THR 272: HISTORY OF THE THEATRE II
SPRING 2008
The mission of the Theatre & Communication Department at Washington & JeffersonCollege is to develop men and women dedicated to self-improvement and community building through artistry, performance and collaboration.
In the Theatre & Communication Department, we assume that communities are built, maintained, and destroyed through communication. The speaker and the listener, the actor and the audience, the media and the masses—this basic relationship is central to everything we teach and do in Theatre & Communication. By participating in the communication process, we become teachers, leaders and citizens—our courses and activities are therefore designed to enable your meaningful participation in this process. We endeavor to enable you to interpret, respond to and act upon messages from a variety of media. Through performance (e.g. acting, public speaking), you can build self-assurance; through artistry, you establish standards of excellence; and through collaboration, you can learn the value of and put into action your commitment.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Klaus, Carl H., Miriam Gilbert, and Bradford S. Field Jr., eds. Stages of Drama:
Classical to Contemporary Theater. 5th ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2003.
Wilson, Edwin and Alvin Goldfarb. Living Theater: A History. 5th ed. Boston, et. al.:
McGraw-Hill, 2003.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey of theatre history and dramatic literature from the 18th century to the present. The birth of modern drama in the 19th century and its continuous development up to the present will be emphasized. Representative plays will be read and discussed and the theatrical conventions of the modern era, and the relationship between the theatre and the society that created it will be examined. This course counts towards the Theatre major and minor. It may also be used to fulfill the general education requirement in the Arts for non-majors.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Throughout this semester students will:
- develop a broad understanding of the development of world theatre, as well as a more detailed knowledge of the forces (e.g., historical, social, political, etc.) that have helped shape the performing arts.
- gain insight into how we construct history as a product of temporal categorizations and national identities.
- develop a critical understanding of conventions of acting, stage design, theatre architecture, actor-audience relationship, and performance and their affect upon dramatic literature throughout history.
- further develop their critical and analytical skills through research, presentation, reading, and writing.
CLASS POLICIES:
- No make-up assignments, quizzes, or exams are allowed without documentation of an illness or emergency.
- Papers and assignments are to be turned into me at the beginning of class on the scheduled due date. I will only accept hard copies (not via email). Late papers will be penalized by one letter grade for each day after the deadline. Papers which are five or more days late will be given an automatic zero.
- If you have any condition, such as a physical or mental disability, that will make it difficult for you to meet the requirements of the course, please notify me during the first two weeks of class so we can make the appropriate accommodations.
ASSIGNMENTS:
- Quizzes – Pop quizzes may be given periodically over course readings. These will enable me to see that students are keeping up with and understanding the course material, and they serve as quick reviews to aid students in preparation for the exams. Take-home quizzes will also be given for each chapter to aid the student in wading through the wealth of information in the text.
- Student Presentations – Individually, or in groups of 2, students will present research on one of the major playwrights, performance types, or theatrical events listed on the course calendar. Specific guidelines for this assignment will be given to students in a separate handout.
- Final Time Line – This assignment, due on the final day of class, requires you to create a time line of the top twenty-five events in theatre history from the year 1660 to the present. The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to decide for yourself which events have been the most important in shaping the profession of theatre as we know it today. A detailed guidelines sheet will be passed out midway through the semester.
- Required Performance – Mark your calendars! This semester you are required to see the W&J Student Theatre Company production ofLittle Shop of Horrors. We will discuss the production in class and questions about it will appear on the exams. Most convenient for you is the fact that this production ison campus and isfree to students! Little Shop of Horrorsruns April 24-26with performances beginning at 7:30pm in the Olin Fine Arts Center Theatre. There will also be a 2:00pm matinee performance on Saturday 26 April.
Should other projects be assigned throughout the semester, students will be given prior notice.
All written assignments for this class MUST be typed (unless otherwise stated), double-spaced, formatted in Times New Roman 12 pt. font, and PROOFREAD. I will take points off for sloppy grammar.
