Drama Program: Course Descriptions

Undergraduate Courses

1 Comedy and Tragedy: An Introduction to Drama
This course provides an introduction to dramatic literature from its origins in ancient Greece through to the present day. We will survey, compare and contextualize changing dramatic genres in the works of playwrights as diverse as Sophocles, Shakespeare, Hansberry and Hwang, always with an eye to performance. Our readings of play texts will be supplemented by critical and multimedia materials. No prerequisite.

4 Modern Drama
This discussion-based course examines dramatic literature and its theatrical performance from the explosion of "-isms" at the beginning of the twentieth century, through the
innovations heralding the beginning of the twenty-first. Modern societies and ways of thinking have undergone radical transformations during this period, as have dramatic and theatrical expression. We will journey through this era of change through the close examination of approximately twenty plays, related critical readings, films of plays, class presentations, and lively discussions. No prerequisite.

5 PRODUCTION PREP CREW
Participation in scenery construction, costume construction, electrics, or paint crew for departmental major productions. Minimum of 30 hours in one semester. Required for Drama major. No credit; pass/fail grading. Prerequisites: Drama major or minor, and permission of instructor. Both semesters

6 PRODUCTION RUN CREW
Participation in backstage, costume, lighting, or sound crew during technical and dress rehearsals, and performances of a faculty -directed major production. Required for all drama majors or minors. No credit; pass-fail grading. Prerequisites: Drama major or minor and permission of instructor. Both semesters.

10 Acting I: Introduction to Acting
A basic course in acting, aimed at enhancing self-confidence, oral expression, and creativity. Acting teaches poise and presence, vocal and physical coordination, before a group. Students who have never acted previously (and those who have) will find it important to study (or review) the basics of concentration, motivation and improvisation. For students interested in theatre, this course is a necessity; but students in other fields (such as law, business, engineering) can also benefit from studying the basics of what it means to create a character and speak before an audience. Limit of eighteen students per section. No prerequisite. Members of the department.

11 Introduction to Physical Theater (DNC 11 or DR 11)
Collaborations and creative projects in sound and movement, translations from other media, mask, and development of eccentric characters. Work placed in theatrical context through readings, viewings, and writing to create expanded views of performance for novice and experienced performers.

12 Acting II
Techniques and theories of acting for students with substantial prior acting experience in productions and/or classes. The role of the actor in relation to the play as a whole. Work on stage speech, movement, projection, characterization, and interpretation. Prerequisite: consent based on a brief interview and audition (through which first-year students may place out of Drama 10).

15 Makeup Design and Application
Studio-based exploration of design and implementation of makeup for stage and film. Topics include makeup history, facial structure, color theory, products and their uses, the creation and use of prosthetics and wigs. Design projects focus on researching period based makeup, creating an accurate image to work from, and implementing those ideas on the actual human face.

16 Costume Technology
An exploration of materials, equipment, and methods of costume construction. Topics include period pattern research and development, construction techniques, fabric treatments, mask making, and costume prop design. No prerequisite. Lab fee. Fall.

17 Theatre Technology
The tools, materials, techniques and methods of mounting a theatrical production. Emphasis on scenery construction including basic carpentry, painting, and rigging techniques. Required lab hours to be arranged. No prerequisite. Lab Fee. Spring.

18 Lighting Design I
The study of the aesthetics, processes and tools of lighting design for the stage. Script analysis, research, color theory, equipment, design principles for arena and proscenium stages, design documentation, using a combination of hands-on exercises, paper projects and computer visualization. No prerequisite.

21 Computer-Assisted Design: 3-D Modeling
A project -based examination of design principles, using 3-D studio software as a design environment. Design projects focus on the presentational elements of architectural, theatrical and commercial design. Topics include modeling, texturing, lighting and animation of three-dimensional designs. Prerequisites: Any costume, lighting or set design, any studio arts foundation or drawing course.

22 Introduction to the Art of Multimedia
A project-based examination of design principles, using 3-D studio software as a design environment. Design projects focus on the presentational elements of architectural, theatrical and commercial design. Topics include modeling, texturing, lighting and animation of three-dimensional designs. Prerequisite: Drama 19 or any studio arts foundation or drawing course.

