Dramatic Theory
Syllabus
| DRAMATIC THEORY T/D 371 Dr. Amy Seham Spring, 2003 Tuesday/Thursday 10:30-12:30 aseham@gac.edu 933-7460 Office hours: Wednesday 2:30-4 and by appointment Course Objectives: This course aims to: 1. Acquaint you with key theoretical writings that have been influential in the history of theatre and drama; 2. Encourage you to deepen your understanding of theatrical genres and movements; 3. Help you understand contemporary uses of the concept of “performance”; 4. Enable you to develop and articulate your own personal philosophy about the purpose and meaning to theatre. Required Texts: Dukore, Bernard F, ed. Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Reinelt and Roach, eds. Critical Theory and Performance. Moliere/Wilbur Tartuffe Drain, Richard, ed. Twentieth CenturyTheatre Also, you must demonstrate to me that you own or have permanent access to: the Hacker or Everyday Writer style book, a thesaurus and a stapler. I'm serious. Additional Readings will be available in Xeroxed handouts, or will be placed on reserve. In addition to Tartuffe the class will read the following plays: Medea, The Tempest, Miss Julie, Mother Courage, and a short piece by Beckett. All of these plays (except the Beckett) are available in the Worthen Harcourt/Brace Anthology of Drama that many of you have purchased for other theatre classes. For those who do not own this text (and cannot find a friend from whom to borrow it), copies of the Anthology will be on reserve in the Music library and main library. Required Performances: Big Love Feb 20-23 Anderson Theatre Tartuffe May8-11 Anderson Theatre Outside Production TBA Minneapolis Attendance Policy: Because Theatre is about BEING THERE, attendance is crucial for the successful completion of this class. Your participation, interaction, discussion, ideas and involvement are critical for our process of thinking creatively about the meaning of theatre. Please make an effort never to miss class. If it is unavoidable, you are responsible to get notes from a classmate. Participation, attendance, and preparedness will be graded. After two unexcused absences, your overall grade will be reduced (from B+ to B, for example) and will continue to be reduced with additional absences. Missing half the class periods of the semester is automatic failure. The ONLY excused absences are those with a doctor's note, or dean's note. Job interviews, rides to the airport, family vacations, all-nighters are never excused absences. While the official percentage of the “participation” grade is 15%, class involvement will affect your overall assessment as well. Preparation and Participation (15%): This class is designed as a seminar, rather than a lecture class, and thus depends on YOUR PARTICIPATION. You are responsible for keeping up with the syllabus and being prepared to discuss both the plays and essays assigned for each class session. Bring your opinions, thoughts, questions, and beliefs about the plays and other readings into class and share them with your classmates! Your participation grade may include pop quizzes on the material assigned and an evaluation of your part in class discussions as follows: D= Rarely or never speaks in class; C= occasionally contributes to discussion, but shows only quick, casual reading of the texts; B= contributes to every class discussion, shows careful reading and thought about the material, listens to others comments and adds or responds to them; A= shows thorough reading of all assignments, contributes thoughtfully and creatively to class discussion, brings additional, outside insights and information to the discussion, makes connections between various elements of the material, adds positively to the class's knowledge and understanding of the subject. Assignments: This is a Writing course, and your written papers will be taken very seriously. There will also be a mid-term, quizzes, and a scene assignment. Perhaps most important, however, is the way you work in class and through your assignments to develop your own ideas about the “why” of theatre. Writing assignment 1: First Manifesto. For your first manifesto, read and consider the various manifestoes assigned in class. Think deeply about your own beliefs and answer any or all of the following questions: What is theatre/performance? What should it be? Why do we do it? Why should we do it? How should we do it? What is its ideal purpose? What’s wrong with how theatre is done today and what should be done to change that? If you could create a new credo for acting, design, playwriting, directing, or producing, what would that be? How should the theatre practitioner relate to the audience? To society at large? How or why is theatre still important or relevant (or how could it be made to be so)? How does theatre reflect or differ from real life? If (only if) you want to get more specific, you can also deal with issues of “tragedy”, “comedy”, structure, genre and style. You may write your manifesto in ANY STYLE that helps make