L15 Drama 107 Ampersand: A Performative Perspective on Chinese Culture and Identity

This course examines the diversified and rich history of Chinese visual and performance cultures from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and throughout the Chinese diaspora. A collaboration between the East Asian Languages and Cultures and Performing Arts departments, this course explores Chinese cultural narratives in relation to how they have been performed — on stage in traditional forms of dance-drama, on screen in film, and as lived in the practice of everyday life — from the late Imperial period to the present. It includes a practice component that introduces the students to movement disciplines such as Tai' Chi and opera, and it allows students to pursue creative assignments such as interview, stage plays, and filmmaking that demonstrate their developing knowledge of historical and contemporary Chinese culture. Building bridges of understanding between the United States and the Republic of China in Taiwan, the course will culminate in a spring break trip to Taiwan. This course is only for first-year, non-transfer students in the Ampersand: Encountering China program.
Same as L61 FYP 107

Credit 3 units. A&S: AMP A&S IQ: LCD, SC BU: HUM, IS EN: H

L15 Drama 1080 Ampersand: A Performative Perspective on Chinese Culture and Identity.

This course examines the development of modern Chinese culture and its dynamic relationship with traditions and renovations. During the past century, China has gone through a series of political, cultural, economic, and technological transformations that constantly reshaped the form and content of Chinese culture. Tracing the drastic changes in Chinese language, performance and media forms from the late 19th century to contemporary time, this course guides the student through the pivotal moments in modern Chinese history and analyzes their impacts on literature, drama, dance, film and internet culture. What transformative promise did new media and art forms deliver? How do we make sense of the intricate connection between tradition and renovation? The purpose of this course is to foster an understanding of Chinese culture as a dynamic process of formation rather than a static, homogeneous entity. However, instead of seeing this formation as a linear progression with one form or style replacing the other, we will study how past traditions — both ancient and recently constructed ones — are reconfigured in new cultural representations and practices.
Same as L61 FYP 1080

Credit 3 units. A&S: AMP A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: HUM, IS

L15 Drama 115 First-Year Seminar: What is Art?

Great works of literature, theatre, film, painting, music and dance provide us with new, intriguing — and often surprising! — ways of understanding reality. In this First-Year Seminar, we examine a variety of works in various media, paying close attention to works which have significantly altered or challenged the way we view and interpret reality. In an intimate, seminar setting, we analyze and discuss individual works of art from the Greeks to the present day. The course incorporates attendance at live performances (both on-campus and off), along with Master Classes by artists from the Performing Arts Department. Examining works both classical and the avant-garde, What is Art? forces us to understand and question how art complicates, enriches, disturbs and asks questions — both about ourselves and our world.

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: AH, HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 1151 First-Year Seminar:

A variety of topics in comparative literature, designed for first-year students — no special background is required — and to be conducive to the investigation and discussion format of a seminar.
Same as L16 Comp Lit 115

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 1165 First-Year Seminar: On Broadway - Musicals, Race, Place

The Broadway theatres are closed, but pressure to make these stages more racially and ethnically diverse when they re-open is strong. This course looks at the history of the Broadway theatres and the ways this coveted theatrical real estate in midtown Manhattan has played host to white and non-white performers in the signature American theatrical genre: the musical. Using digital and archival research tools, including an abundance of maps, our study stretches from the creation of the Theatre District at the turn of the 20th century to the present. We will examine groundbreaking and all-too-typical shows — from "Show Boat" to "Hamilton" — and look closely for how systemic racism has played out on Broadway stages for Broadway's mostly white audience. We will produce original research and explore digital humanities methods related to questions of racial inequality in commercial popular culture. This course is for first-year, non-transfer students only.
Same as L27 Music 1165

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM, SC BU: BA, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 119 Ampersand: Shakespeare's Globe: All the World's a Stage