25 Stage Management
The study and analysis of the production of a play from the point of view of the stage manager, from auditions through the close of the show. Individual preparation of a complete stage manager's prompt script for one play with emphasis on critical and analytical thinking, problem-solving, and strong writing and communication  skills. Prerequisite: consent.

27 Public Speaking
Introductory course exploring the fundamentals of clear, confident, and effective communication in one-on-one and group settings. Development of tension managements skills, good breathing habits, awareness of body language, and the ability to engage an audience through a series of practical exercises. Specific vocal work focuses on tone, variety of pitch, rate, volume, and articulation.

28 Voice and Speech
This Course is for actors and for those seeking to strengthen and expand the full range of flexibility, variety and contrast in their vocal expression. In preparation for easy response to the demands of performance, students will explore the connections between movement and sound, the duality of breath and posture, the development of tonal energy, vowels, the dynamics of consonants and their action in texts.

29 Scene Painting
Study and practice of the techniques of scene painting and surface treatment applicable to the execution of theatrical designs. No prerequisite. Lab fee. Design faculty.

30 Acting Shakespeare
In this course we will learn basic through advanced techniques for acting the works of the most-produced playwright in the English language, including techniques for acting Shakespeare based in the 1623 First Folio. Students will have the opportunity to begin or further their work on monologues which can be used as audition pieces, and to develop in-depth scene work with partners. In addition to working on more standard approaches, we will look at the challenges and glories of acting from sides (also known as "cue scripts"-- the way Shakespeare's company worked), learn how the text enabled Shakespeare's players to perform with only a single group rehearsal, and discover how these "original practices" can empower actors in contemporary performance. Either some acting experience or familiarity with the works of William Shakespeare is recommended. Prerequisite: consent of the instructor.

33 The American Musical
An introduction to a vibrant art form, this course will explore the American musical in all its variety and vitality. On stage and screen from The Black Crook (1866) to The Book of Mormon (2011), Show Boat (1927) to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (2011), we will focus on outstanding productions and the composers, lyricists, librettists, directors, designers, choreographers, performers, and producers who created them. Using films, images, and sound recordings (original cast and revivals), we will view the musical as a reflection of American popular culture: the expression of fantasy and nostalgia, sentimentalism and chauvinism, racism and sexism, social protest and enduring optimism. At a time when roughly three out of every four Broadway musicals end in economic failure, we will examine the fundamental tension between the art of creating musicals and the entertainment business, between artistic achievement and commercial success.

43/143 Gay & Lesbian Theater & Film
Stage and media treatment of homosexuality throughout history, beginning with the classical Greek and Elizabethan stage, dealing with the Chinese and Japanese traditional drama, and proceeding to present time. Subjects include stage transvestism, stereotypes of the effete dandy and predatory lesbian, underground vs. commercial film representations, the concept of camps, AIDS drama, and contemporary queer theory and performance.  Film screenings.

45 Computer Aided Design Theatre
There is no description at this time.

46 International Women Film Directors
Although female directors are still considered a minority in the international film industry, their contribution is significant. The films that we will screen are not Hollywood studio films and do not cater to predictable conventions and "happy endings". These films are diverse and unique, yet share such themes as female oppression, gender identification, women's roles in everyday life, and female empowerment. We will analyze the directors "narrative and visual storytelling processes and choices, and how their diverse background influence their films, as well as discuss critics' reviews. many of these provocative directors have been imprisoned, banned from their countries, are a major influence in their country's New Wave cinema, and/or stirred an international debate because their films.

48 African-American Theater and Film
A broad historical survey of plays and films created by African Americans. Comparison of cinematic and theatrical representations. Relation of African American aesthetics to broader American, European and Pan-African forms. Historical evaluation and comparison of images created by African-Americans and those established in the mainstream milieu. No prerequisite. (May be taken at the 100 level with prerequisite and consent.) Spring (every other year). 