your point– poetic, ranting, stream of consciousness, reasoned essay, dialogue, etc. Spelling counts, but not grammar or style. Manifesto should be approximately 1-2 pages but should be as long or short as you need it to be to make your point. Writing assignment #2: Response papers. These are 11 one-page papers (minimum 250 words-- maximum 500 words each) due (almost) every Tuesday. They are designed to be both writing exercises and a means for you to respond to the ideas in the assigned reading. In each paper, summarize the MAIN IDEAS of the theorist(s) you were assigned to read for that day. Do not include the plays. This is an exercise in concise, pithy writing – the short length should not be an excuse for poorly thought-out writing. If you’re not sure you understand the assigned essay, do your best with what you can get out of it. Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, typos, and correct word usage ALL COUNT! Each paper will receive a maximum of ten points – 5 points for content and 5 points for writing technique. Misspellings and typos are an automatic deduction, and misuse of their/there/they're or to/too will be automatic 5-pointers. The first three papers and one additional paper of your choice may be re-written to regain lost points. NO LATE RESPONSE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES – EVEN FOR “LEGITIMATE” REASONS. You have eleven 10-point assignments to earn a maximum of 100 points for the cumulative grade. Thus, you have one “free” paper that it is possible to miss, and four chances to earn re-write points. Save the freebie for a real emergency. Writing assignment #3: Research Paper. An 8-10 page study of a major performance theorist-practitioner of the 20th century. You are to read at least one primary source (e.g. the artist’s own writing, writing by those who worked with him or her) and at least two secondary studies. Describe your artist’s theory of theatre including influences, evolution, key elements, impact and continuing value. Remember that important designers, directors, playwrights and actors often theorize about and/or through their work—write about an area of theatre that you care about. You may find ideas for a paper subject by consulting your textbooks and the library. If you choose to write about someone we discuss in class, your analysis must be significantly deeper and more detailed – and the reading assigned for class will not count as your only primary source. Your grade will be based on each stage of your process, including the library appointment, the outline, and the final paper. Writing style, proper MLA-style source citation, bibliography and organization will count for half the grade. Present a brief oral report on your theorist on the last day of class. Writing assignment #4: Final Manifesto and defense. Taking into consideration all of the reading and discussion of a spectrum of ideas and theories of theatre and performance revisit and rewrite your own manifesto for the theatre. Again, the manifesto itself may be written in a free style and should be approximately 1-2 pages long. Then defend your manifesto in a well-argued paper 6-8 pages long. Discuss the development and evolution of your ideas about theatre with detailed reference to at least three of the theorists we have read in class. Make use of your own research by referring to the theorist you studied in depth. Conclude the paper by discussing a specific theatrical production (real or imagined) that would demonstrate your philosophy of theatre in practice. Be prepared to share/present/perform your manifesto during the final exam period scheduled for the class. Scene Assignment: In groups of two, three or four students, prepare and perform a scene from Tartuffe in the style of one of the contemporary theorists/schools of thought we are studying. You must use the actual text of one of Tartuffe’s scenes, but you may add/interpolate other texts, radically change the mise en scene (blocking, setting, design elements), re-interpret the meaning of Moliere's lines, repeat lines, make noises, carry placards, use audience as extras, add characters, add music, etc. The point is to demonstrate the style and the ideas or purpose of your theorist and to make this clear to your audience. Read the assigned works of your theorist ahead of schedule, and consider finding other sources as well. Scenes should be planned – not thrown together at the last minute. Consult with the professor at least a week ahead of time if you are having trouble conceptualizing your scene. Hand in a two-page paper describing and justifying the specific choices you made and be prepared to discuss those choices with the class. Have fun! Mid-term Exam: The midterm will include a section of short, factual questions based on the readings, play texts, and assigned performances. They will also include one or more essays that ask you to contrast, compare theorists, and to apply the theories to actual or imagined theatrical performances. Quizzes throughout