Performance and Media After Reality

This class considers crises of “reality” in theatre, photography, television, and digital media. Reality media—like realist drama and reality television—and reality-breaking technologies, from electric stage lighting to the social internet, stage worlds in which some subjects are more real than others. We will ask: how do works articulate reality? How do assertions of reality support political life? Can alternate realities challenge carceral and colonial realisms? What does it mean to be seen as, or to be, unreal? This is a discussion-based class with ongoing creative and critical response work. Enrollment will be determined at the first session.