Still Time to Register: Courses with Open Spots for Fall Enrolment

A handful of engaging and interdisciplinary courses across Communication Arts and Theatre and Performance still have open spots during the current enrolment period. Whether you're looking to explore new ideas, take a creative risk, or deepen your understanding of the world around you, these courses offer a chance to do just that—with no waitlists (yet!). Check out the options below and consider adding one to your schedule before enrolment closes.

Class Times: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:00–11:20 AM

Instructor: Kim Hong Nguyen

This course explores ideas and practices aimed at creating a decolonial future. Students will learn about historical decolonial efforts and theories, while brainstorming and developing new tactics of solidarity and community-building. We will delve into specific events and groups such as the French-Algerian war, the Oka Crisis, Black Panthers, Weathermen, and Tet Offensive.

Open to students in 3A, and students will be considered even if they haven't completed the pre-requisite (COMMST 226). Please contact Katie Honek for enrolment support.

Class Times: Monday, 2:30-5:20 PM

Instructor: Henry Svec

Explore the significance and function of genre in storytelling design in DAC 402. This course examines both theoretical approaches and specific case studies, including the musical, the western, the biopic, and science fiction. Students will combine analysis and historical research with creative experimentation.

The course is open to students who have completed at least 0.5 units in DAC. Priority will be given to Communication Arts students, including those minoring in COMMST, DAC, or THPERF from other areas.

Class Times: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30 am to 12:20 PM

Instructor: Andy Houston

Contact (for more information): houston@uwaterloo.ca

The dramaturg is the contextual lifeblood of any theatre production, offering support, research, resistance, and ingenuity to the director, designer, actors, and publicity in order to improve the collaborative process and creative impact of the production. In this course you will create the following, in support of the Theatre and Performance program’s production of Midsummer Night’s Dream:

• Online Dramaturgy Hub (a website that offers important information as well as thematic context to the production).
• Audience Outreach (activation of a plan of outreach to a target audience for the production).
• Engagement Space (the creation of an inter-active installation and environment in the ML Gallery that provides an introduction of the ‘world of the play’ for our audience.

Dramaturgy as a discipline is defined in multiple ways, and you will be encouraged to explore the possibilities of the field of greatest interest to you, but mainly in this course you will learn how to provide the contextual foundation for the production; that is to say, you will be challenged to create a rich collection of materials and events that will develop a meaningful framework of outreach and engagement for this production to our potential audience. You will learn the best practices of production dramaturgy in the creation of evocative and relevant theatre.

Class Times: Monday and Wednesday, 2:30 - 4:20 PM,

Instructor: Luis Carlos Sotelo Castro 

Contact: lsoleto@uwaterloo.ca

Socially engaged performance is a distinct area within the performing arts that emphasizes collaboration, though it faces unique challenges. Engaged performance artists actively involve community voices at various levels of the creative process, driven by ethical, political, pedagogical, and aesthetic intentions. Their work aims to address social tensions through performance. This studio course will explore four key dimensions of engaged performance: (1) the artist, (2) the creative process, (3) the final product, and (4) the contextual environment. Students will participate in practical activities, readings, and discussions to achieve learning outcomes.

Luis Carlos Sotelo Castro, the instructor for this course, is the Director of Concordia University’s Acts of Listening Lab and visiting Associate Professor in the Humanities at United College, UWaterloo in 2025-26. He has specialized over the past decade, focusing on collaborating with individuals affected by serious injustices in Colombia and Canada. Drawing on his expertise and networks, you will explore a documentary theatre technique called headphones verbatim, combined with communal singing, to create performances that respond to issues identified through collaboration with a local community justice initiative. Some topics may be sensitive, including sexual violence and Indigenous issues. The process will follow a care-centred approach, prioritizing the needs of all participants.