University of Nottingham

School of American and Canadian Studies

Q43321

American Drama:
1750 - 2000

(20 Credits)

Semester One

2008-2009

Convenor: Dr Matthew Pethers

AMERICAN DRAMA: 1750 – 2000

Module Code: Q43321

Credits: 20

Level: 3

Semester: 1

Prerequisites: None

Timetable: One lecture and one seminar per week (Monday, 2-4, in LASS A2). Attendance at lectures and seminars is compulsory.

Convenor/

Seminar Tutor: Matthew Pethers

Room: Trent, B62.

Office Hours: To be announced

E-mail:

Tel: 0115 846 8667

DESCRIPTION: The theatre is a central and dynamic, but often overlooked, part of American culture. This module will introduce students to the main developments in North American drama from its beginnings in the mid-eighteenth century through to the present day. At each stage the focus will be on the social and political contexts of the American theatre, with particular emphasis on the question of how different theatrical movements - neoclassicism, Romanticism, minstrelsy, expressionism, realism - connect with major historical events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Special attention will be paid to how the plays concerned deal with those recurring American themes of identity and individuality, race and gender, nationality and class; and a focus on the institutional and performative aspects of American drama will also be crucial. We will move from studying playwrights like Royall Tyler and William Dunlap in the eighteenth century, through William Henry Smith and George Aiken in the nineteenth century, to Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Tony Kushner in the twentieth century.

OBJECTIVES: 1. To introduce students to key theatrical texts across a range of historical periods and contexts. 2. To develop an understanding of important theories of performance, and the changing style and form of the American theatre. 3. To promote an awareness of the broader intellectual and cultural transformations in the periods under discussion. 4. To analyse the representation of women, slaves, Native Americans and other marginalized social groups in American drama produced between 1750 and 2000. 5. To contextualise the American theatre in relation to other art forms, and in light of the challenges and demands of popular culture.

SEMINARS: The texts you will need to purchase and read for the module are set out below (p.6). You must bring the relevant texts to seminars and undertake the preparatory reading required of you by your seminar leader. The prescribed reading for each class is merely a starting point, and your exam and essay answers should always demonstrate that you have read independently beyond the material prescribed and discussed in seminars and lectures. This is essential in order to pass this module.

ASSESSMENT: You will be required to develop your organizational and analytical skills in order to complete the essay and prepare for the examination. In seminars, you will be expected, for the benefit of yourself and others in the group, to demonstrate the care with which you have read the assigned texts, and to show that you have succeeded in making links with the lectures and with the previous modules you have studied. The overall aim of your participation in the course will be to develop and refine your written and verbal skills in conjunction with subject-based knowledge.

The assessment weighting is 50% Essay, 50% Exam. Students are required to write one essay of 3000-3500 words and sit a two hour exam where they will have to answer two questions.

A list of essay questions is appended below (p.9). You may choose to answer a question of your own devising, but you must approve the title with the module convenor at least 3 weeks before the final deadline. If your chosen title is not confirmed in writing by the module convenor and you answer an inappropriate question your final mark may be penalized.

The essay is due no later than 12.00 noon on Monday December 1st.

Penalties apply to any essay that is late without adequate extenuating circumstances. The penalty will be a deduction of 5 marks for every 24 hours after the deadline in question. Extenuating Circumstances Forms are available from the School Office. All applications for extensions must be submitted to the module convenor.

Essays should be submitted on A4 paper stapled in the top-left hand corner. They should NOT be placed in plastic folders etc. Do not submit essays directly to the module tutors. TWO COPIES of your essays should be posted in the essay box in the department and DATE STAMPED by 12 noon on the day of the deadline.

All essays should be word-processed/typed, double spaced and should follow the presentational guidelines in the School’s Notes for Guidance or follow a recognised style sheet eg. MLA Handbook or K. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers (both in the library). Please read the Essay Guidelines booklet provided to you by the School of American and Canadian Studies. This includes details of: submission procedures, penalties for late submission of work, extenuating circumstances, proper documentation of source material, essay structure, and presentation. You will be penalised for failure to follow the guidelines provided.