49 Asian-American Theatre and Film
Survey of the field of Asian American film and live performance from 1970s to the present, with emphasis on their exploration of cultural and racial difference, gender, sexuality, family, generational conflict, ethnicity, and identity. Weekly or bi-weekly film screenings required. (May be taken at 100-level for graduate credit with consent.)

50 Intro to Film Studies
Introductory course on the fundamental methodologies for reading film. An overview of film studies with emphasis on film as a complex art form. Topics will include, narrative as a formal system, film genres, style and its related techniques, critical approaches to film analysis and film history. Weekly screening of relevant films selected from both Hollywood and world cinemas. No prerequisite.

DR 53/CLS 55 Greek and Roman Tragedy
Cross-listed as Classics 55)
Study of plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides and of the contexts in which they were performed. (May be taken at 100-level for graduate credit with consent.)

54/154 Greek and Roman Comedy
(Cross-listed as Classics 54)
Studies of plays of Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence and of the contexts in which they are performed. Readings of the plays will be in English translation. No prerequisites. (May be taken at the 100 level).

57 (GER 57) Bertolt Brecht
The dramas, poems, and short stories of one of the most controversial and influential German playwrights of the twentieth century. Attention to history and theory of German theatre. Emphasis on his representation of women and the role of women in his theatre collective. Readings in German for German Majors and in English for other students. (May be taken at the 100 level for graduate credit with consent.)

59 German Theatre from Lessing to Muller
(Cross-listed as German 59). Survey of German theater from the period of Enlightenment to the present; theater in the context of social and political developments. The course will analyze concepts of theater/drama by German speaking writers, the political/social function they assigned to theater, and the role of theater in current cultural politics. (May be taken at 100 level with consent.)

60 Shakespeare on Film
An analysis of great film productions of at least five Shakespearean plays, from rare early silent films to recent popular versions and from filmed versions of classic British stage productions to cross-cultural productions designed for non-Western audiences. Lectures and discussions will compare at least two to three different cinematic versions of a play, examine visual and performance cues in the texts, and explore the different mediums of drama and film. (May be taken at 100-level for graduate credit with consent.)

62 Hollywood Comedy
An overview of the development of American comic films, starting with the laugh factory of Max Sennett and early cinematic clowns such as Chaplin and Keaton. Viewings and discussions of sub-genres including screwball comedy and the irreverent humor of vaudevillians like the Marx Brothers and Mae West in the '30's, the wit of Some Like It Hot in the '50's, the sexual and anarchic comedy of the '60's onward. Themes include speed and violence as comic subjects, comedy as a gauge of American anxieties at any time, and the sublimation of sexual tension through playing with gender roles. No prerequisite.

65 Sport as Performance
Links between athletics and the disciplines of theatre, performance studies, sociology, and anthropology are examined in order to understand sport as performance. Includes focus on the role of women and how gender is performed in live sporting events and in the media, and also performance of race in sport. Lectures, discussions, independent research projects, and guest speakers from the worlds of both athletics and theatre.

68 Twentieth Century Chinese Theatre
There is no description at this time.

72 Imagining Holocaust on Stage and Screen
Exploration of plays and films dealing with the Holocaust, from Nazi-era propaganda to contemporary reflections on genocide. Special emphasis on the ethics of Holocaust representation and the responsibilities of artists (and audiences) who engage the Holocaust story. Texts include such plays as Camp Comedy, Ghetto, Kindertransport, Good, Bent, Who Will Carry the Word?, and Annulla, as well as critical and theoretical readings. Triumph of the Will, Night and Fog, The Architecture of Doom, Partisans of Vilna, The Boat is Full, my Mother's Courage, Schindler's List, The Grey Zone, Paragraph 175, Life is Beautiful, Shoah, and The last Jew from Lublin are among the feature films and documentaries considered.

77 Screenwriting I
An introduction to the craft of screenwriting with an emphasis on story, structure, character development, dialogue, visuals, genre, and the language of film. Films and produced screenplays will be analyzed to illustrate the aforementioned topics. Students will workshop their materials weekly and are expected to provide insightful analysis of their classmates' work. By the end of the course, students will be required to complete the first act of a feature-length screenplay and an outline of Acts II and III.

