Michole Biancosino
Assistant Professor of Theatre

- Office
- Mahaney Arts Center 326
- Tel
- (802) 443-5511
- mbiancosino@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- Mon 12:30-2pm Tues 9am-10:30am
- Additional Programs
- Theatre
Michole Biancosino is a professional director, writer, and producer whose work has been presented in theatres all around New York City, regionally, and internationally. As the Co-Founding Artistic Director of the award-winning Project Y Theatre Company, she has developed and directed new work in Washington, D.C., New York City, and internationally for 18 years. As the Founder and producer of NY’s Women in Theatre Festival, she has presented and produced the work of over 100 women theatre artists. Directing work includes the awarding winning world premieres of “Connected,” and “LoveSick or THINGS THAT DON’T HAPPEN” by Lia Romeo, “The Revival” and “Derby Day” by Samuel Brett Williams, “Trump Lear” co-created with David Carl, “That’s All I Got” by Addie Walsh, and “A User’s Guide to Hell featuring Bernard Madoff” by Pulitzer and Tony nominated playwright, Lee Blessing. Producing credits include: “The Religion Thing” by Renee Calarco (Time Out NY Critics Pick), “FUBAR” by Karl Gadjusek, and the commissioned works of Pia Wilson, Caridad Svich, Crystal Skillman, and others through Women in Theatre Festival. Michole is a recipient of the prestigious SDC Gielgud Fellowship for classical directing and has received grants funding for work from New York State Council on the Arts, New York Department Cultural Affairs, Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, Brooklyn Arts Council, and The Puffin Foundation. She is graduate of Middlebury College and received her M.F.A. in Directing from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
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Courses Taught
ARDV 0116
The Creative Process
Course Description
The Creative Process
In this course, students will have the opportunity to dig deeply into their own creativity and explore the processes by which ideas emerge and are given shape in the arts. The experiential nature of this course integrates cognition and action, mind and body. Students will engage a range of modes of discovering, knowing, and communicating, which are designed to push them beyond their present state of awareness and level of confidence in their creative power. Practical work will be closely accompanied by readings and journaling, culminating with the creation and performance of a short project. (First- and second-year students only; Not open to students who have taken FYSE 1364) 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
FYSE 1063
Creative Power
Course Description
Creative Power
In this course students will have the opportunity to dig deeply into their own creativity and explore the processes by which ideas emerge and are given shape in the arts. This is an experiential course, integrating cognition and action, mind and body. Students will create projects exploring sound, movement, text, and visual art. Students will engage a range of modes of discovering, knowing, and communicating, which are designed to push them beyond their present state of awareness and level of confidence in their creative power. Practical work will be closely accompanied by readings, weekly writing assignments, journaling, and will culminate in the creation of a short performance project as well as a final research paper. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
FYSE 1541
21st Century Playwrights
Course Description
Theatre Now: 21st Century Playwrights and their Plays
In this course we will study the works of a diverse group of contemporary American playwrights. These works will give us the opportunity to explore themes, characters, and plots unseen prior to this century, as well as the changing forms, subjects, and voices of the American stage. There will be multiple performance opportunities, including a final creative/oral presentation. Writing assignments will include short critical responses and longer research-based papers. Readings will include works by playwrights such as Paula Vogel, Lynn Nottage, Charles Mee, and others at the forefront of American theatre.
