Dramatic Literature (DRLIT-UA)

Examines selected plays central to the development of world drama, with critical emphasis on a cultural, historical, and theatrical analysis of these works. The first semester covers the major periods of Greek and Roman drama; Japanese classical theatre; medieval drama; theatre of the English, Italian, and Spanish Renaissance; and French neoclassical drama. The second semester begins with English Restoration and 18th-century comedy and continues through romanticism, naturalism, and realism to an examination of antirealism and the major dramatic currents of the 20th century, including postcolonial theatre in Asia, Africa, and Australia.

A study of the origins and development of the two most influential dramatic movements of this century. After noting such antecedents as 19th-century melodrama and the ?well-made play,? we concentrate on the plays and theories of Gerhart Hauptmann, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, ?mile Zola, and others. The social and psychological focus of these playwrights is discussed in terms of philosophical influences (Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Darwin) as well as in relation to important theatrical theorists, models, and institutions (Andre Antoine and the Theatre Libre, Konstantin Stanislavki and the Moscow Art Theatre). The continuing vitality of realism, as well as significant mutations of and modifications to it, are traced throughout the century.

Explores the relationship between two kinds of theories: theories of meaning and theories of perfor-mance. Among the theories of meaning to be studied are semiotics, deconstruction, feminism, psychoanalysis, new historicism, and poExplores the relationship between two kinds of theories: theories of meaning and theories of perfor-mance. Among the theories of meaning to be studied are semiotics, deconstruction, feminism, psychoanalysis, new historicism, and postmodernism. Theories of practice include naturalism, Dadaism, futurism, epic theatre, theatre of cruelty, poor theatre, and environmental theatre. Theories are examined through theoretical essays and representative plays.

A reevaluation of a wide variety of European and American forms that, beginning in the 16th century, were separated from ?high culture? theatre. These include fairground performance, commedia dell?arte, carnival, puppet and mask theatre, mummers? plays, circus, pantomime, minstrel shows, and vaudeville. Exploration of what popular performance does differently than ?high culture? theatre, how it does so, and to whom it addresses itself. A study of characteristic forms and techniques of popular performance, the connection between Western and non-Western forms, and the central role of popular performance in 20th-century theatre.

Historical and critical study of the idea and practice of tragedy from Greek times to the present.

Of the many gifts of the ancient Greeks to Western culture, one of the most celebrated and influential is the art of drama. This course covers, by way of the best available translations, the masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The place of the plays in the history of the drama and the continuing influence they have had on serious playwrights, including those of the 20th century.

Study of early comedy, its form, content, and social and historical background. Covers the Old Comedy of fifth-century Athens through the Attic New Comedy and Roman comedy. Authors include Aristophanes (11 comedies are studied, and one is staged); Euripides, whose tragedies revolutionized the form of both comedy and tragedy; Menander, whose plays were only recently discovered; and Plautus and Terence, whose works profoundly influenced comedy in Western Europe.

Introduction to the reading of Shakespeare. Examines about 10 plays each term, generally in chronological order. First term: the early comedies, tragedies, and histories up to Hamlet. Second term: the later tragedies, the problem plays, and the romances, concluding with The Tempest.

Explores the richness and variety of Shakespearean drama through an emphasis on the mastery of selected major plays. Six to eight plays are read intensively and thoroughly examined in discussion. Assumes some familiarity with Shakespeare?s works.

A study of plays by female playwrights and feminist theatre from the perspective of contemporary feminist theory. Considerations include: strategies for asserting new images of women on stage, the dramatic devices employed by female playwrights, lesbian aesthetics, race, class, and the rejection of realism. Possible plays and performance texts treated include those of Maria Irene Fornes, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Daniels, Wendy Wasserstein, Ntozake Shange, Adrienne Kennedy, Susan Glaspell, Aphra Behn, Alice Childress, Tina Howe, Holly Hughes, Karen Finley, Darrah Cloud, and Suzan-Lori Parks.

Study of the drama and theatre of America since 1900, including Eugene O?Neill, Susan Glaspell, the Group Theatre, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Adrienne Kennedy, Amiri Baraka, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, David Rabe, Arthur Kopit, August Wilson, George Wolfe, David Henry Hwang, John Guare, and Maria Irene Fornes.

The course (different each time) explores one or more distinctive theatrical genres such as tragedy or comedy, melodrama, satire, or farce, or plays of distinctive theatrical types, such as theatre of the absurd, the documentary play, theatre of witness. Since theatrical genres and theatrical types come into being because playwrights respond to historical necessity by visualizing specific worldviews, the course presents a study of the role and function of the theatre within societies, as response to historical, psychological, and spiritual forces.