80 Practicum in Acting
Rehearsal and performance of a role in a major departmental production, under the direction and instruction of a faculty member. Auditions are open to the Tufts community. Course registration occurs after casting, and all cast members are required to register with the exception of designated small roles. May be repeated for credit, but only two half-course credits of DR 80/DR 81 can be used to satisfy the requirements for the drama major or minor. Prerequisite: Consent.

81 Practicum in Production
Significant participation in the design, technical, or management aspects of a production, with supervision and instruction by the appropriate faculty member. Specific projects, assignments and other work will be geared to the requirements of the particular production. All students with substantial responsibilities on a major production must register for this course. May be repeated for credit, but only two half-course credits of Drama 80/81 may be used to satisfy the requirements for the drama major or minor. Work done for pay may not be considered as coursework. Prerequisite: Consent.

93, 94 Special Topics
Advanced projects for independent or group study in acting, directing, designing, and other arts of the theatre, as well as in the history of theatre and drama. Applicants for this course must give evidence of both interest in and capacity for doing specialized work in their chosen project. Credit as arranged.

93-01: Contemporary American Theatre
An exploration of 21st-Century Theatre as a major cultural and political art form. Readings and discussions of a selection from the decade’s most important plays and performance will explore how the playwrights address issues of race, class, gender, and national identity. Additionally the course will investigate major economic and ethical issues affecting the American theatre including interracial casting, the economic demands of producing on Broadway, regional theatre homogeneity, and the selection criteria of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award nominations. No prerequisite.

93-02: Latino Theatre and Film
This course examines the emergence of Latino theatre and film as a potent creative and political force in the United States. Representative works by Latino playwrights, performance artists, and filmmakers will be discussed in light of issues such as labor and immigration, gender and sexuality, generation gaps in Latino culture, hybridized identities, interculturalism, and the United States' relationship with Latin American nations. Occasional film screenings are required.

93-03: Low Comedy in Theatre, Film and Media
This course will examine the history and techniques of low comedy forms, including farce, commedia dell'arte, pantomime, slapstick, nonsense and clowning. Among the topics treated in these genres will be race and ethnicity, eating and excreting, gender and sexuality, violence and speed. There will be readings in theory of comedy, plays and sketches, showings of classic film comedy. The class will conclude with a workshop in physical comedy.

93-03: Contemporary Musical Theatre
An exploration of the contemporary musical as a national and global phenomenon. Consideration of what makes a musical "contemporary," how musical theater and film find new expression and distribution through changing media technologies. Topics covered may include but are not limited to the American stage and screen musical abroad, intercultural engagement within musical narratives, international collaborations by musical creators, American appropriation of foreign styles and narratives, the musical and national identity, technology's role in the globalization of the musical. Prerequisite: DR 33 or permission. Fulfills the Arts distribution requirement.

94-02 Special Topics: Cabaret
This course intends to examine the history of cabaret performance in the western world, and to create a new cabaret evening based on historical models. In the earlier part of the semester, the class will study the history, socio-political context, personalities and repertoire, from the artists’ cabarets of 1890’s Montmartre through their imitators in Holland, Germany and Russia to Berlin political cabarets of the 1920s to the émigré and onwards. The second part of the semester will be devoted to creating a cabaret, with students writing, composing and designing the material, and eventually performing it as the final examination. The performances are projected to be two consecutive late-night shows in a space which would accommodate eating and drinking at individual tables.
ADMISSION TO THE COURSE IS BY AUDITION ONLY. (Students currently abroad may audition on their return.) Auditions for writers, satirists, songwriters, actors, comedians, singers, dancers, designers, and technicians will present sketches or portfolios and records of their previous accomplishments. The course, in its early stage, will be conducted as a seminar. There will be a few film showings. HIGH DEMAND.