**Grades for these assignments will be based primarily upon your level of work in four main areas: research, organization, preparation, and creativity (independent thinking). Work that meets the minimum requirements will earn a “C.” A “B” assignment will show some depth of thought and good use of materials, while an “A” assignment will show significant depth of thought and excellent use of materials.
BLACKBOARD: I will use Blackboard periodically this semester to post readings, assignments, and links to relevant and useful web sites. If you happen to miss class, be sure to check the blackboard site in the event I issue an assignment in your absence.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: You are expected to attend all classes. Each class period is worth two points, one for attendance and one for participation. If you miss a class you lose the points available for that day. Attendance is taken at the start of class and tardiness will be noted and can affect your grade.
Participation in this class means active involvement in relevant class discussion and group activities. The best piece of advice I can give you is this: In order to critically engage with the material and your classmates, you should take notes, make observations and ask questions of the course material. Write down all questions that are raised as you read and share them with the rest of the class during our discussions. This will make the class more interesting for you as well as for the class as a whole. These notes will also be enormously helpful as you study for your midterm and final exams.
GRADING:
Exam #1 100 pts.
Exam #2100 pts.
Exam #3100 pts.
Report 80 pts.
Time Line 55 pts.
Quizzes/Assignments 50 pts.
Attendance/Participation 78 pts.
563 pts.*
*The total number of available points for the semester may change depending on the amount of daily work that is assigned.
GRADING SCALE:
A= 93-100 (A), 90-92 (A-)
B= 88-89 (B+), 83-87 (B), 80-82 (B-)
C= 78-79 (C+), 73-77 (C), 70-72 (C-)
D= 68-69 (D+), 63-67 (D), 60-62 (D-)
F= 59 and below
ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY: Academic honesty and integrity is expected of all students. I treat cheating of any sort, electronic or human, very seriously. The written work you hand in or present in class must be your own, no mater how small the assignment, and the sources informing both your ideas and prose should be properly acknowledged. I will avail myself of W&J resources to detect digital plagiarism. If a student is found guilty of plagiarism, he or she will receive a failing grade in the course. If you are confused in any way about this, please see me. Information about W&J regulations concerning plagiarism and academic misconduct can be found online on the College website and in the College Catalog.
According to the College’s Academic Honesty Policy, “examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to:
- Plagiarism, which is representing the fruits of another’s intellectual labor as one’s own, whether this is done with the intention to deceive or is the result of incompetence. Examples include using someone else’s ideas, research results, sentence structure, or phrasing without properly crediting the author, thus leading the reader to assume that they are the student’s own creation.
- Fabricating material and representing it as genuine. This includes falsifying research results for a laboratory report or falsifying information for a written essay.
- Submitting papers or other academic work in two different classes or other academic settings without full knowledge of the instructors involved and written permission from both instructors. When an assignment asks for original work, the presumption is that the work has not been submitted in a different class or another academic setting.
- Knowingly giving or receiving unauthorized aid on a piece of academic work (including tests, papers, research, artwork, etc.). For example, a person knowingly giving answers to another person during a test is as guilty of academic misconduct as the person receiving the answers.
- Misconduct in a testing situation, including copying answers from another student’s test, using electronic devices or other unauthorized sources of information during a test, or illicitly collaborating on tests taken outside of the classroom” (Academic Status Committee. “Academic Honesty Policy.” Spring 2005. 12 August 2005
FINAL COMMENTS: The art and drama of the theatre are important for so many reasons, in part for their ability to reflect their culture and society and teach us something of what it means to be human. Your job in this course will no doubt involve rote memorization of names and dates, but my hope is that you will also develop a profound understanding of how the theatre of the past is relevant to the theatre of the present. This, of course, will only happen if you commit to keeping up with the readings and assignments and actively involve yourself in class discussion. Do not hesitate to visit with me during my office hours, or at another appointed time if you have questions or concerns about any issue pertaining to this course.
CALENDAR:
SD = Stages of Drama
*Instructor will provide text.
