1:00p-2:15p TR (30) 3 cr

We will survey the history of western drama from its beginnings (Greek tragedy and comedy)through the Renaissance and Restoration periods to the modern era, but most of the plays we will read date from the last century. In this course, we will study both the history of drama and its various forms and theatrical components. The anthology I have chosen, Understanding Plays (edited by Milly Barranger), is organized around types of plays, such as tragedy, comedy, melodrama and farce, but it also discusses some of the plays in terms of theatrical components such as setting, dialogue, or imagery, and sometimes the text highlights a critical movement within modern drama, such as the epic theater style of Bertolt Brecht, or feminist theater. I will expect you to learn these component parts of the theater as well as some literary aspects of our selected plays, and I will assign a series of short papers on both the theatrical and the literary sides of this literature--you should expect to write a 2-3 page paper every other week. You will also take two factually-based exams during the semester.

This course is designed to introduce students to a range of plays and theatrical styles, and provide a "road map" for your theater-going and enjoyment of drama in the future. We will pay attention to local productions at the university theater and on community stages in town, and I will expect you to write a journal of your theater-going, including plays you will be able to watch on videotape. Students who like to act in plays will have a chance to stage short scenes from some of our plays and use the experience as a component of the theater journals. Class will be conducted partly through lecture and partly through small group discussion. All components of the work will be weighted equally and will count toward your final grade: participation in class discussion, about six short papers, two exams, and the theater journal (augmented by acting exercises as an option for "theater people").From our anthology, we will read several landmark plays, including Oedipus, Hamlet,The School for Scandal, Hedda Gabler, and Brecht's historical drama,Galileo. Some of the modern and contemporary playwrights who are sampled in the textbook include Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornes and Samuel Beckett.