Drama, Theatre, and Society

3.00 credits · Undergraduate

Prereq: ENGL/DRAM 1701; 3 credits from ENGL at the 2000 level or third-year standing in the Interdisciplinary Drama Program; or permission of the Department This course examines ways in which drama may both reflect and influence society, using as examples the complex relationship between Restoration comedy and its society, efforts at social engineering in Eighteenth-Century bourgeois tragedy, the role of melodrama in reflecting nineteenth century society and culture, and the "birth" of social drama late in the nineteenth century. In addition, it carries these ideas forward to include study of political theatre of the 1920's and 1930's, as well as works by contemporary social playwrights. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)