This course (different each time) focuses on two or three related major playwrights. For example: Brecht and Shaw, Chekhov and Williams, Churchill and Bond, Beckett and Pinter, Strindberg and O?Neill. An in-depth study of their writings, theories, and production histories of their plays in relation to biographical, cultural, political, and aesthetic contexts.

The study of African American dramatic traditions from early minstrelsy to turn-of-the-century musical extravaganzas; from the Harlem Renaissance folk plays to realistic drama of the 1950s; from the militant protest drama of the 1960s to the historical and experimental works of the present. Issues of race, gender, class; of oppression and empowerment; of marginality and assimilation are explored in the works of such playwrights as Langston Hughes, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Adrienne Kennedy, Charles Fuller, George C. Wolfe, Ntozake Shange, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Anna Deavere Smith. The sociohistorical context of each author is also briefly explored.

This course acts as both an introduction to the genre of Asian American theatre and an interrogation into how this genre has been constituted. Through a combination of play analysis and historical discussion?starting with Frank Chen?s The Chickencoop Chinaman, the first Asian American play produced in a mainstream venue?the class looks at the ways Asian American drama and performance intersect with a burgeoning Asian American consciousness. We review the construction of Asian American history through such plays as Genny Lim?s Paper Angels and more recent works such as Chay Yew?s A Language of Their Own. We also read theoretical and historical texts that provide the basis for a critical examination of the issues surrounding Asian American theatre. Orientalism, media representation, and theories of genealogy inform our discussion.

Major forms, plays, and theories of socially engaged theatre exemplifying performance as a site of resistance, social critique, and utopianism. While the course provides an examination of the historical development of political theatre, focus may vary semester to semester, from an examination of activist forms including agit-prop, pageantry, epic theatre, documentary, street theatre, women?s performance art to major theoretical perspectives and their practical translations since Brecht, including Boal and feminist and queer theory to plays and productions by the Blue Blouse, Clifford Odets, Bertolt Brecht, the Living Theatre, Bread and Puppet, El Teatro Campesino, Heiner Mueller, Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Ngu~g~i wa Thiong?o, Split Britches, Tony Kushner, Emily Mann, and others.

An introduction to the history, theories, and practices of Latin American drama, focusing on the 20th century. We pay special attention to the historical reinvention of European-based theatrical forms in the Americas through their continuous interaction with non-European cultural forms. Through the plays of leading dramatists?including Jorge D?az, Egon Wolff, Sergio Vodanovic (Chile), Jos? Triana (Cuba), Ren? Marquez and Luis Rafael S?nchez (Puerto Rico), Isaac Chocr?n (Venezuela), Emilio Carballido, Luisa Josefina Hern?ndez, Sabina Berman, Elena Garro (Mexico), Osvaldo Drag?n, Eduardo Pavlovsky, Roberto Cossa, and Griselda Gambaro (Argentina)?we explore the significance of modernist and postmodernist dramatic forms in cultures where industrial modernity is an insecure social context. We study the wealth of oppositional theatre in Latin America?exemplified by Augusto Boal?s ?theatre of the oppressed??in relation to the historical use (or abuse) of theatrical spectacle as a political means to control peoples, from the early Spanish conquerors to recent authoritarian state leaders. We read postcolonial Latin American theories of culture and art, such as hybridity, transculturation, Brazil?s modernist and anticolonial antropofag?a, and the ?aesthetics of hunger,? drawing on the work of Fernando Ortiz, Angel Rama, and N?stor Garc?a Canclini, among others. We consider ?magical realism? in the theatre as a social poetics of scarcity.

This course (different each time) examines different traditions, innovations, representations, and locations of Asian theatre. The influence of major aesthetic texts such as the Natyasastra and the Kadensho is studied in relationship to specific forms of theatre such as Kagura, Bugaku, Noh, Bunraku, Kabuki, Shingeki, Jingxi, Geju, Zaju, Kathakali, Kathak, Odissi, Chau, Manipuri, Krishnattam, Kutiyattam, Raslila, and P?ansori. The dramatization of religious beliefs, myths, and legends is examined in a contemporary context. Different focuses include Middle Eastern performance, Japanese theatre, traditional Asian performances on contemporary stages, religion and drama in Southeast Asia, and traditions of India.

Combines the study of drama as literary text with the study of theatre as its three-dimensional translation, both theoretically and practically. Drawing on the rich theatrical resources of New York City, students see approximately 12 plays, covering classical to contemporary and traditional to experimental theatre. On occasion, films or videotapes of plays are used to supplement live performances. Readings include plays and essays in theory and criticism.

This course (different each time) uses key theoretical concepts of the field of performance studies to examine a diverse range of performance practices. Topics include ritual studies, interculturalism, tourist performances, discourses of stardom, theatre anthropology, and documentary performances.

