2:30p-3:45p TR (30) 3 cr

Concentrating on the plays of major American, post-World War II playwrights, this course will explore the richness and great variety of American drama during the past 55 years. We shall focus on the plays of Arthur Miller (e.g. All My Sons, Death of a Salesman , The Crucible ), Tennessee Williams (e.g. The Glass Menagerie, Streetcar Named Desire , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ), Edward Albee (e.g. Zoo Story , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Delicate Balance ), August Wilson (e.g. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , Fences , The Piano Lesson ), Wendy Wasserstein ( The Sisters Rosensweig , An American Daughter ) and Tony Kushner ( Angels in America ) to see how they develop new forms of theatre; give traditional dramatic forms new dimensions; and raise provocative thematic issues about ethics, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and health. To the work of these playwrights, we shall add, as time permits, plays by Sam Shepard (e.g. Buried Child , True West ), David Mamet (e.g. American Buffalo , Oleanna , Speed-the-Plow ) Margaret Edson ( Wit ), Lorraine Hansberry ( Raisin in the Sun ), Susan-Lori Parks ( The America Play , and Martin Sherman ( Bent as well as representative works from the Latino and Asian-American theatres. In all, we should read about 15-17 plays. There will be two papers and a final examination.