9:30A-10:45A  TR  (70) 3 cr

English L363 is a survey of the history of American drama and theatre, beginning in the early
nineteenth century and continuing on through contemporary Performance Art.  The class will
read some fifteen to twenty plays, including the work of such writers as Dion Boucicault, Rachel
Crothers, Eugene O'Neill, Susan Glaspell, Clifford Odets, Sophie Treadwell, Arthur Miller,
Lillian Hellman, Tennessee Williams, LeRoi Jones, Cherrie Moraga, Sam Shepard, David
Mamet, Karen Finley, August Wilson, Larry Kramer, and Ntozake Shange.  In addition, the class
will consider the definitions of such generic terms as melodrama, realism, expressionism,
absurdism, performance art, and so on, and read a series of essays on dramatic and critical
theory.

Writing will include a series of short response papers, a comprehensive final examination,
and a 10-15 page research paper.  The texts for the course will be Watt and Richardson,
AMERICAN DRAMA: COLONIAL TO CONTEMPORARY (Harcourt Brace 1995) and a short
packet of xeroxed critical essays.  Interested students should feel welcome to stop by BH435 for
questions and further discussion.