Why-more than 400 years later-do we continue to read the works of William Shakespeare? Why do we continue to stage his plays, identify with his characters, and communicate our thoughts in his language? Why do his poems and plays retain their vibrancy and immediacy, even today? This course invites students to answer these questions by inhabiting Shakespeare's language from the inside and out-breathing in the words of his characters with creative and careful study, while moving out to fully engage the text in performance. Reading plays, watching films, listening to monologues, voicing dialogue, physically enacting fight scenes, and even navigating plots with joysticks, students will develop deep appreciation for the writer who is the original GOAT-the greatest of all time. In this two-semester course, we will read and study Shakespeare's plays in their historical context, learning about the original practices used in performance at both the Elizabethan and Jacobean court theatres as well as the public theatres on the South Bank of the Thames. We will also consider them as adaptable playscripts that have been rewritten over the past 400 years, reinterpreted at different times by different actors in different cultures the world over. Students will contribute to this performance repertoire with their own 21st-century interpretations, striding the stage of the reconstructed Globe Theatre in a capstone experience that concludes the course with a summer trip to London. If all the world's a stage, come be a player in it!
Same as L61 FYP 119

Credit 3 units. A&S: AMP A&S IQ: HUM

L15 Drama 120 First-Year Seminar: Race and Performance

What does it mean to "act Black"? What about "acting Jewish"? This course looks at performances of racial and ethnic identity, mostly in the United States and mostly in the 20th century. We will examine novels (e.g., Nella Larsen's "Passing"), plays (e.g., Anna Deavere Smith's "Fires in the Mirror"), and performances of everyday life (e.g., "Cowboys and Indians") to investigate the performance of race in public. Once we begin to explore the social and cultural performance of race, will it all turn out to be "only" an act?

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM, SD BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 135 First-Year Seminar Ideation: Idea Generation

Ideation exists at all phases of a creative process: brainstorming, idea generation, innovation, prototyping, development and actualization. But Ideation is less like a line and more like a loop from observing to reflecting to making — and back again. It is a rarely understood but essential part of any creative or design process. Through collaboration and conversations with classmates, readings on the topic and group exercises, Ideation is a course that strives to define and demystify what we mean by "creativity," help students identify their creative strengths and weaknesses, encourage artistic experimentation of new ideas, establish methods of design thinking and make it clear that collaboration among varied backgrounds and disciplines is the key to coming up with creative solutions for complex problems. Successful companies such as IDEO led by visionaries in the form of Tim Brown and David Kelley have pioneered the notion of Design Thinking. "Design thinking" is defined as "the ability to combine empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality to analyze and fit solutions to the context." This course encourages students to explore their collaborative talents in new ways that they find apply to virtually any discipline and career path: from A to Z.

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 175 Designing Creativity: Innovation Across Disciplines

From "a-ha!" epiphanies to slow-developing discoveries, the creative process has been employed by innovators and artists in virtually every corner of the globe for centuries. This course will explore the study and practice of the creative process across many disciplines, with input from prominent thinkers and practitioners in the areas of medicine, neuroscience, law, engineering, architecture, human-centered design, business, stage design, and the performing arts. The course will also incorporate the practice of design thinking and creativity techniques via a lab component that will allow students to explore the development of innovative ideas in collaborative teams followed by project presentations to core faculty and classmates. This course is for first-year (non-transfer) students only.
Same as I60 BEYOND 175

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYBB A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: FADM, HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 200 Theater Projects

Independent study. Students may contract with a faculty supervisor for credit for their work on theatrical productions or research. Contracts must be signed by the student, the faculty supervisor and the coordinator of Drama 200 before the student's work on the project commences. Credit and grade option are determined in each case.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 2001 Acting

Independent study.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 2002 Directing

Independent study.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 2003 Technical Theater

Independent study.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 2004 Voice, Speech

Independent study.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 2005 Literature, Theory, Criticism

Independent study.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 201 Black Theater Workshop

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 209 Introduction to Costume Construction

This course is a hands-on introduction to the sewing and costume-related skills most useful for creating costumes for theatre productions.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 212E Introduction to Theater Production

An introductory study of the major elements involved with mounting a theatrical production. Utilizing guest speakers in both theater arts and theater studies, the course addresses such topics as scenic, costume, lighting and sound design; production management and procedures; and the history and culture of theatrical space and design. Students are required to serve as a crew member on one departmental production and attend productions of the Edison Theatre Ovations series and the Performing Arts Department.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 214 Public Speaking: Embodied Communication