94-03 Special Topics: Armed Staged Combat
An introduction to the concepts and practice of executing safe and effective violence on the stage. Students will learn how character and conflict are expressed through integrating stage combat with other acting techniques, as well as analyzing what drives characters to physical conflict and how that conflict manifests itself on stage. Students will work with prepared scenes. Prerequisite DRAMA 10 or permission of the instructor.

94-04: Performing American, Exploring Identity
What does it mean to be an American? In this seminar, we explore the concept of American identity from the perspective of playwrights from underrepresented groups in mainstream American theatre. By using concepts from performance studies and related fields to analyze theatrical and critical texts from 1830's to present, this course will illuminate and examine American identity from the earliest theatrical and visual constructions of racial, gendered, cultural and national representations in American theatre. Playwrights, critics, scholars an artists from various underrepresented communities under consideration include but is not limited: Women, African Americans, Asian Americans, U.S. Latinos/a(s), Native Americans, immigrant populations, and LGBT. Ndounou

99 Internship
Contact department for specific details.

Undergraduate and Graduate

100 Acting III
Intensive course aimed at improving the actor’s means and procedures in the controlled use of body and voices; analysis and interpretation of roles; characterizations; emotional projection. Individual and ensemble performance in exercises and scenes is the framework for learning various types of interpretation and traditional acting styles. COURSE MAY BE REPEATED. Prerequisites: Drama 12 and consent.

112 Advanced Acting Workshop
An in-depth exploration of a specific area and genre of the theatre or a particular aspect of an actors work. Recent workshops have been on comedy, on characterization, on Asian techniques applied to Euro-American plays, and on stage combat. One-half or one course credit. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite consent. Members of the department.

117 Evolution of Fashion
This course will explore the ever-changing silhouette of clothing from ancient cultures to the present. It will focus on how the style of each period of dress is influenced by other periods and is often a response to the previous period. Through slides, videos, museum visits, actual garments, and texts, students will learn how to recognize the sometimes obvious and other times subtle changes in fashion. No prerequisite.

118 Lighting Design II
Continuation of Lighting Design I. Further exploration of lighting technology and design aesthetics for more complex productions such as multi-set shows, musicals, and dance. Use of computer programs for planning and communicating design ideas. Prerequisite: Drama 1 and 18 or consent. Lab fee.

119 History of Style and Décor
A survey course in decor, style, and architecture from early Egyptian to Modern American. Its intention is to give designers for film, television, and theatre a basic working knowledge of period and style in regards to interior design and architecture.

125 Scene Design
Development of the skills of script analysis, rendering, and process for the design of scenery. Prerequisites: Drama 1 and 19 or consent.

126 Costume Design
Development of the skills of script analysis, rendering, model making, and process for the design of scenery.

129 Design Portfolio and Rendering
Advanced preparation of visual and spatial art techniques, applicable to theatrical design and necessary to effectively communicate ideas. Individual preparation of a portfolio of personal work. Prerequisites: Drama 19 and junior standing, or consent.

129 Advanced Scene Painting
An expansion upon techniques explored in Scene Painting, Drama 29, with an emphasis on interpretation along with technique. Painted drapery and foliage along with faux finishes such as peeling /cracking paint and plaster surfaces. Final project that is similar to the USA Scenic Artists' Union exam. Prerequisites: Drama 29.

132 Documentary Drama
The development of drama in Germany and the contrast between historical and documentary drama. Authors to be studied include Goethe, Hauptmann, Brecht, Grass, Hochhuth, Kipphardt, and Weiss. Readings in German for German majors and in English for students from other departments.

133 The American Musical
There is no description at this time.

135 Advanced Scene Design
Exploration of the set design process through the production of a portfolio project. Students will develop it into a finished package that could be presented to a scene shop for bidding. The project can be chosen by the student (with instructor approval) or may be a project the student is actually mounting. Students will be expected to turn in a finished model, all draftings, and color information for their design. Prerequisites: Drama 125.

137 Theatre and Society: Prehistory to 1700
Theatre from its probable origins in religious ritual to its development in classical Greece and Rome, medieval Europe and Asia, and the popular theatre of the Renaissance. Theatre as a sensitive barometer of its time, reflecting the values of every period in which it appears. Ways in which nationalism, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, class, and other social constructs shape playwriting, performance, and presentation. Required of majors, open to nonmajors. May be taken after Drama 138. Prerequisite: Drama 1 or consent. Fall only.

