Terms and Methods

(4 Credits)

Terms and Methods investigates the dynamic transformations of drama, theater, and performance across multiple histories, localities, and traditions. Although designed toward a broad history of the stage, students will explore multiple streams of practices and theories that have informed conceptions of race, gender, sexuality, and class in performance. This course thus invites participants to lead conversations based on in-depth scholarship through faculty facilitation. Theater is ever-changing, with contemporary works interacting with popular and sometimes controversial revivals. To this end, the class will engage in critical analysis, creative reinterpretations, and our own polemics in the question, “what is theater?” By the end of the semester students will have a greater knowledge of theater history, concepts of dramatic traditions, and an understanding of various theories of performance.