Course Specifics

Degree Level Free Audio Video Downloads
Undergraduate Yes No No Yes

Lectures/Notes Study Materials Tests/Quizzes
Yes Yes No

Principles of Design: Course Description

The original course was directed to students with prior experience in theater design who wanted to tackle more advanced concepts. They learned about color choice and furniture selection while creating a set design. They dug down into a script and found a compelling aesthetic and applied it to a character's costume design. They studied lighting design with MIT's theatrical lighting experts and created their own cues for a theatrical performance. The original course emphasized script and character analysis. Instructors William Fregosi, Leslie Cocuzzo Held, Michael Katz and Karen Perlow led the lecture and workshop formatted course. This course was designed for students pursuing a B.A. in Theater Arts.

This theater design course includes a reading list, assignments, class handouts and an image gallery. If you are interested in learning how to design for performance, visit the script and character interpretation and designing course page.

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