The ability to speak well and to communicate effectively in the public forum is an essential skill for all students. This course aims to offer a comprehensive and wide-ranging approach to developing the skills of the contemporary speaker. While acknowledging and utilizing traditional approaches to public speaking, this course expands its reach to include applicable techniques from the world of the Performing Arts — especially theater and dance. The course does not intend to train the student as a dancer or actor, but it maintains that the successful speaker would do well to harness some of the transferable skill sets from these disciplines. The speaker, like the performer, must stand before an audience with an objective to communicate something well. Both should be dedicated advocates for the message. They share the common ground of requiring a strong voice for a sure delivery of the material, and an expressive physicality willing to fully embody and serve the message.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 2150 First-Year Seminar: The Theatre as a Living Art

Moving in and out of practice and theory, this FOCUS plan interweaves a traditional introductory acting course with discussions of dramatic theory and visits to rehearsals where directors and actors work to shape the play. Must be taken concurrently with Drama 228C. Course is for first-year, non-transfer students only.
Same as L61 FYP 215

Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 223 Cross-Cultural Women Playwrights

This course provides an introductory survey of the work of African-American, Caribbean-American, Asian-American and Native American women playwrights. We explore the playwrights' strategies for creating work that is by turns beautiful, fascinating, humorous, moving and occasionally terrifying as they chart for contemporary theater the intersection of race and gender in performative terms. Playwrights addressed include Adrienne Kennedy, Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks, Anna Deavere Smith, Diana Son, Jessica Hagedorn, Cherie Moraga, Wakako Yamauchi, Migdalia Cruz, Spiderwoman Theatre, Marga Gomez and Velina Hasu Houston.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Art: HUM BU: BA

L15 Drama 227 Playwriting

An introductory course in playwriting. Limited to eight students. Prerequisite: Writing 1 and permission of the instructor.
Same as L13 Writing 224

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 228C Theater Culture Studies I: Antiquity to Renaissance

This course is a survey of ancient, medieval and Renaissance theater and performance: in both the West and in the East, as it both reflects and shapes culture. Coverage will include the following areas: ancient Greece, ancient Rome, classical Sanskrit theater, Yuan China, medieval Japan, medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, and Renaissance England. Both scripted theater and performance practices will be examined through the lenses of dramatic literature, theater history, performance studies, and dramatic theory. A continual emphasis will be on marginal and underrepresented figures, as we will attempt to excavate forgotten histories from the theatrical past.

Credit 3 units. A&S: AMP A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H

L15 Drama 229C Theater Culture Studies II: From Renaissance to Romanticism

This course provides a survey of theater history from the early 17th through mid-19th centuries, covering plays, theories of drama and acting, and the material conditions of theatre production. We explore events in Asia, the Americas and Europe with particular attention to the Baroque era, Sentimentalism and Romanticism. The central objectives of the course are 1) to teach students to analyze plays in complex and creative ways, and 2) to cultivate understanding of the ways theater and performance practices reflect the philosophical ideas, aesthetic values, and sociopolitical realities of their historical context — even as these practices sustained and challenged such ideas, values and realities.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 230 Topics in Theater

Explores a variety of special interest topics in theater not included in the Theater Culture Studies sequence. Consult the course listings.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 239 Performance and Culture

What are Lady Gaga and Beyonce doing? How do young men and women in poverty use performance for survival? Why do we create performance and for whom? In this class we apply the vocabulary and concepts of Performance Studies to social and theatrical worlds, understanding performance broadly: from popular culture to everyday life to theatre. To understand performance, we look closely at ethnographies, plays and literature. Subjects span a range of topics: racial impersonation, drag/house balls, celebrity culture, reality television, black-latino theatre, and slam poetry. Key course questions: How does performance inform everyday culture? How does culture inform popular culture and theatrical performance? This course takes seriously the "doing" and the "undoing" of things — as culture shifts, transforms and adjusts as bodies engage in the art of performance.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 2401 Fundamentals of Acting

This course offers an opportunity to investigate the nature of the theater by way of performance. Students study a variety of theatrical texts in the most direct and experiential way: by acting in them. The course is designed for those who want to understand the interpretive work of the actor. Students are introduced to the practical work of building a character for the stage, and they also gain an understanding of how dramatic texts work both on the page and on the stage. Textual analysis, movement work and vocal production skills are developed using monologues, scene work and exercises. These skills should also provide significant benefits outside of the confines of the class itself, in the professional and personal lives of the students taking this course. No previous training or experience necessary.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 240E Acting I: Fundamentals of Acting

