Theater and Social Justice

Catalog description

In Theater and Social Justice in Italy students will explore many forms of Italian theater and performance such as: commedia dell'arte, carnival/masquerade, opera, and of course plays. We will also consider how Italian history, culture, and visual art have shaped English theater, particularly Shakespeare's use of Italian settings and motifs and Restoration playwrights' use of Italian Masquerade. The social justice aspect of the course will be centered on thinking about constructions of identity and otherness, paying particular attention to the ways in which gender, race, sexuality, and nationality materialize in performance in ways that challenge and at times re-configure social norms.