Modernism and Postmodernism in the Theatre

Catalog description

This is a course in 20th-21st century modernism and postmodernism in the theatre. It surveys evolving modernist/postmodernist theatre practices in their cultural and intellectual contexts, paying particular attention to the aesthetic evolution from one artistic philosophy to the next. Along the way Naturalism, Symbolism, Futurism, Expressionism, and Dada are explored, as well as Marxism, Structuralism, Poststructuralism, Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and several other theatrically influential aesthetic and theoretical ISMs. Course readings include plays, manifestos, and aesthetic theories. Course methodology focuses on explication of historical performances and their relationship to the social and political circumstances in which they occurred.