THTR T583 Sec. 4221 A. Wertheim
Jewish-American Drama
2:30p-3:45p TR 3 cr. hrs.
This course, which has never been given before at Indiana University,
should be an exciting and illuminating exploration of American-Jewish
playwriting in the twentieth century; and should be of interest to
students regardless of their own religious or ethnic backgrounds. It is
extraordinary how much the excellence of American drama has been enhanced
by the talents of major playwrights who have written about Jewish subjects
and themes. We shall, therefore, be reading and discussing not just some
obscure American plays in which Judaism or Jewishness plays a part but
some of the very finest dramatic writing of our time. The Jewish themes
addressed in the plays we shall cover include the Hebrew Bible and
mysticism, immigration, intermarriage, the labor movement and the
Depression, American anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Jewishness and
feminism, Jewishness and homosexuality, and Jews in regional America.
TEXTS:
The course readings will include a wide range of plays , among which
will likely be one by Arthur Miller (Broken Glass and
Incident at Vichy), Tony Kushner (Angels in
America), Wendy Wasserstein (The Sisters Rosensweig),
(Clifford Odets, Awake and Sing!), Arthur Laurents
(Home of the Brave), Martin Sherman (Bent),
Paddy Chayefsky (The Tenth Man), Alfred Uhry (Driving
Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo), Donald
Margulies (Sight Unseen), David Mamet
(Goldberg Street),
Barbara Lebow (A Shayna Maidel), Elmer Rice
(Counsellor-at-Law), and Jon Marans (Wicked Old
Songs).
REQUIREMENTS:
ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAMS: T583 will be run as a combination of lecture
and discussion, so active participation will be both encouraged and
expected. There will be two papers, a midterm and a final.
The important thing, however, will be for
participants to enjoy the range, depth and importance of the material and
to be enriched by what they learn about Jewish-American plays and
playwrights. A prior knowledge of Judaism is neither required nor
expected.