COURSE OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this course is to help undergraduate students get acquainted with a variety of styles developed and practised by male and female, mainstream and non mainstream, white and colored dramatists of the last five decades in the U.S. Emphasis will also be placed on the development of interpretive and critical skills in evaluating contemporary drama. Students are expected to read at least one play per week.
Evaluation: Final class exam.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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CONTEMPORARY (AMERICAN) DRAMA/THEATRE
Instr. Prof. Savas Patsalidis
PRIMARY SOURCES
Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Arthur Kopit. Indians.
Luis Valdez. Los Vendidos
Jean-Claude van Itallie. The Serpent
Megan Terry. Comings and Goings
Ntozake Shange. For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.
Elizaberth Wong. Letters to a Student Revolutionary
Marsha Norman. Getting Out.
Sam Shepard. Tooth of Crime
David Mamet. Oleanna
PRIMARY SOURCES
Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Jean-Claude van Itallie. The Serpent
Megan Terry. Comings and Goings
Arthur Kopit. Indians.
Luis Valdez. Los Vendidos
Ntozake Shange. For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.
Maria Irene Fornes. The Conduct of Life
Elizaberth Wong. Letters to a Student Revolutionary
Marsha Norman. Getting Out.
Sam Shepard. Tooth of Crime
David Mamet. Oleanna
V
Week 1.
Cultural background. American 50s and 60s. Vietnam War. Anti war movement , hippie movement etc
Key words: conformism, affluence, suburbs, cold war, Disneyland
Week 2
Cultural background continued
Key words: conformism, affluence, suburbs, cold war, Disneyland, civil rights, freedom rallies
Week 3.
Theatrical innovations introduced. Problematics of contextuaizing a play (how to read a play in relation to its era). Cultural historcism. Postmodernism
Key words: ensemble, environmental, participatory, non linear, political
Week 4.
ALBEE. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
“Theatre of loss”. The American suburbs. The language of the absurd and other related ,matters
Key words: neurosis, loss, language, black humour, gender relations, hypocricy, conformism
Visit to theatre. Playing “critic”.
Week 5.
Theatre of improvisaion
Jean-Claude van Itallie. The Serpent
Megan Terry. Comings and Goings
Key words: enemble, transformation, myth, somatic, improvisation
Week 6
Theatre of color
Kopit’s INDIANS
Key words: de-historicize, otherness, primitive, commercialization, myth-making, national narratives
Week 7
Theatre of race
Shange’s For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf)
Key words: race, gender, subhecthood, double self
Week 8.
The problematics of ethnicity 1
Valdez’s Los Vendidos
Key words: immigration, chicano, borders
Week 9
The problematics of ethnicity 2
Maria Irene Fornes. The Conduct of Life
Key words: Latino, borders, subjecthood, gender
Visit to theatre: playing critic
Week 10
The problematics of Ethnicity 3
Elizaberth Wong. Letters to a Student Revolutionary
Key words: East-West, color, subjectivity
About feminism and subjecthood
Marsha Norman. Getting Out
Key Words: gender, imprisonment
Visit to theatre: playing critic
Week 12
About the postmodern
Sam Shepard. Tooth of Crime
Key words: modernism, postmodernism, culture, reality, objects
Week 13
About hypernaturalism
David Mamet. Oleanna
Key words: violence, power, objective, subjective, politically correct
Week 14
Wrapping up
The course
wraps up by bringing together the
questions that dominate all lectures: i.e. How real is “reality”? Who defines
culture? What is color? What is gender? What is race? What is a national
narrative?
SECONDARY SOURCES: A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alba, Richard D. Ethnic Identities (E 184. A1A45)
Antonin, Artaud. The Theatre and Its Double
Ashcroft, Bill et al (eds). The Postcolonial Studies Reader.
Aston, Elaine. Theatre as Sign System (PN 2041. S45A85)
Austin, Gayle, Feminist Theories for Dramatic Criticism (PN 1633. F45A9)
Barker, Francis. Postmodernism and the Re-Reading of Modernity (PN 88. P67P69).
Bennett, Susan. Theatre Audiences (PN 1590. A9B48)
Benston, Kimberly. Baraka: The Renegade and the Mask, 1976.
Berney, K. A. Contemporary American Dramatists (PS 352. C65)
Bernstein, Samuel. The Strands Entwined: A New Direction in American Drama, 1980.
Bertens, Hans. The Idea of the Postmodern
Birringer, Johannes. Theatre, History, Postmodernism (PN 2039. B57)
Blau, Herbert. The Eye of Prey: Subversions of the Postmodern
Blonsky, Marshall. American Mythologies
Bourdieu, Pierre. The Field of Cultural Production (NY 180. S6B68)
Calhoun, Craig. Social History and the Politics of Identity (HM 131. S63)
Calinescu, Matei. Five Faces of Modernity
____. Exploring Postmodernism (PN 98. P67E97).
Callinicos, Alex. Against Postmodernism (B 831. 2. C34)
Case, Sue-Ellen. The Performance of Power
Cohn, Ruby. American Dramatists 1960-1980.
