Jewish American Theater and Performance

3 units

This course explores Jewish identity through theatre and performance in the 20th and 21 st century United States. We begin with an historical overview of Jewish history and Jewish identities in the U.S., including the very question, What does Jewishness mean? Is it ethnicity, race, or religion? Identity or culture? Belief or practice? Essence or performance? From there, we'll focus on Jewish American theatre artists, from playwrights who wrote with and against a certain middle-class life in the mid-20th century, to contemporary performers and playwrights who navigate the complexity of identity in a range of genres and tones.