History and Histrionics: A Survey of Western Drama

Catalog description

This course will explore 2,500 years of Western drama and how dramaturgical ideas can be traced from their origins in fifth-century Greece to 20th-century Nigeria—with many stops in between. We will try to understand how a play is constructed, rather than simply written, and how each succeeding epoch has both embraced and rejected what has come before it in order to create its own unique identity. We will study the major genres of Western drama, including the idea of a classically structured play, Elizabethan drama, neoclassicism, realism, naturalism, Expressionism, comedy, musical theatre, Theatre of Cruelty, and existentialism. Also, we will look at the social, cultural, architectural, and biographical context for the plays in question to better understand how and why they were written as they were. Class discussion will focus on a new play each week, with occasional written projects that explore these ideas more closely. The Broadway Musical: Something Great Is Coming