138 Theatre and Society II: The Early Modern Period
Theatre's development in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries from neoclassicism to romanticism and the birth of modern realism. Exploration of theatre that shocks, challenges, surprises and delights; theatre that satirizes established institutions, expresses new voices and attracts new audiences; theatre that harnesses the technology of the day to create pictures of passion and power on the proscenium stage; theatre that may be distant in time but still tells us stories about ourselves. Required of majors, open to nonmajors. May be taken before Drama 137. Prerequisite: DR 01 or consent.

141 The American Theatre
The development of the American theater and drama from the colonial period to World War II. Members of the department

144 Asian Performance
There is no description at this time.

147 Playwriting I
An introductory course open to all interested students who want practice and instruction in playwriting in a workshop situation. Emphasis on experimentation and process, with weekly writing assignments and in-class exercises designed to encourage students to write both visually and concretely. Attention to character development and narrative structure, on such elements of craft as revealing action, the power of the unspoken word, and disrupted ritual.

148 African-American Theatre and Film
(See Drama 48 for course description.) Extra assignments and class meetings.

155 Directing I
Introduction to all aspects of translating a play from script to stage. Play analysis and interpretation, director's concepts, visual composition, improvisational metaphors, and the history and theories of directing. Lectures/demonstration, writing assignments, exercises, and scenes. Fall Only. Prerequisite: DR 01 or DR 04 or consent.

156 Directing II
The techniques and art of play direction, with emphasis on methods of actor coaching and rehearsal procedures. Rehearsal and presentation of several scenes of varying dramatic styles in association with some reading and writing assignments about specific problems in directing. Final project is the public performance of a one-act play.  Prerequisites: Drama 10 or 12, and 155.

157 Bertolt Brecht
(See Drama 57 for course description.) Extra assignments and class meetings. Prerequisites: senior or graduate standing and consent of instructor.

172 Imagining Holocaust on Stage and Screen
Exploration of plays and films dealing with the Holocaust, from Nazi-era propaganda to contemporary reflections on genocide. Special emphasis on the ethics of Holocaust representation and the responsibilities of artists (and audiences) who engage the Holocaust story. Texts include such plays as Camp Comedy, Ghetto, Kindertransport, Good, Bent, Who Will Carry the Word?, and Annulla, as well as critical and theoretical readings. Triumph of the Will, Night and Fog, The Architecture of Doom, Partisans of Vilna, The Boat is Full, my Mother's Courage, Schindler's List, The Grey Zone, Paragraph 175, Life is Beautiful, Shoah, and The last Jew from Lublin are among the feature films and documentaries considered.

178 Screenwriting II
The second semester of a course providing students with the techniques and advice they need for the completion of a feature-length screenplay. Prerequisite: Drama 77.

183, 184 Practicum in Design
Practical application of scenic, lighting, or costume design to a faculty-directed major production. A student develops a design through an extensive tutorial process culminating in construction and use in a Balch Arena Theater production. Prerequisites: DR 118, or 125, 126, and consent of design faculty.

185, 186 Practicum in Directing
Direction of a mentored production (normally a full-length play) in the Balch Arena Theater. A student completes directorial research and creates production ideas and strategies through an extensive tutorial process with a member of the acting/directing faculty. Prerequisites: DR 156, a design course, and permission of instructor.

187 Teaching Through Drama and Improvisation
Review of the theory and practice of using drama in education. Aspects of dramatic expression, including dramatic play, improvisation, and story dramatization, as tools for extending the educational experiences of children and adolescents. Particularly suited for those interested in teaching preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school.

193, 194 Special Topics
Advanced projects for independent or group study and experiment in acting, directing, designing, and other arts of the theater, as well as in the history of theater and drama. Applicants for this course must give evidence of both interest and capacity for doing specialized work in their chosen project. Credit as arranged.