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0102
Acting I: Beginning Acting
Course Description
Acting I: Beginning Acting
Rigorous physical and psychophysical exercises attempt to break through the cultural and psychological barriers that inhibit an open responsiveness to impulses, to the environment, and to others. Attempt is made to free personal response within improvised scenes and, eventually, within the narrative structure of a naturalistic scene. Attention is given to various theories of acting technique. Students are expected to audition for departmental shows. (First- and second-year students only) 3 hrs. lect./individual labs
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0208
Upcoming
Theatre History
Course Description
Theatre History
Using the dramatic text as the primary focus, this course will chart the progression of theatre from its ritualistic origins to the advent of modern drama. This survey will include an overview of theatrical architecture, the evolution of design and acting styles, and the introduction of the director. Since theatre does not exist in a void, a consideration of the social, cultural, political, and scientific milieu of each era studied will be included in the course. 2 1/2 hrs. lect./discussion & 1 screening per week
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0210
Upcoming
Fall Production Studio: Acting
Course Description
Fall Production Studio: Acting
The cast works as part of a company interpreting, rehearsing, and performing a play. Those receiving credit can expect to rehearse four to six nights a week. Appropriate written work is required. Participation in the course is determined by auditions held the previous term. (Approval required) 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0214
Directing I: Beginning
Course Description
Directing I: Beginning
As a group, students will analyze one or two plays to discover the process involved in preparing a script for production. Attention will be given to production and design concepts, textual values, auditions, rehearsals, and the structuring of a performance in time and space. Students will also cast and direct one or more scenes to be worked on and performed in class. The practical work is combined with written analysis. (Approval required; ARDV 0116, THEA 0102) 4 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
THEA 0225
Page to Stage
Course Description
Page to Stage: Theatre for a Turbulent World
What gives theatre its perennial power? Can a classic play speak to our dire concerns in 2020? Is a contemporary play a more effective vehicle for our cry for justice? In this introductory course we will investigate eight plays, classic and contemporary, exploring how theatre-makers take the ideas and themes of a play into consideration as they move into the practical realm of production. Readings include Sophocles’ Antigone, Suzan-Lori Parks’ /Topdog/Underdog, David Henry Hwang’s Yellowface, and Jen Silverman’s The Moors. Students will engage in creative problem-solving through different lenses via weekly labs in scenery, props, costumes, hair, makeup, stage management, sound, lighting, projections, and acting. This course will be co-taught by theatre faculty and staff, and it fulfills the crew requirement for Theatre majors.
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0230
The Plays of Station Eleven
Course Description
The Plays of Station Eleven
This course will provide a study of theatrical literature through an interrogation of the specific ways live performance and the human body inform meaning in text-based theatre. We will begin with a reading of the novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, the plot of which centers around a traveling troupe of actors performing plays after a plague. After studying the novel and subsequent television series, we will begin a deep reading of the plays depicted within the story, including Shakespeare’s King Lear and Hamlet. Following these tragedies, we will read modern plays that explore different forms, themes, styles, and methods of theatre-making, again led by the evocations of post-pandemic performance. Contemporary plays will include Jonathan Payne’s The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Liz Duffy Adams’ Dog Act, Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Caridad Svich’s Twelve Ophelias, and Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play.
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0238
Directing and Creating
Course Description
Directing and Creating: Textual Work and Devised Work
In recent years the disciplines of directing ‘text-based’ theatre and of creating (or devising) a theatre piece without an initial reliance on a text have built shared approaches to material. Devised work may be composed through vocal or physical improvisation, created through interviews, or collaged from various sources, a text may emerge during the process. Text-based theatre is more traditional in its impetus, but the process of fleshing out a text can be very similar to creating without a text. In this course we will approach both forms of theatre, creating and directing pieces in many forms, and viewing works. Readings include The Viewpoints Book, The Active Text, and The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. The course is suggested for actors and designers as well as directors and may be used to fulfill a requirement for senior work in directing or devising. This course is not open to students who have taken THEA 0237 or THEA 0324. (THEA 0102 or THEA 0214 or THEA 0218) 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
THEA 0500
Upcoming
Intermediate Indep Project
Course Description
Intermediate Independent Project
In consultation with their advisors, theatre majors in design may propose a THEA 0500 Intermediate Independent Project. Preliminary proposal forms approved by the student's advisor will be submitted to the program by March 1st of the preceding academic year for those wanting credit in the fall or winter terms and by October 1st for those wanting credit in the spring term. Projects will conform to the guidelines that are available in the theatre office. Students are required to attend a weekly THEA 0500/0700 seminar.
Terms Taught
THEA 0505
Upcoming
Intermediate Ind. Project
Course Description
Intermediate Independent Project
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
THEA 0700
Upcoming
Senior Project
Course Description
Senior Independent Project
Senior work is required. In consultation with their advisors, theatre majors may propose a THEA 0700 Independent Project. Preliminary proposal forms approved by the student's advisor will be submitted to the program by March 1st of the preceding academic year for those wanting credit in the fall or winter terms and by October 1st for those wanting credit in the spring term. Projects will conform to the guidelines that are available in the theatre office. Students are required to attend a weekly THEA 0500/0700 seminar.
Terms Taught
THEA 1028
Site-Specific Theatre
Course Description
Site-Specific Theatre Performance
In this course we will explore methods of creating site-specific theatre performances then work to collaboratively create a performance using these methods. Drawing on the global profile of major practitioners in the field, we will analyze international and US-based productions of note and study key principles of place and space. This class will form an ensemble of site-specific theatre-makers, working together democratically to create several performance pieces in and around campus. Through in-class exercises and readings, we will generate material for a final site-specific performance to be performed publicly.
Terms Taught
Requirements