Collins, Jim. Uncommon Cultures: Popular Culture and Postmodernism.
Connor, Steven. Postmodernist Culture (PN 98. P67C66)
Culler, Jonathan. On Deconstruction (PN 98. D43C8)
Digaetani, John. Search for a Postmodern Theatre (PS 352. S43).
Docherty, Thomas. After Theory: Postmodernism/Postmarxism (PN98. P641)
______. (ed). Postmodernism: A Reader.
Dolan, Jill. Spectator as Critic.
Downing, David B., ed. Image and Ideology in Modern/Postmodern Discourse (PN 771. 145)
Eagleton, Terry. Ideology of the Aesthetic (BH 151. E2)
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth.
Foster, Hal (ed). Anti-Aesthetic.
Geetz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures (GN 315. G3C)
Geis, Deborah. Postmodern Theatric[h]s.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity (CB428. H38)
Harriott, Esther. American Voices
Hart, Lynda. Acting Out: Feminist Performances
_______. Making a Spectacle.
Hilton, Julian. Performance (PN 2061. H55)
Hoesterev, Ingeborg (ed.). Zeitgeist in Babel: The Postmodernist Controversy (B 831. 2. Z45).
Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism
Huyssen, Andreas. After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism.
Jameson, Fredric. The Political Unconscious.
_______. Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
Jordan, Glenn. Cultural Politics (NY180 S6J66)
Kaye, Nick. Postmodernism and Performance (PN 2037. K35)
Kearney, Richard. The Wake of Imagination (PN 56745. K43)
-------Poetics of Imagining (B 105.149 K42)
Keefe, Susan. Chicano Ethnicity (E 184. M5K431)
Kellner, Douglas. Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern.
Kolin, Philip. American Playwrights Since 1945 (PS 350. A4)
Kroker, Arthur and Cook, David. The Postmodern Scene.
La Capra, Dominick. Rethinking Intellectual History
Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition.
Macdonald, Erik. Theatre at the Margins (PN 2193. E86. M33).
Madison, Garry. The Hermeneutics of Postmodernity (BD 241. M25)
Malkin, Jeanette. Verbal Violence in Contemporary Drama (PN 1861. M28)
Mance Williams. Black Theatre in the 1960s and 1970s (PN 2270. A35)
Mann, Paul. Theory-Death of the Avant-Garde (BH 301. A94M36).
Marranca, Bonnie and G. Dasgupta (eds). American Playwrights.
Martin, Jacqueline. Voice in Modern Theatre (PN 2071. S65M37)
Martin, Randy. Performance as Political Act
McCorkle, James. Still Performance (PS 3525. A8477S86).
Mukerji, Chandra, ed. Rethinking Popular Culture (N 357. R48)
Nelson, Brian. Asian American Drama
Novy, Marianne. Cross-cultural Performances
Orr, John. Tragicomedy and Contemporary Culture (PN 1907. 07)
Pavis, Patrice. Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture (PN1643. P3813)
Payne, Micahel. Reading Theory: An Introduction to Lacan, Derrida, Kristeva (PN 81. P39)
Phelan, Peggy. The Politics of Performance (NY 650. P6P47)
Postlewait, Thomas. Interpreting the Theatrical Past
Pottlitzer, Joanne. Hispanic Theatre in the United States and Perto Rico (PN 2270. H57P68).
Reinelt, G. ed. Critical Theory and Performance (PN 2039. C75)
Roudané, Matthew. American Drama Since 1960 (PS 352. R 68)
Said, Edward. Orientalism.
Schechner, Richard. Performance Theory
-------. Between Theatre and Anthropology (PN 2041. A57533)
Seller, Maxine. Ethnic Theatre in U.S (PN 2226. E85)
Shank, Theodore. American Alternative Theatre.
Silverman, Hugh J (ed). Postmodernism: Philosophy and the Arts (B 831. 2. P68).
Simard, Rodney. Postmodern Drama (PS 352. S571984)
Simons, Herbert W. After Postmodernism (B 831 A4)
Smith, Larry E., Discourse Across Cultures (PE 2751. D57)
Trachtenberg, Alan. The Postmodern Moment (NY 456.5. P66P66)
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations (Ref. LB2369 T8)
Vattimo, Gianni. The End of Modernity (B 828. 3 V3713)
Whitaker, Thomas. Fields of Play in Modern Drama (PN 1851. W45)
Wiles, Timothy. The Theatre Event (PN 2189. W51980)
Williams, Linda. Hard Core: Power, Pleasure and the Frenzy of the Visible.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth
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NOTE: Students are not expected to read all these books. They can consult those sources they consider most useful for their better understanding of the course. Our library carries a rich collection of drama/theatre books. Just spend sometime to check them out. What is listed above, is only a very small sample. It is to be understood that the use of periodicals is also VERY important (i.e. Modern Drama, Theatre Journal, Theatreforum, Yale/Theatre, TDR, among others). All current theatre scholarship is first published there before it appears in a book form.
Course Outline