193: Fairy Tales and Film in the Modern World
This course will explore contemporary retellings of fairy tales in film and television form both a critic's and a storyteller's perspective. With a focus on the most retold stores, we will look at how contemporary filmmakers and television writers are revising or reinforcing key elements from the original source materials and from widely known retellings (i.e. Disney). We will compare films aimed at children with those created for adults, and look at how the intended audience shapes the narrative and characterizations. What factors are driving the recent renaissance of filmed fairy tales, and what does the popularity and critical reception of different projects reveal about contemporary culture? How do current retellings reinforce or subvert common ideas about gender, race, and other identity markers? How might we use fairy tales in a film or other creative projects of our own? Prerequisite: Drama/ILVS 50 or 2 courses on film.

198/199 Senior Honors Thesis
Contact department for specific details.

Graduate Seminars: Recent and Repeated
(open to qualified undergraduates with consent of instructor)

DR 220 Research Methods and Materials (1.0)
A survey of major published reference sources forming the foundation of theatre history and an introduction to the use of primary documents in theatre research. Both access technique and scholarly application are demonstrated by use of libraries such as the Harvard Theater Collection.

DR 231 Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama
There is no description at this time.

DR 235 Moliere and the Theatre of His Time
There is no description at this time.

DR 236 Ibsen and Strindberg
There is no description at this time.

DR 238A Theatre Iconography
This course will study the use of images as documents in theatre history. It will cover theories of iconography, types of document (e.g., portraits, genre paintings, scene and costume designs), media (e.g., engravings, photographs) and formats. Students will be expected to develop a hands-on ability to recognize and analyze such imagery. Pre-requisites: standard art or theatre history.

DR 239 Critical Studies in 19th Century British Theatre
19th century theatre was a mass medium. This course will examine topics such as Romantic poets in the theatre, blood and thunder melodrama, the importance of women performers, the rise of realism, transatlantic theatrical careers, and the diverse forces that shaped British theatre culture during this era.

DR 239A Early Twentieth Century British Drama and Theatre
This seminar will start with an examination of the impact of Ibsen and realism on the British theatre. We will review late Victorian theatrical codes and conventions. After considering Edwardian developments and the so-called new theatre, the course will conclude with a look at interwar British theatrical conditions. Among the topics we will cover are popular entertainments, the well-made play, censorship, transatlantic theatre culture, the impact of the Irish renaissance on English theatre, acting and production styles, theatre criticism, and the hegemony of West End theatre managers. Among the playwrights we shall study are Wilde, Shaw, Granville-Barker, Barrie, Jones, Pinero, Travers, Maugham, Coward, Galsworthy, Priestley, Sheriff, Clemence Dane, Sutton Vane, Shairp, Dodie Smith, and Rattigan.

DR 240 History of American Popular Entertainment
Before Oprah, there was P.T. Barnum . . . This seminar will explore the roots of American show business, the emergence of American mass culture, the prevalence of ethnic and racial stereotypes on the American popular stage, and the ongoing debate over the place of "art" in American life. It will trace the rich history of American variety entertainment and outdoor amusements, focusing on the explosion of popular forms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although we will consider popular culture in the broadest sense, our emphasis will be on live performance in such entertainment forms as the American circus, dime museum, minstrel shows and medicine shows, Wild West exhibition, vaudeville, and burlesque. From stage magic to the musical revue, the striptease to stand up comedy, the tacky to the sublime, we will look at the ways in which American popular entertainment has reflected national preoccupations and shaped our tastes, perceptions, and values.

DR 241 Seminar: Eugene O'Neill
The course will review O’Neill’s plays as an American cultural catalogue. This is a particularly interesting time to approach O’Neill as a great controversy has arisen over the direction O’Neill production ought to take. Rather than considering O’Neill as a canonical colossus, the course will stress O’Neill’s obsession with those on the margins, and his bleak assessment of 20th-century America. The course will grapple with the paradox he offers of an expansive dramaturgy tied to a contractive ideology. (O’Neill is the greatest playwright of the nation he called the greatest failure in history.) We will examine the three stages of O’Neill’s playwriting career, then go through the mainstream biographical approach, spend time on the production history and conclude with a review on the current critical and theoretical controversy over how to deal with O’Neill in the 21st century.

