Scripts and Shows: Modern Drama as Literature and Performance
ENGL 234
Spring 2011
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
THEA 234 |
Why read plays? What is the place of drama in literary studies? In modern culture and society? What answers to these questions are suggested by the works of classic modern writers like Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Brecht, and Beckett, and contemporaries like Tony Kushner and Suzan-Lori Parks? These are some of the questions we will try to answer as we examine a selection of plays from the modernist canon and the contemporary stage. This is a literature course, and no experience of theatre is necessary, but we will pay some attention to imagining how scripts might be realized in performance, and there will be a chance for students to participate in rehearsed readings. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Plays by Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, and Samuel Beckett, as well as more recent writers such as Tennessee Williams, Lorraine Hansberry, Tracy Letts, Dario Fo, Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill, Tony Kusher, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Actual selections will depend upon availability of texts and local performances.
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Examinations and Assignments:
3 short take-home-exam-type essays, due on Fridays.
3-5 even shorter scene analyses or rehearsed readings, due in individual classes.
Final 8-page essay on a modern play by a playwright we haven't read in the course. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This is an intermediate level literature course that combines element of a survey with more in-depth analysis. Students with a practical interest in theater are welcome, as are those primarily interested in literature.
This course contributes to the Theory & Literary Forms concentration for the English major. |
| Instructor(s): Stowe,William W. Times: .M.W... 02:40PM-04:00PM; Location: DWNY113; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 30 | | SR major: 7 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 10 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 6 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 5 |
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