Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - CA 451 D100

Creative Research (3)

Class Number: 6288

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Tue, Thu, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    GOLDCORP

  • Prerequisites:

    CA 253, CA 355, CA 356, CA 357W.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Offers fourth year theatre and performance students an opportunity to review and frame their performance practice as a unique method of inquiry. Students establish the context of their individual practices while experimenting with bespoke methods of creation, reflection, and potential presentation/production models for their capstone projects.

COURSE DETAILS:

CA 451: Creative Research is the required first part of a two-part course supporting the development of a final performance project for the publicly attended Live Acts Festival, taking place in Spring 2026.

Throughout the term, students will engage in the conceptual, practical, and critical stages of performance-making. In addition to a rigorous, experimental, and play-focused studio process, students will be introduced to the Canada Council for the Arts’ Explore and Create funding model as a structural and conceptual map for imagining and articulating their projects. This framework offers students the opportunity to engage with a key national funding system, equipping them with foundational knowledge for a professional career in the arts post-graduation.

By the end of the Fall semester, each student will present a work-in-progress showing, accompanied by an artistic statement and production plan. These components will form the basis for continued development and full presentation of their work during the Spring term’s Live Acts Festival.

Open to Theatre & Performance students who have completed the listed prerequisites, as well as fourth-year and above students from across the School for the Contemporary Arts, with instructor approval and subject to enrolment capacity.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

To provide students with the opportunity to individually lead the creation of a new work of performance.

To foster deep engagement with creative research methods.

To introduce students to a Canadian arts funding system within the context of performance-making.

To serve as a culminating moment in each artist’s education within the SCA’s Theatre & Performance program.

Grading

  • Best Show / Worst Show 10%
  • Outline Draft of Explore and Create Process 15%
  • Work in Progress Showing 25%
  • Final draft, Explore and Create Grant, Process and Documentation 30%
  • Participation 20%

NOTES:

We enter this space as collaborators. Each participant is responsible for the production and maintenance of its trajectory. This class is meant to prepare the student for professional practice. As a fourth-year class and in preparation for a final project, there will be a high standard of expected behavior and an expectation of full attendance and participation in scheduled classes, rehearsals and presentations.

REQUIREMENTS:

Students must arrive on time for all scheduled classes and group work. Repeated lateness or absence will negatively affect final grade.

Weekly assignments, readings, and presentation materials must be completed in full and submitted on time.

Active participation in all group discussions and presentations is required. Students are accountable to a generative and respectful studio culture and to one another.

Significant individual and group studio practice outside of scheduled class time is expected.

Please refrain from wearing scented products to support a healthy and inclusive studio environment.

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Creation materials will vary depending on each student’s creative direction. Additional materials may need to be sourced by students internally at the school or elsewhere as projects evolve. 

All readings will be supplied by instructor.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.