This course offers an opportunity to investigate the nature of the theater by way of performance. Students study a variety of theatrical texts in the most direct and experiential way, by acting in them. The course is designed for those who want to understand the interpretive work of the actor. Students are introduced to the practical work of building a character for the stage, and they also gain an understanding of how dramatic texts work both on the page and on the stage. Textual analysis, movement work and vocal production skills are developed using monologues, scene work and exercises. These skills also should provide significant benefits outside the confines of the class itself, in the professional and personal lives of the students taking this class.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 250 Topics in Stage Movement

This is a rotating topics course on movement for actors.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM

L15 Drama 2503 Introduction to Performance Art

The focus of this course is on the history, theory and practice of performance art and performance theater. The class engages in exercises that generate text, movement, sound and performance scores. Students create original performances that incorporate contemporary critical concepts. Performance production is supplemented by readings and videos that introduce the history and theory of experimental performance and work by specific performance artists.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM

L15 Drama 251 The Art of Storytellilng

As one of the oldest forms of human communication, storytelling is part of both mundane interactions and carefully crafted events. Many of us tell stories regularly in informal settings (e.g., when we tell a friend about an encounter we had in the cafeteria) as well as in professional settings (e.g., class or work presentations). But what, exactly, are the elements of a well-told story? How do we identify powerful storytellers? These questions ground this course, where we will explore stories as forms through which to present oneself and explain an event to others. We will study storytelling from two perspectives. First, we will look at stories through rhetorical analysis: we will focus on various examples of storytelling across different genres (ranging from cultural myths, fables, spoken word, speeches, hip-hop, R&B, and rock lyrics) to understand stories as an artistic practice, a teaching method, an identity shaper, and a conductor of history. Second, we will consider stories through embodied practice: we will perform and present stories in chosen genres to gain firsthand experience in the conventions and forms of the embodiments that complete the act of telling well-crafted stories. At the end of this course, students will have gained theoretical knowledge about storytelling as an art form as well as the practical skills needed to become confident storytellers.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 256 Contemporary Comedy: Stand-up, Sketch and Improv

The United States is in the midst of a second comedy boom. The first boom, during the 1980s, turned stand-up comedy into a major force in American entertainment, creating stars like Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, and Ellen DeGeneres. The second, which is defined in part by new social media, podcasting, and online video, is remaking the way comedians find their voices and their audiences. However, even as young comedians chart new paths through a dynamic media landscape, live performance is still the heart of the modern comedy universe. This class is a detailed survey of the contemporary American comedy scene. Pioneering artists from vaudeville through the 1970s are introduced, the stand-up boom of the 1980s is presented as a formative force in the comedy business, and alt-comedy is discussed as a stylistic watershed. Select modern theories of comedy are read and discussed, although we studiously avoid explaining jokes. Short units on improv and sketch comedy round out the syllabus. Assignments include practical exercises in performing comedy onstage, and students can choose to perform a short original stand-up set for their final assignment.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 257 Dance Theater Production

Experience in technical production. Required stage work includes two studio dance productions supervised by faculty. Prerequisite: Dance 212E.
Same as L29 Dance 257

Credit 1 unit. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 271 The American Musical Theater Songbook

From its birth in vaudeville and musical reviews to current future classics such as "Hamilton," American musical theater has produced a voluminous catalogue of material referred to herein as the "American Musical Theater Songbook." Part survey and part performance, this course will focus on the composers, lyricists, performers and subject matter that have been instrumental in defining musical theater and its role in describing a continually evolving human psychology and sociology. The performance aspect of the course will develop students' existing vocal skills and knowledge of style. As both singing and non-singing students are welcome to participate in the course, adjustments for non-singing students will be accommodated so that they may participate fully in the class. The format of the course will be a seminar of student-generated presentations, discussions, and workshop performances. A sampling of shows from which repertoire will be sourced includes the following: early song-and-dance shows ("Girl Crazy," "Anything Goes," "Kiss Me Kate"); Rodgers and Hammerstein ("Oklahoma!," "Carousel," "South Pacific"); Stephen Sondheim ("Gypsy," "Sweeney Todd," "Sunday in the Park With George"); modern era ("West Side Story," "A Chorus Line," "Cabaret," "Hair," "Pippin"); and contemporary ("In the Heights," "Caroline, or Change," "Kinky Boots," "Dear Evan Hansen," "Hamilton"). This course serves as a prerequisite for L15 372.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 295 Portfolio Review

This course is intended as a one-hour credit to meet every Friday for two contact hours. While the main focus of this course is to dedicate time to learning and preparing a solid professional portfolio, résumé and webpage, this class also trains the students how to interact and conduct themselves through the interview process. We review numerous résumés from industry professionals, develop our own, develop both physical and digital portfolios consisting of students' academic and professional work, and culminate in building a strong and evocative webpage. Upon completion, the student has a solid understanding of the theater job market and be ready to face the world.