SCHOOL OF AMERICAN AND CANADIAN STUDIES REGULATIONS: If you have a valid reason for missing a deadline for submission of coursework, please consult the tutor promptly. Extensions may be granted in special circumstances, e.g. in case of family emergency or illness (medical certificate or other independent written documentation must be provided). All extensions must be approved by the module convenor. Application forms for Extenuating Circumstances will be available from the School Office; you must apply within seven working days of the missed assessment deadline, and provide appropriate documentation, or your mark will be at risk.

The official School deadline for submission of all outstanding course-work is Wednesday 10 December at 12 noon. Work submitted after this deadline will automatically be penalized 5% absolute standard university scale per working day, e.g. a mark of 64 becomes 59, 54, 49, and so on until you reach zero. This is a School-wide policy. Extensions after the School deadline MUST be approved by the School's Examinations Secretary, Jacqui Clay. Extenuating circumstances forms are available from the School Office. Appropriate documentary evidence is required. Applications must be made within seven working days of the missed deadline. A similar procedure must be followed if you miss any of your exams.

Students are reminded that they are expected to attendALL lectures, seminars and other classes on their course.Seminar attendance iscompulsory in the School of American & Canadian Studies. Failure to attend,without notifying the module tutor and giving a valid reason (illness or exceptional personal circumstances)BEFORE the class, wherever possible, may (if repeated) result in mark of zero for the module.

N.B.Mistaking the time and venue of a seminar, deadlines for other modules, problems with transport, and family holidays, are not valid excuses.

DISABILITY AWARENESS: The School of American and Canadian Studies is fully committed to equal opportunities for disabled students and invites those students who have a disability to contact the School's Disability Liaison Officer, Jean Darnbrough. Such consultations are entirely confidential. Alternatively, or in addition, those students may consult the module tutor.

LECTURE AND READING PROGRAM

With the exception of the plays by Williams, Miller, Mamet, and Kushner all the reading for the module is contained in the course reading pack. The reading pack will be available for purchase from the office of the school of American and Canadian Studies. You should seek to purchase or borrow copies of The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Angels in America as soon as possible (further information about editions of these plays is contained on p.8).

Week One: Commencing 29 September

LECTURE: INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN DRAMA

SEMINAR: There is no reading assigned and there will be no seminar session. You should seek to purchase the module reading pack and the other texts for the course without delay, if you have not already done so.

Week Two: Commencing 6 October

LECTURE: STAGING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

SEMINAR: A Cure for the Spleen by Jonathan Sewall (1775). The Battle of Bunkers-Hill (1776) by Hugh Henry Brackenridge.

Week Three: Commencing 13 October

LECTURE: THE SEARCH FOR A NATIONAL THEATRE

SEMINAR: The Contrast (1787) by Royall Tyler. André (1798) by William Dunlap

Week Four: Commencing 20 October

LECTURE: MELODRAMA & CLASS CONFLICT IN THE AGE OF JACKSON

SEMINAR: The Drunkard (1844) by William Henry Smith. Account of the Terrific and Fatal Riot at the New York Astor Place Opera House (1849) by H. M. Ranney.

Week Five: Commencing 27 October

LECTURE: RACE & MINSTRELSY DURING THE CIVIL WAR YEARS

SEMINAR: Oh! Hush! or, The Virginny Cupids! (1833) and “Jim Crow” (1837) by Thomas Dartmouth Rice. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by George Aiken.

Week Six: Commencing 3 November

LECTURE: THE NEW WOMAN & THE NEW CENTURY

SEMINAR: A Man’s World (1910) by Rachel Crothers. Overtones (1913) by Alice Gerstenberg. The Outside (1917) by Susan Glaspell.

Week Seven: Commencing 10 November

LECTURE: SOCIAL REALISM & DEPRESSION-ERA AMERICA

SEMINAR: The Hairy Ape (1921) by Eugene O’Neill. Waiting for Lefty (1935) by Clifford Odets.

Week Eight: Commencing 17 November

LECTURE: SOCIAL CONFORMITY, MEMORY, & IDENTITY IN POST-WAR AMERICA

SEMINAR: The Glass Menagerie (1944) by Tennessee Williams. Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller.

Week Nine: Commencing 24 November

LECTURE: THE EMERGENCE OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN DRAMA

SEMINAR: A Raisin in the Sun (1959) by Lorraine Hansberry. Dutchman (1964) by Amiri Baraka.

