Dangerous Acts: Theater, Transgression, and Social Justice, Ancient and Modern
CLST 327
Fall 2026
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
THEA 327, COL 317 |
The first plays in the history of theater feature transgressive acts: murder, illicit sex, violence, and torture. Action-packed, gory, and heart-wrenching, these spectacles of mass entertainment were also staged specifically to "train" citizens to be thoughtful legislators, jurists, and policy makers. They were deliberately crafted to make audiences grapple with demanding questions -- legal, social, and ethical: the "laws" of war; discrimination (based on gender, class, ethnic background); privacy and political participation; confession, guilt, and punishment; anger and sympathy in decision-making, and much more.
In this course, we will read a selection of Greek plays, ancient and modern critical works, and modern adaptations to consider the role of theater in politics, aesthetics, and social and emotional conditioning.
Readings from antiquity will include plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes and readings from Plato and Aristotle. Modern works will include plays and writings by Jean-Paul Sartre, Bertolt Brecht, Sara Uribe, and Luis Alfaro, and movie adaptations.
This course will fall under the Literature and Performance & and History/Social Justice tracks. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CLST |
| Course Format: Seminar | 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 |
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