Credit 1 unit. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 296 Internship

Students may receive up to 3 units of credit for an approved internship with an organization where the primary objective is to obtain professional experience outside the classroom. Students must file a Learning Agreement with the Career Center, a faculty sponsor and the site supervisor. This must be approved by all three constituencies before proceeding. A final written project is agreed upon between the student and faculty sponsor before work begins, and is evaluated by the faculty sponsor at the end of the internship.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 300 Production Practicum

Practicum experience in technical theater. Available positions include stage manager; publicist; assistant designer for costumes, scenery or lighting; or crew head of props, sound and makeup design.

Credit variable, maximum 2 units.

L15 Drama 3011 A History of African-American Theater

A survey of African-American theater from post-Civil War "coon" shows and reviews to movements for a national black theater, such as Krigwa, Lafayette and Lincoln, and the Black Arts Movement. Early black theater and minstrels; black theater movement and other ethnic theater movements in America. Critical readings of such plays as Amiri Baraka's Dutchman, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston's Mulebone. Also works by August Wilson, Ed Bullins, Charles Fuller, Georgia Douglas Johnson.
Same as L90 AFAS 301

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 304 Makeup for the Stage

A hands-on introduction to the makeup techniques most commonly used for theater productions, including basic corrective, age, changing the shape of the face, and special effects, as well as the designing process. Students will apply makeup to their own faces and are required to purchase the makeup kit specified by the instructor.

Credit 2 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3081 Costume Rendering and Design

Costume Rendering and Design is an introduction to the skills required for designing costumes for theater productions. Class topics will include duties and responsibilities of costume designers for theatre, elements and principles of design, research methods, drawing the human figure and clothing, various color media, text analysis and creating costume-related paperwork for plays, communicating character with costume renderings, and the time management required to complete designs in a deadline-based industry.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 309 Stage Technology

Practical study of technical theater procedures and scene shop; production techniques. Course outline includes lectures, demonstrations of equipment, production assignments and research-oriented project work. Prerequisite: Drama 212E or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 310 Stage Lighting

This course places an emphasis in the aesthetic practice of lighting design through the understanding of technology as it relates to time and space. Early on the student learns how to properly use and apply designer's tools and then through reading, research and experimentation explore the limitless boundaries of color and texture. This culminates in a stage design in collaboration with directing or dance class. Upon completion of the course, the student is able to speak eloquently on design theory and be able to move on to further design study in Drama 410 Advanced Lighting Design.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 311M Scenic Design

An introduction to the process of scenic design, as it relates to aesthetics, dramatic literature, collaboration and production. Projects involve design conceptualization, documentation, graphics and realization.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 314 Voice-Speech Laboratory

Fundamentals of speech for the stage focusing on breath support, resonance, articulation and speech as an expression of an individual's needs. The course includes an introduction to stage dialects. Preference given to majors.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3153 The Women of Greek Tragedy

This course examines the role of women in Athenian drama. Students will read English translations of the works of the three major tragedians — Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides — and their near contemporary, the comedian Aristophanes. Direct engagement with ancient texts will encourage students to develop their own interpretations of and written responses to the political, social, and ethical manipulation that these mythological women were compelled to endure and the subtle ways in which they appear to exercise power themselves. Selected scholarly articles and book chapters will help students to contextualize these ancient dramas in their culture of origin. Because such issues continue to preoccupy both sexes today, students will see how Greek tragedy addresses perennial historical and cultural concerns through the examination of adaptations of Greek tragedies ranging from Seneca in ancient Rome to Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" and Luis Alfaro's "Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles." The final research paper will encourage students to consider how a specific female character from antiquity is transformed for a "modern" dramatic audience.
Same as L08 Classics 3153

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3201 Concepts in Theater Architecture and Performance Space