the semester will also be given to reward those who keep up with the reading. There will be a significant quiz in the second half of the semester to check on post-mid-term information. You should also demonstrate your understanding of the second-half material through your Final Manifesto defense. Grading Break-down Response papers 15% Research paper 15% Group Scene 15% First and Final Manifesto with defense 25% Midterm 15% Class participation 15% Schedule (subject to change or adjustment by the professor) Week 1 Feb 11 Introduction What defines theatre? What should it be? How does/should this relate to audience, actors, design, directing? Read Manifestos in class: Wilde—in Dukore p. 627-629; Yeats—in Dukore p. 652-653; Appia—in 20th p. 14-15; Artaud—in 20th p. 266-271; Antoine—in 20th p. xvii-xviii; Lenin—in Dukore p. 931-932; Tzara—in 20th p. 25; Hill—in 20th p. 311; Marinetti—hand-out; Cixous—20th p. 133-135; Kantor—in 20th p. 63-65; Valdez—in 20th p. 315-318; Schumann—in 20th p. 196-197; Malina—in 20th p. 275-276; Ludlam -- in 20th p. 148-150 Feb 13 Read Raymond Williams – Hand-out Read over Manifestos Hand in Personal Manifesto. Week 2 Feb 18 Aristophanes 3-12, Plato 12-31, Aristotle 31-55 One-page response paper due Feb 20 Aristotle 57-64 Read Medea Week 3 Feb 25 Horace 67-76, Tertullian 85-94, Anonymous 112-117 One-page response paper due Feb 27 Hedelin 238-249, Molière 249-252, Diderot 287-291 Read Tartuffe Research topic due—hand in on paper. Week 4 March 4 Schiller 440-445, Goethe 476-481, Hugo 683-692 Read first two acts of The Tempest One-page response paper due March 6 Read Lope de Vega 198-204, FinishThe Tempest Sign up for a library appointment on research paper. Week 5 March 11 Strindberg 564-574, Zola 692-718 Read Miss Julie One page response paper due March 13 Read Shaw 630-650, Stanislavsky in 20th p. 253-257, Meyerhold in 20th p. 98-101, 165-168,184-185,243-244. Possible Naturalism scene _____________________________ Week 6 March 18 Piscator in 20th p. 102-109; Brecht in Dukore 847-855 and in 20th pp 110-117, 188-192,303-305. One-page response paper due Begin Mother Courage March 20 Elin Diamond hand-out. Finish Mother Courage “Brechtian” scene _____________________________________ Week 7 March 25 Read Artaud in Dukore p. 760-766, Artaud hand-out and Artaud in 20th p. 266-274, Grotowski 978-995 One-page paper due Theatre of Cruelty scene ______________________ March 27 Midterm Week 8 SPRING BREAK Week 9 April 8 Apollinaire 745-747, Pirandello 747-753, Esslin 668-672, Ionesco in 20th p. 53-55; Intro to Absurdism and Brooks Atkinson on Beckett handout. Read Krapp’s Last Tape (very short!) – [Don’t worry, this all adds up to 33 pages total] One-page response paper due April 10 Duerrenmatt 855-858, Miller 894-897, Frye 897-905 Possible Absurdist scene _______________________ *Outline, bibliography, and first three pages of research paper due Week 10 April 15 Feminism(s)intro in Reinelt/Roach and Laura Mulvey and Cima handouts One-page response paper due April 17 Kate Davy “Fe/Male Impersonation” and Jeanie Forte “Body” “Feminist” Scene _________________________________ Week 11 April 22 After Marx Intro and David Roman “AIDS”, Lukacs in Dukore 933-941 One-page response paper due April 24 Boal in 20th p.335-339 and hand-out / In-class exercises Hand in draft of research paper for revision suggestions (optional) Week 12 April 29 Semiotics and Deconstruction intro and Po-Mo/Semiotics hand-outs “Alceste in Hollywood” One-page response paper due May 1 Rouse, “Textuality and Authority in Theater and Drama” “Postmodern” Scene _________________________________ Research paper due Week 13 May 6 Phenomenology intro and States “Attitude” and hand-out One-page response paper due May 8 Kaprow in 20th p. 56-58; Wilson , p. 59-63; Foreman p 68-74; Kirby, LeCompte hand-outs. “Happening” __________________________________ Week 14 May 13 Cultural Studies intro and Zarrilli “Kathakali Lear”, One-page response paper due May 15 Schechner, “Invasions”, Barba in 20th p. 345-350 and Brook in 20th p. 320-322 and Brook handout “Deadly Theatre” “Intercultural” Scene ________________________________ Week 15 May 22 Read Goffman handout Share info about your research. Final Exam day —May 24. Final Manifesto/defense due. 10:30-12:30 am ok? Perform/present/share with class. 6-8 page defense of manifesto citing other theorists and the development of your ideas. RESEARCH TOPIC SUGGESTIONS Design focus: Adolph Appia; Gordon Craig; Loie Fuller; Wassily Kandinsky Dance focus: Isadora Duncan; Doris Humphrey; Sally Banes Yvonne Rainer; Trisha Brown; Merce Cunningham Pina Bausch; Mary Wigman Postmodern focus: Laurie Anderson; John Cage; Philip Glass Rober t Wilson, Richard Foreman, Elizabeth LeCompte Sergei Eisenstein Political focus: Erwin Piscator; Guillermo Gomez-Pena; Luis Valdez; Judith Malina; Julian Beck International focus: Eugenio Barba; Wole Soyinka; Honor Ford-Smith Feminist focus: Rachel Rosenthal; Helene Cixous; Sue-Ellen Case Jill Dolan MANY OTHERS! |