A Playwright's Workshop: Intermediate
THEA 299
Spring 2015 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 299 |
| Certificates: Writing |
This course will help students discover the power of research as a source of theatrical inspiration. We will research the techniques of playwrights like Susan-Lori Parks, Dario Fo, Doug Wright, Caryl Churchill, and Arthur Kopit (along with others you will choose on your own) to find out what can be learned by borrowing, adapting, transforming, rejecting, inverting, or reimagining elements of their work. We will also research historic and contemporary events as sources for the creation of effective theatrical characters and situations. To use Parks' metaphor, we will use research as a way to dig for the bones, hear the bones sing, and write it down. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA THEA |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: [THEA199 or ENGL269] |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
"America Play" and "Top Dog/Underdog" by Suzan-Lori Parks
"Vinegar Tom" by Caryl Churchill
"Indians" by Arthur Kopit
"I am my own wife" by Doug Wright
"Mother Courage" by Bertolt Brecht
"Artful Laughter: Dario Fo and Franca Rame" by Ron Jenkins
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Examinations and Assignments:
Two writing assignments will be due each week. The first is a writing assignment that will be read to the class for collective feedback, but will not be graded, giving students freedom to experiment and take risks without fear of failure. The second will be a 2-page paper discussing the research that inspired the script. This should include quotations from a playwright about their craft and a quote from a play that is relevant to your own because of a technique that you borrowed, adapted, rejected, contradicted, or transformed in some way. It should also include quotes from whatever source inspired your scene. This paper will be graded on the thoroughness of your research, the relevance of the citations, and the clarity with which you articulate connections between your research and artistic intentions.There will be no final exam but students will turn in a final script of a play and an accompanying research paper discussing the research involved in writing the play and the techniques used in writing the play. |
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