Week Ten: Commencing 1 December

LECTURE: MASCULINITY & IDENTITY IN REAGAN-ERA AMERICA

SEMINAR: True West (1980) by Sam Shepard. Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) by David Mamet.

Week Eleven: Commencing 8 December

LECTURE: QUEER THEATRE & AMERICAN IDENTITY IN THE AGE OF POSTMODERNISM

SEMINAR: Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (1990) by Tony Kushner.

RECOMMENDED EDITIONS OF PLAYS NOT IN THE MODULE READING PACK: Four of the plays we will be studying are not in the module reading pack – The Glass Menagerie by Tennesssee Williams, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, and Angels in America by Tony Kushner.

The Hallward Library has a few copies of each of these plays, so most of you will need to purchase your edition. They are all available from Blackwells, Waterstones or Amazon, though you should make sure you order them early enough to have read them by the time we come to discuss them.

1. Williams’ The Glass Menagerie is available in a stand-alone edition from Penguin, Heinemman or Methuen, and is also included in A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays (Penguin, 2000), and Tennessee Williams: Plays, 1937 – 1955 (Library of America, 2000).

2. Miller’s Death of a Salesman is available in a stand-alone edition from Penguin or Heinemman, and is also included in Arthur Miller: Plays, Volume One (Methuen, 1988), The Portable Arthur Miller (Penguin, 2003), and Arthur Miller: Collected Plays, 1944 – 1961 (Library of America, 2006).

3. Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross is available in a stand-alone edition from Methuen or Evergreen, and is also included in David Mamet: Plays, Volume Three (Methuen, 1996).

4. Kushner’s Angels in America is available in a stand-alone edition from Nick Hern Books or Theatre Communications Group. The two parts of the play have also, in the past been published separately. If you do purchase the play in this format make sure you buy “Part I: Millenium Approaches” AND “Part II: Perestroika”. We will be studying BOTH parts of the play.

ESSAY QUESTIONS:

The guidelines and deadline for submitting essays are set out above (p.3). As indicated there you may write on a question of your own choosing, with the approval of the module convenor.

1. “From the neoclassical modes popular in the eighteenth century to the melodramatic techniques which dominated the nineteenth century to the realism and experimentalism which developed in the twentieth century, genre gives us important clues about the world of the playwright and how he or she views it” (Jeffrey D. Mason). Focusing on ONE of the dramatic genres you have encountered, discuss its most important traits and consider what it tells us about “the world of the playwright.” Your answer should make reference to at least ONE of the plays you have studied.

2. “Propaganda plays are best thought of as dialogues in the prose or poetic traditions, providing little if any plot or character development as support for the author’s cause” (Jason Shaffer). Discuss the relationship between political intention and dramatic form in at least ONE of the texts you have studied.

3. “Why should our thoughts to distant countries roam, / When each refinement may be found at home?” (Royall Tyler). Discuss the representation of American national identity in at least ONE of the texts you have studied.

4. “I began to balance men and women very early – and the more I knew – the more I tho’t the women had the worst of it” (Rachel Crothers). Discuss the representation of gender relations in at least ONE of the texts you have studied.

5. “A man’s his job” (David Mamet). Discuss the representation of work in at least ONE of the texts you have studied.

6. “The tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing – his sense of personal dignity” (Arthur Miller). Discuss with reference to at least ONE text you have studied.

7. “The fundamental question is: Are we made by history or do we make history” (Tony Kushner). Discuss with reference to at least ONE of the texts you have studied.

8. Examine the different strategies the playwright uses to make their case in Jonathan Sewall’s A Cure for the Spleen AND/OR Hugh Henry Brackenridge’s The Battle of Bunkers-Hill. How successful are these strategies?

9. “The residue of Revolution in early republican drama offers a diminished legacy for patriotic affirmation” (Jeffrey H. Richards). Discuss the representation of Revolutionary values in Royall Tyler’s The Contrast AND/OR William Dunlap’s André.

10. “Through its dramatic universe, characters, languages, and stage devices, melodrama portrayed society’s fractures, [and] vented the age’s anxieties” (Gary A. Richardson). Discuss with reference to William Henry Smith’s The Drunkard AND/OR the Astor Place riot.