Staging America: Modern American Drama
ENGL 175
Fall 2017
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 125, COL 125, AFAM 152, FGSS 175, THEA 172 |
Can modern American drama--as cultural analysis--teach us to reread how America ticks? Together we will explore this question as we read and discuss some of the most provocative classic and uncanonized plays written between the 1910s and the present. Plays by Susan Glaspell, Eugene O'Neill, Mike Gold, workers theater troupes, Clifford Odets, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Amiri Baraka, Arthur Kopit, Ntozake Shange, Luis Valdez, David Mamet, Tony Kushner, Ayad Akhtar, and others will help us think about what's at stake in staging America and equip us as cultural analysts, critical thinkers, close readers of literature, and imaginative historians of culture and theater. This seminar will introduce first-year students to the kind of critical thinking developed in majors such as English; American studies; African American studies; feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; College of Letters; theater studies; and the Social and Cultural Theory Certificate. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(ENGL-Creative W)(ENGL-Literature)(THEA) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook, SUPPRESSED DESIRES
Susan Glaspell, TRIFLES, THE VERGE
Eugene O'Neill, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
[Workers Theater Troupe], ART IS A WEAPON
Gregory Novikov, Workers Laboratory Theatre, NEWSBOY
Clifford Odets, WAITING FOR LEFTY
Tennessee Williams, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Arthur Miller, THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), THE DUTCHMAN, THE SLAVE
Arthur Kopit, INDIANS
Ntozake Shange, SPELL #7
David Mamet, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
Tony Kushner, ANGELS IN AMERICA
Ayad Akhtar, DISGRACED
Bertolt Brecht, "Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction" (essay)
Judith Butler, "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution" (essay)
Lois Rudnick, "The New Woman" (essay)
John C. Burnham, "The New Psychology" (essay)
Ernest Allen, Jr., "The New Negro" (essay)
Luis Valdez, ZOOT SUIT
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Examinations and Assignments:
Several essays |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
TBA |
| Instructor(s): Pfister,Joel Times: ..T.... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: BOGH114; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 30 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 11 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 30 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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