WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS
Weeks 1 & 2
Read the introduction in your text, pp. 2-22. This information is basic to
all your written assignments and is a general, probably familiar, but also quite
germane introduction to a Humanist view of theatrical art. Since you will (hopefully
write several papers about theatrical experiences in their historical context,
this material should be useful as you organize your first paper.
Thus: For your first encounter, see ANY PROFESSIONAL PLAY AVAILABLE IN YOUR
AREA. Apply your text’s opening chapter. If you opt for a contemporary
performance, you might wish to read Chapter Fourteen, pp. 480-519, for clarification
and additional reading. If you select a period piece, please consult the appropriate
chapter.
Weeks 3 & 4
Read Chapters 1 and 2 in your text, pp. 24--83, dealing with the Greek and
Roman theatres. Your second theatre Encounter will come, hopefully, from one
of the periods described in these chapters. Any production will suffice, whether
amateur or professional, community theatre, local college production, or maybe
you could squeeze in a quick trip to New York. As a last resort, if a live performance
is simply not available, there are superb performances of works of most major
Greek and/or Roman playwrights available on videocassettes, DVDs, at public
libraries, and in the audio/visual holdings at many colleges, universities,
and often in high schools. PBS shows such material consistently. Most video
stores have classic sections that often include classic play material. Be inventive.
Please make an effort to read the play before you see it. This is appropriate
for any of the following assignments.
Your reading of these two chapters should make it obvious that to understand
a play’s dramatic structure and its historic background, will lend considerable
substance Please note: In all of your critical writing, there should be less
concern for plot details than for analysis. I’m more concerned with what
you understand than with what you remember of the plot.
A general note: Whenever you find a play (live or not, classical, modernized,
or contemporary) relating to any of the theatrical periods described in your
text, your written work should obviously reflect your intense reading of the
applicable chapter. For those of you with only moderate backgrounds in the theatre,
this exercise will give you a solid background in the art and its recall will
provide many moments of intense pleasure as you go to future productions.
One more note: It may be necessary to substitute for a play unavailable in
the assigned historical period, whether on stage or in a reproduction. Please
consult your instructor about substitutions as quickly as you can. It is sometimes
possible to use a generic equivalent, but let me in on your plans.
Yet one more note: for each written essay dealing with a theatre performance
you have attended, please include some information about the production, perhaps
a program, a newspaper review, something about the company and the physical
theatre; i.e., whatever would add a familiarizing dimension to your commentary.
Weeks 5, 6, 7, 8
Chapters 3 through 10, pp. 86 --- 349, comprise the bulk (and also the remainder)
of your historically oriented theatre adventure as we move into modern periods
from here on. You have a full month in which to find, appreciate and write two
papers about productions that reach into early Asian theatre, span the great
innovations of Europe’s medieval productions, detail with considerable
affection the splendid contributions of Italy’s comic theatre, dig deep
into the English Renaissance marked by mighty Marlowe, immortal Shakespeare
and the rest of the splendid Jacobean and Caroline drama, and touch as well
on the theatre of Spain’s golden Age, the seminal comedies of France’s
Moliere, and a generous slice of England’s theatrical background, as the
stage moves into the 19th Century.
Your text is appended by a superb bibliography, covering facets of theatre
from every historic period. As graduate students in the Humanities you will
have no problems finding those plays from the period that will appeal to you
and those that might be available to you in one presentation or another. Feel
free to browse the web for dramatic output and for calendar production dates.
Let your reading in the text reflect your understanding how the theatrical productions
you have covered reflect their place in the times and cultural milieu in which
they were created.
Important:
After you finish writing these last two papers, send me your total effort to
date. Make it look good. Put it in a decent folder. If you want it returned,
enclose an SASE with sufficient postage. You will get a response as soon as
possible.
Enjoy!!
Weeks 9 & 10
With Chapter Twelve of your text you are moving into the modern era of theatrical
art. Read pp. 400-438 with great care. The contributions of creative giants
like Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, August Strinberg and George Bernard Shaw,
among others, underlie the development of drama into its contemporary forms.
The latter decades of the 19th century also mark intense changes in artistic
and technical aspects of theatre art and production techniques.
