Technical Direction

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Break down a scenic design for budgetary consideration
• Determine a construction calendar
• Break down a scenic design in order to create construction drawings
• Have a basic understanding of the mechanics of structural design and construction for the stage

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Structure Homework	10%
Wooden Beams Exam	15%
Columns & Combined Loading Exam	10%
Steel Beams & Columns Exam	15%
Scheduling Assignment	7.5%
Budgeting Assignment	7.5%
Flat Construction Assignment	10%
Platform Construction Assignment	10%
TD Show Project	15%

Grading Scale:

Percentage	Letter Grade
100-93%	A
92-90%	A-
89-87%	B+
86-83%	B
82-80%	B-
79-77%	C+
76-73%	C
72-70%	C-
69-67%	D+
66-63%	D
62-60%	D-
59-0%	F

Attendance/Participation:

Attendance: Students are expected to attend all classes. I’ve been teaching this class for a long time and there generally is a link between lack of success and lack of attendance. If you are not in class, you will be marked as absent, regardless of the reason. There are no excused absences other than missing class for a UNCG or School of Theatre sanctioned event (SETC, USITT, crew assignment, etc.). For example: missing class due to an illness will not be an excused absence, even with a note from the health center. It will just count as one of your absences. So, be smart and don’t waste absences by sleeping in or just blowing off class.

Perfect attendance (0 absences) will receive half of a letter grade boost to their final grade. (ex: A- to A)

1–2 absences for any reason (higher than 93%) will earn their grade as listed in Canvas

3–4 absences for any reason (85-93%) will lose half of a letter grade from their final grade (ex: A to A-)

5–6 or more absences for any reason (80-85%) will lose a letter grade from their final grade (ex: A to B)

7 or more absences for any reason (below 80%) will receive a “F”

Students with less than 70% attendance (5+ absences) at mid-term (November 9) will be withdrawn from class with a WF.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Required Textbook: Structural Design for the Stage, 2nd Editions, Holden & Sammler. Focal Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0240818269. eBook: https://go.uncg.edu/structuraldesigntextbook
• Additional Materials: Scientific Calculator (one on your phone will work), access to Vectorworks/AutoCAD