Acting of Alternative and Puppet Theatre (8203T043)

master's programme qualification

Specific admission requirements:

Successful completion of an entrance examination consisting of two rounds, the first of which is an eliminative round. The examination consists of various psychosomatic (voice, singing, movement), epistemic and talent (pre-assigned for preparation at home, including improvisational tasks) disciplines.

Of decisive importance, in addition to the candidate`s psychosomatic proclivities towards the selected field, are the abilities of collective creativity and team collaboration. Also examined are imaginativeness and fantasy as the major prerequisites for the profession, interest in the field and contemporary theatre in its diversity, and a need for self-expression through artistic creation.

The most important criterion for admission is successful completion of the talent part of the entrance examination.

Specific arrangements for recognition of prior learning:

The programme does not have any specific requirements for the recognition of prior learning.

The procedure for recognition at AMU is governed by Articles 89 and 90 of the Act on Higher Education Institutions No. 111/1998 Coll., as amended, and by the AMU Attendance and Examination Regulations (Articles 8, 14, 18).

Qualification requirements and regulations

A completed secondary or completed secondary vocational education with a matura examination. Exceptionally (in the case of significant talent) it is possible to admit a candidate conditionally (with the requirement to complete the secondary education with a successful matura examination during the Bachelor`s programme).

Regulations: The Czech education system is governed by the Act on Higher Education Institutions, as amended (Act No. 111/1998 Coll.), and by the internal regulations of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Field of study characterization

Acting of Alternative and Puppet Theatre is a programme focused on preparation for theatrical practice. In initial years of the programme, students become familiar with the processes of contemporary puppet, dramatic and in particular authorial theatre, with an accent on current trends in world theatre. Emphasis is placed on metaphorical expression and personal predication, on working with objects and puppets, and on physical and musical theatre with an accent on the interaction between the individual components of a theatrical work.

In subsequent years, the programme in acting develops the student as an independent and distinctive creative personality working in an ever-expanding space of theatrical activities. The concept of acting is understood in this case in wider but also more specialised contexts. The programme thus also encompasses the social functions of theatre and interactive contexts with related artistic fields. At the same time, it also opens new spaces for acting, such as site-specific projects, new circus, performance, theatre of new technologies, theatre of objects, etc. The goal is thus to cultivate a personality which will discover new possibilities of theatrical creation or interpret it at the highest professional level with emphasis on innovative and novel approaches

Key learning outcomes:

A graduate of the Master`s programme in Acting of Alternative and Puppet Theatre demonstrates creative abilities as well as those in the psychosomatic and epistemic realms. A graduate is capable of analysing his/her own work and reflecting on it in wider contexts, of making an individual selection from the offering of trends in contemporary theatre with a view to the specifics of his/her own talents and aptitudes of personality after obtaining basic general skills.

He/she is thus capable of doing independent and knowledgeable creative work with appropriate reflection in the developmental contexts of the contemporary art, and of collaborating in a team on independent projects and stagings with an accent on authorial creation while making use of improvisation and the interactivity of theatrical creation.

Occupational profiles of graduates with examples:

A graduate obtains the basic knowledge and skills in order to be capable in practice not only of working professionally in the field, but also of engaging in independent creative activity. He/she is oriented in the history of the field, and is equipped in the areas of voice and movement, as well as in working with objects and puppets. He/she has experience will collective staging work. The programme emphasises the creative, psychosomatic and epistemic realms in such a way so that the graduate is capable of independently choosing the subsequent direction of his/her artistic activity in the new contemporary trends of theatre, for example performance, improvisation, authorial theatre, puppet and object theatre, street art, new circus, etc.

After graduating, he/she should be capable of doing independent creative work, initiating new projects and becoming involved in existing projects while making a significant personal creative contribution. A graduate should also be capable of appropriate reflection and analysis of his/her own work and of integrating it into the wider context of theatrical creation.

Access to further studies:

Possibility of doctoral studies in the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre or other departments at DAMU or at other university-level art schools or schools with a similar focus with the graduate`s own individual programme project.

Examination regulations, assessment and grading:

Studies are assessed by credits and examinations stipulated by study plans. The student is informed of these through the information system. The student registers for examinations using the information system, and is entitled to a second and third attempt to pass an examination. If neither of these attempts proves successful, the Dean may in exceptional cases permit a fourth attempt (administered by a commission). It is not permitted to repeat an examination for the main subjects or to repeat written examinations.

The credit is an ungraded form of assessment of studies. It is allocated upon fulfilment of requirements stipulated for individual subjects and is recorded in the information system with the word „Credited“ (Z). An examination is a graded form of assessment of studies, which tests knowledge and level of creativity in the relevant subjects. In the main subjects, examinations are administered by a commission. Examinations are graded on the scale „A, B, C, D, E, F“.

Graduation requirements:

a) Completion of an advancement examination after the 2nd year of the programme.

A condition of proceeding to the advancement examination is the completion of four semesters of the programme in Acting of Alternative and Puppet Theatre.

The goal of the advancement examination is to test the student`s basic professional knowledge and skills.

A successful result in the advancement examination is the basic condition for continuation in the Master`s programme.

The advancement examination is graded on the scale „A, B, C, D, E, F“. The examination committee shall decide the overall assessment for the advancement examination by vote in-camera.

The advancement examination consists of the following parts:

an applied creative performance, written reflection and its defence;

the history and theory of the field;

the history and theory of alternative and puppet theatre.

b) Completion of the four-year Master`s programme in all subjects and accumulation of the relevant number of credits. Completion of the State Master`s Examination.

A condition of advancement to the Master`s examination is a creative actor`s performance in the final Master`s production.

The State Master`s Examination is graded on the scale „A, B, C, D, E, F“. The examination committee shall decide the overall assessment for the State Master`s Examination by vote in-camera.

The State Master?s Examination consists of the following parts:

the Master?s diploma thesis and its defence;

the history and theory of the field;

the history and theory of alternative and puppet theatre.

Mode of study:

full-time

Qualification director or equivalent:

Miroslav KROBOT

Field of study is part of study programme:

• Dramatic Arts – (M8203)
• Dramatic Arts – (M8216)
• Dramatic Arts – (N8203)

Study plans of qualification:

• Acting for Alternative and Puppet Theatre (M.A.)