IS ALL THE WORLD A STAGE? A BIG QUESTIONS COURSE

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

We seem to find or make theater wherever we look. In halls and on stages, but also in Senate chambers and check-out lines - not to mention online. In the small rooms of houses and on small screens of reality television programming. Whether streaming or tweeting, drama is everywhere. What is drama such that it enjoys such intensity and ubiquity? Is it an overflow of energy that creates authenticity? An artificially heightened state (as in “too much drama”)? A carefully crafted manipulation (as in “political drama”)? A way of being in space? A cultural habit? This course considers why theater is so central to our idioms and cultural practices even for people who have never seen, much less set foot on, a proscenium stage. We’ll explore the many senses of drama central to social behavior by witnessing the long transit of theater from the classical amphitheater to just about anywhere. The course is designed to offer an introduction to the history and conventions of theatrical practice, from the ancient theater to 21st-century immersive and site-specific performance, which will offer a lens for understanding the drama of human interaction that spills out everywhere. Class sessions will include: 1) lecture/discussions about the histories of theater and languages of performance; 2) Learning Lab sessions that allow students to create their own personal theatrical experience with a combination of acting and directing exercises, live performance experiences, and conversations with theater professionals; and 3) theater of the everyday exercises inviting students to look at the world from the point of view of theatrical experience. No previous theater experience or training required.