DR 244 Commedia Dell'Arte
There is no description at this time.

DR 249 History of Directing
This course explores the work of a range of nineteenth- and twentieth-century directors who helped to shape contemporary film and theatre. Beginning with the conventions of the Victorian playhouse and moving through the reaction against realism, the advent of expressionism, the age of the epic, and transition into post-modernism, this course encompasses both the history and the evolving theory of directing.

251 Pre-Revolutionary Russian Drama and Theatre
This course examines the role of theatre and drama in Russian culture and society from pagan rituals to the outbreak of the October Revolution. It will deal with the development of Russian drama from the 18th century through Gogol and Ostrovsky to Chekhov and Gorky. It will also explore such phenomena as serf theatre, government monopoly and censorship, the movement for people's theatre, and the rise of the Moscow Art Theatre.

252 Post-Revolutionary Russian Drama and Theatre
This seminar will deal in detail with the experiments and innovations that accompanied and followed the Russian Revolution of 1918, particularly in the fields of stagecraft, directing, design and acting. It will then examine how creativity was stunted and transformed under Stalin, and the ways in which Russian theatre revived in the postwar years and in which it has responded to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Special attention will be paid to the directors Meyerhold, Tairov, Vakhtangov, Efros and Lyubimov, and to the playwrights Bulgakov, Erdman, Mayakovsky, Vampilov and Radzinsky. Readings will be supplemented by film showings.

254 Domestic Tragedy: Women and Violence in Theatre
This course will focus on domestic violence in theatre, beginning with Greek tragedy and concluding with contemporary performance art. In establishing the parameters for our study, we will consider social, cultural and historical factors as well as aesthetic criteria. We will explore such issues as misogyny and the concept of masculine superiority, sexual politics and the ideology of the 'women's sphere' and use images of gender as seen through an era's cultural gaze. We will use feminist theory to illuminate the historical connections between manliness and civilization as we arrive at a definition of domestic tragedy and determine its validity as a dramatic genre.

DR 254 Domestic Tragedy: Sexuality, Identity, Performance
There is no description at this time.

DR 255 Early Twentieth Century American Theatre
This seminar will examine selected issues early 20th century American theatre history. Its primary objectives are to challenge the inadequacy of much American theatre criticism and to confront the currency of myth and myth-making in early 20th century American theatre history. We will consider theatre as an emblem of class and cultural identity.

DR 258 Encountering Asian Performance
This seminar explores several Asian performance traditions by examining how they have been interpreted and utilized by Western theatre figures such as Artaud, Brecht, Grotowski, and Brook. By critiquing the transference of non-Western theatre forms from their "native" cultural contexts, we will engage with postcolonial trends such as Orientalism, cultural "piracy," tourism, fusion, cross-cultural collaboration, and international theatre festivals. Through readings, discussion, video, independent research, and preparation of an artistic or academic grant proposal, seminar participants will be encouraged to develop self-reflexive analysis of their own experience of "encountering Asian theatre."

DR 259 Modern and Contemporary Chinese Theatre
There is no description at this time.

261 Classical Dramatic Theory and Criticism
A study of the major theoretical and critical statements on drama and theatre in Europe from Plato to Hegel. Special attention will be given to the development of genres and the examination of specific concepts such as "catharsis," "verisimilitude" and "decorum." The relevance of theoretical concepts to performance practice will be regularly questioned.

DR 262 Modern and Postmodern Dramatic Theory
From a basis of classical dramatic theory and of general theatre history and aesthetics, this course examines the major writings in dramatic criticism and the development of various types of theories of dramatic art and performance. This seminar focuses on the modern and postmodern era, from 1875 to the present.

DR 263 Shakespearean Authority in Text and Performance
There is no description at this time.

DR 294 Play Translation and Cultural Transmission
There is no description at this time.  

DR 294 Confronting Genocide on Stage and Screen
There is no description at this time.