9:30a-10:20a D (30) 3 cr

In this course, we will compare the reading of several classic modern
American plays with their film versions.  The goal will be to study
several great plays in depth from both the literary and the theatrical
perspectives.  However, a filmed version of a play or even a video
broadcast of a performance does not capture the entire experience of a
live performance, and also, because it is now cinematic art, there are new
elements added by the camera and by the film director.  These aspects of
"theater into film" will be a key element in our discussions.  In a few
cases, issues of cuts and even of Hollywood censorship will be discussed
too.

The major American plays simultaneously employ realism and strategic
violations of realist assumptions--and the film camera can enhance both
aspects.  Along with this contrast, these plays also exhibit a tension
between personal and psychological themes, and public and political
issues.  These reveal crises of the American family, of ethnic and racial
assimilation into the American mainstream, of our society's capitalist
basis vs. its dreams of egalitarian democracy, and more recently, issues
of identity politics, especially for women, racial minorities, gays and
lesbians.  Since negotiating social identity usually involves playing a
social role, the theater is a prime locus for acting out identity issues,
and I hope that our film viewings will allow us to "see" this in
productions even more vividly than on the printed page.

Students must acquire and read all the printed texts, however, and the
exams will monitor this.  Students must also see all the films.  Most of
the films will be viewed in class, but on three occasions I will show a
long play during the evening, and students must make arrangements to view
it.  There will be three exams covering the texts and films, which will
include short factual answers and short essays.  You will write two essays
of 5-10 pp.

Plays will include: O'Neill, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT; Williams, A
STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE;  Miller, DEATH OF A SALESMAN; Albee, WHO'S AFRAID
OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?; Shepard, CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS and TRUE WEST;
Mamet, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS; Hwang, m. butterfly; and Wasserstein, THE
HEIDI CHRONICLES.