Culture and administration: these terms share a long and undulating history. Churches and state governments, robber barons and revolutionaries, commercial producers and non-profit theatre artists: each have sought to erect and to manage institutions of artistic output at different times and for different ends. In this course, we will consider a range of theories and interdisciplinary performance practices, and invite some special guests – curators, artistic directors, organizers, theatre makers – to help us think in different ways about the relations between theatre and performance practices and the institutions that house them. We will investigate more traditional forms of theatre administration as well as some new forms of experimental organization in order to critically question both the aesthetics and politics of the institutional practices of theatre. Some topics addressed in this course could include: performance curation, theatre festivals, commercial theatre, non-profit theatre, theatre and public policy.

Studies the relationship between Italian literature and post-World War II cinema. Among the authors and directors examined are Lampedusa, Bassani, Sciascia, Visconti, DeSica, and Rosi.

This course (different each time) explores the history and semiotics of one of several hybrid genres, such as opera, dance drama, film adaptations of plays, or multimedia works.

Comprehensive, practical course in the various technical aspects of theatrical production. First term explores the planning, construction, and painting of scenery and the architecture of the stage. Second term deals with stage electrics, lighting, crafts, sound technology, and special effects.

Class hours are spent in the practice of improvisation, pantomime, and theatre games as well as brief scenes. Additional hours for rehearsal and performance of scenes.

Emphasis on scene study and the analysis and performance of characters. Students may be cast and rehearsed by members of the directing classes in brief scenes performed on Friday afternoons and in evenings of one-act performances, as well as staff-directed or -supervised, full-length productions.

Costume design for the modern stage; the history of fashion.

Elements of play scripts are analyzed and dramatized. Students may cast and rehearse brief scenes performed on Friday afternoons.

An introduction to the central tools and skills that make up the actor?s art and craft. Through theatre games, structured improvisation, and beginning scene work, students exercise their imaginations, learn how to work as an ensemble, and develop a sense of their bodies as expressive instruments. All techniques covered have been developed by the most celebrated 20th-century theorists, such as Stanislavski, Grotowski, and Bogart, and are the same theories that underlie the training of the Tisch undergraduate acting conservatory. No prior experience necessary.

Principles and practice of writing for theatre. Students are expected to write and rewrite their own plays and to present them for reading and criticism.

Requires a commitment of eight to 12 hours of work per week in an unpaid position to be approved by the director of undergraduate studies. The intern?s duties on site should involve some substantive aspect of work in drama. The student is expected to fulfill the obligation of the internship itself, and a written evaluation is solicited from the outside sponsor at the end. The grade for the course is based on a final project submitted to a faculty director with whom the student has been meeting regularly over the semester to discuss the progress of the internship.

The course examines the main features of modern drama from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Each week there is a theatre visit to see plays from the period in a number of different venues across the city: for example, the National Theatre, the Royal Court, selected West End houses, non-theatre spaces converted for performance, and site specific locations. The productions are chosen to illustrate the immense variety of work produced in theatre during the twentieth century and current today. They also provide excellent examples of contemporary techniques in theatre making, ranging from interpretations of traditional dramas and comedies, new writing, physical theatre, musicals, cross media pieces, and other alternative forms. Significant aspects of modern drama are also considered in class through examples on DVDs, examination of critical reviews, and analysis of additional texts where appropriate.

This course provides an introduction to the dramatic work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Students read and attend representative comedies, tragedies, and histories, their selection to be determined by the plays actually in production in and around London, particularly at the Barbican, New Globe, and Stratford to which at least one excursion will be made. Special attention will be given to the playhouses and the influence they had on the art of the theatre, actors' companies, and modes of production and performance. Lectures and discussions will focus on the aesthetic quality of the plays, their relationship with the audiences (then and now), the application of the diverse attitudes and assumptions of modern critical theory to the Elizabethan stage, the contrasting structures of Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean drama, the new emphasis on selfhood and individuality, and the major themes of hierarchy, order, and justice, the conflict of Nature and Fortune, the role of Providence, the ideals of love, and the norms of social accord. Opportunities will be given to investigate the interrelations of the plays and other arts, including film, opera, and ballet.

On December 28th, 1895, cinema was given its official characteristics by the Lumière brothers in Paris. If for over a century, the “Seventh Art” has been an essential element and a vehicle for French culture, the city of Paris has epitomized the evolution and contradictions of the French cinema industry. Focusing on the main tendencies in contemporary French cinema, we will ask the following questions: How do the French filmmakers depict the city of Lights, the City of Love, the City of Horror? How decisive a representation of Paris and its suburbs can be? Why do the images of Paris illustrate the history of French cinema? What do they show about French culture?

The course description for this Topics in Dramatic Literature course varies depending on the topic taught. Please view the course description in the course notes section below.