Theatre & Adaptation

Catalog description

This course focuses on theatrical adaptations of dramatic texts, cultural materials (novels, films, etc.), or historical events. We will read an original cultural object-a play, novel, etc.-as well as multiple versions that reinterpret and reimagine it into new cultures and contexts. The course focuses on how and why artists return to “the canon” and what they do with “classic” works. In other words, how can we do new things with old stuff? Courses topics will might include: global adaptations of Antigone; adaptations of Shakespeare; adaptations of modern drama that focus on race and gender; queer adaptations of canonical plays; and dramatic stagings of key historical events (for example, plays about the Haitian Revolution).