Make an effort to see a show whose director is available to you for interview,
no matter if it may be a professional production, a college play or a community
theatre effort. If the director is also the producer of the play, so much the
better. What did he/she have in mind at the outset? Was the planning successful?
If not, why not? What specific problems were encountered? Part of your response
to this Encounter should concentrate on the work of the director and your paper
should definitely include that point of view. For a deeper probe into directorial
hurdles faced by directors of period plays, the Chapter Twelve bibliography
covers this assignment’s entire spectrum and will add immensely to your
enjoyment of this, and future Encounters.
Weeks 9 & 10
Read Chapter Thirteen, pp. 440-477 with the intensity you have come to expect
of yourself at this stage of the Encounter. It infuses into the theatrical mainstream
startling movements such as Expressionism, Surrealism, Epic theater, the seminal
works of Bertolt Brecht, Federico Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, the explosion of
acting techniques, the rise of commercial and noncommercial American theatre,
and the development of an indigenous African-American theatre.
Write this paper with the work of the actor in mind. The Chapter Thirteen bibliography
lists a number of superb references about Brecht, movements in performance art,
Expressionism, black playwrights, and changes in British and American theatres
in the twentieth century. Make a concerted effort to schedule a performance
that grants the opportunity to interview the actors. How did they conceive their
roles? Did it work out? What was the input of the director toward a definition
of the role? What problems were encountered in defining the role? Jean Benedetti’s
Stanislavski and the Actor (Rutledge/Theatre Arts Books, New York, 1998) would
seriously clarify an artistic method practiced by many contemporary actors,
here and abroad.
Weeks11 & 12
Chapter Fourteen of the text, pp. 480-519, moves the Encounter into the post-WWII
theatrical world, a time of considerable social upheaval. In addition to such
exoticisms as Existentialism, the Theatre of the Absurd, Happenings and multimedia
productions, it also introduces the splendid postwar realistic drama of Arthur
Miller, Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee. It marks the growth of that awesome
staple: the American musical stage and features the growing popularity of the
professional African American theatre of the 1950’s heralding the arrival
of such talent as Lorraine Hansberry and Amiri Baraka, among others. You should
have absolutely no problem finding a production that fits into this paradigm.
This might also be a fine opportunity to indulge your senses and see a musical.
Musicals, as a rule, are more conscious of effective scenery than any other
form of theatre. Try to interview the designer, the costumer and/or the choreographer,
if you select a musical for this Encounter. I have included some notes on musical
plays that should be helpful as you write this paper.
Weeks 13 & 14
Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen, pp. 520-589, cover contemporary American and
international theatre developments and conclude your reading of the text. Your
reading includes profound changes in aesthetic attitudes, of a magnitude particularly
significant to students of Humanities. In an incursive, populist thrust, such
changes are often reflected on that most populist of media, the television screen.
I believe it would be informative and challenging if you concentrated this paper
on a play on TV. Television adaptations may come from several sources: cable
TV (Bravo, HBO, The Family Channel, etc.), drama on PBS, and are often delivered
on commercial stations. It must be a theatrical play that has been adapted to
television. The better video stores often carry adaptations of theatrical events.
I do not mean cassettes or DVDs made from movies about theatrical events (like
Shakespeare in Love, Olivier’s Hamlet or Orson Welles’s Macbeth,
to cite just a few). The intention is to compare the television experience with
your attendance at live theatre. What are the similarities? What are the differences?
Which form serves the THEATRE better? Can these forms even be compared? If not,
why not? For students of the Humanities, these might be profoundly meaningful
questions, as they define the cultural and intellectual aesthetics of our age,
especially as they are asked in the historical context of this Encounter.
Week 15
This will be your final paper. It is to be considered as a wrap-up, a summation
of what you have experienced in this demeaning and, I hope, enlightening educational
experience. I would like to know such factors as:
1. Has the encounter changed the way you look at theatre?
2. About which of the theatrical elements have you gained the most useful new
insights?
3. Do you feel more confident about your own critical skills, especially as
they pertain to theatre experiences?
4. Tell me candidly what could be done to improve the course.
The above is surely not inclusive. Add your own comments and laments. I am genuinely
interested and what this encounter has (or has not) done for you. This paper
will form a part of the final evaluation, so give it the same tender, loving
care you have lavished on the other papers.