Week 1
W 30 Jan.Introduction to the Course
The English Restoration: Context and Dramatic Conventions
F 1 Feb.The English Restoration: Performers, Audiences, and Spaces
Reading: Chapter Nine
View The Restoration Stage
Week 2
M 4Feb.Discussion of Aphra Behn’s The Rover (SD)
W 6 Feb.Wrap-up the English Restoration and Introduce the Eighteenth Century
F 8 Feb.Theatre in the Eighteenth Century: Dramatic Conventions
Reading: Chapter Ten
Week 3
M 11 Feb.Theatre in the Eighteenth Century: Theatre Production
Reading: Chapter Ten
W 13 Feb.Discussion of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal (SD)
F 15 Feb.Theatre in the Nineteenth Century: Context and
Dramatic Conventions
Reading: Chapter Eleven
Week 4
M 18 Feb.Theatre in the Nineteenth Century: Theatre Training and Production
Reading: Chapter Eleven
W 20 Feb.Discussion of Dion Boucicault’s The Colleen Bawn*
F 22 Feb. The Emergence of Realism: Context and Results
Reading: Chapter Twelve
Week 5
M 25 Feb.Practitioners of Realism: Saxe-Meiningen,
and the Independent Theatre Movement
W 27 Feb.Discussion of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (SD)
F 29 Feb. Exam #1
Week 6
M 3 Mar.Playwrights of the Modern Era
Student Research Presentations: August Strindberg,
George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde
W 5 Mar.Discussion of the MoscowArtTheatre and Anton Chekhov’s
The Cherry Orchard (SD)
View The Stanislavsky Century
F 7 Mar.Early Departures from Realism: Symbolism and Meyerhold
Reading: Chapter Twelve
View Ubu Roi and The Stanislavsky Century
Week 7
M 10 Mar.Turn-of-the-Century Theatre in the United States
Reading: Chapter Twelve
Student Research Presentation: The Syndicate
W 12 Mar.Theatre from 1915-1945: Context and Dramatic Movements
Reading: Chapter Thirteen
F 14Mar. Continue Discussion of Theatre from 1915-1945
View The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Week 8NO CLASSES – SPRING BREAK
Week 9
M 24 Mar.Discuss Antonin Artaud’s Spurt of Blood* and
“No More Masterpieces” (SD)
W 26 Mar.Discuss Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo (SD) and “Theater for Pleasure or
Theatre for Instruction” (SD)
F 28 Mar.Theatre in the United States from 1915-1945
Reading: Chapter Thirteen
Student Research Presentation: The Group Theatre
Week 10
M 31 Mar.The American Musical
W 2 Apr.Discuss Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’sLittle Shop of Horrors*
F 4 Apr. Exam #2
Week 11
M 7 Apr.Theatre Post-WWII: Experimental Theatre
Reading: Chapter Fourteen
Student Research Presentation: Harold Pinter or Edward Albee
W 9 Apr.Discuss Samuel Beckett’s Endgame
F 11 Apr.Post-WWII Theatre in the United States
Reading: Chapter Fourteen
Student Research Presentation: Tennessee Williams
Week 12
M 14 Apr.Discuss Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (SD) and
“Tragedy and the Common Man” (SD)
W 16 Apr.Revolutionary and Reactionary Theatre in the 1950s – 1970s
Reading: Chapter Fourteen
View Akropolis
Student Presentation: The Living Theatre
F 18 Apr.Discuss Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman (SD), “What is Black Theater?” (SD),
and “The Revolutionary Theatre”*
Week 13
M 21 Apr.Diversity in Contemporary Theatre
Reading: Chapter Fifteen
View Top Girls
Student Research Presentation: Marsha Norman, Wendy Wasserstein, Tony Kushner, or David Henry Hwang
W 23 Apr.Postmodernism
Reading: Chapter Fifteen
Read and Discuss Müeller’s Hamletmachine*
F 25 Apr.Discuss Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive (SD)
Week 14
M 28 Apr.Discuss WJSTC production of Little Shop of Horrors*
W 30 Apr.Contemporary American Theatre: Mainstream and the Avant-Garde
Reading: Chapter Fifteen
Student Research Presentation: August Wilson
F 2 MayTBA
Week 15
M 5 MaySummary and Review
Time Lines DUE