Can a cloakroom or a stairwell become a theater? How do site and placement affect the meaning potential of performance? How does contemporary environmental staging conjure a world different from that of the modern box set, the baroque perspective stage or Shakespeare's Globe? We engage such questions by drawing on theory, history and hands-on creation to examine historical, actual and potential performance spaces. Readings in architectural and dramatic theory, theater history, performance studies and philosophy provide both a critical descriptive vocabulary and a conceptual repertoire for use in creative class assignments — both informing students' investigations of actual theaters or other performance — ready spaces and provoking their creation of experimental performance spaces. Readings cover semiotic, materialist and situationist approaches to space, as well as concepts including site specificity, space vs. place, framing, perspective, miniature, the door, the curtain, the cloakroom and the monument.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 321 Topics in Theater

Explores a variety of special interest topics in theater. Consult the course listings.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3212 Topics in Theater

Rotating topics course.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3227 Devising, Adaptation, Docudrama

This course explores three ways of theatre-making that have revolutionized the contemporary stage: devising (a collaborative process emphasizing physical techniques to realize ideas), adaptation (the transposition of a narrative from one mode to another), and docudrama (the self-conscious staging of history through the assemblage of documentary records). Beginning with a focus on the current "postdramatic theatre" and the pre-histories of these contemporary practices, we will engage current scholarship on each form, learning the "how" and "why" from contemporary practitioners, while considering the rhetorical structure of each form in relation to the social meanings they generate for their audiences. Divided into three units, the course will combine the study of each method with hands-on practice, and will conclude with a showcase featuring an original performance created by the student collective. A theme (variable by semester) will unite the three sections of the course, helping students see how a single topic can be illuminated in different ways through these three methods of creating performance.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 323 Topics in American Drama

A rotating topics course on various subjects relating to the history and theatrical practice of modern American drama.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3301 Performing Gender

This course investigates an array of contemporary performances to explore manifestations of and challenges to gender norms in American culture. An initial reading of crucial performance theories by Judith Butler, Jill Dolan and others help set the stage for our examination of a diverse collection of contemporary texts, including plays, solo performances, stand-up and pop culture phenomenon. We raise questions about feminist performance strategies, butch/femme performance, camp, cross-dressing, feminist spectatorship, multimedia performances and the representation of lesbian desire. Prerequisite: any 100-level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 3302 Culture & Identity

This is a topics course that focuses on instances of identity and culture within the American scope. The topic varies by semester; see the Course Listings for a description of the current semester's offering.
Same as L98 AMCS 330C

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 332 Comedy, Ancient and Modern

In this course we will examine the nature of dramatic comedy and its role in society. We will read, discuss and write about comedies from ancient Greece and Rome and from various modern nations, paying particular attention to the following questions: Do comic plays reinforce or challenge the preconceptions of their audiences? How have comic playwrights responded to issues such as class, gender, religion, and politics? Why does comedy have such power both to unite and to divide people? This course has an extensive writing component, so much of our time will be spent writing about the comedies we will read, revising what we have written, and discussing how best to write about comedy.
Same as L08 Classics 385W

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, WI Art: CPSC BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 336 Modern Drama

L15 Drama 3361 Modern Drama, 1945 to the Present

Course concentrates on the development of modern drama from 1945 to the present. Focus is on both literary and theatrical techniques as well as the examination of trends in the contemporary theatre from Samuel Beckett through Sam Shepard. Perspective is comparative and international in scope, with particular attention given to women and minority playwrights.
Same as L14 E Lit 3361

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 338 Physical Theater: An Exploration of Viewpoints and Suzuki Training

In this course students study two very different but complementary styles of movement training. Developed by the Saratoga International Theatre Institute, this method of actor training combines the improvisational exploration of time and space through "Viewpoints" with the rigid structure and physical demands of the Suzuki method. This combined approach is designed to develop heightened awareness and acute focus in the performer. In addition, it fosters greater impulsiveness and freedom in the moment while maintaining discipline and control. Students gain flexibility and strength and enhance their creative potential by balancing these seemingly opposing methods. Prerequisite: Drama 341 Acting II Fundamentals of Movement or Dance 106E Introduction to Dance as a Contemporary Art Form.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 340 Topics in Stage Movement

Exploration of a variety of theatrical and movement concepts with emphasis on process rather than product. Concentrates on developing the expressive flexibility of the body and linking the imaginative impulse with physical movement. Preliminary work in relaxation and efficient self-use. Prerequisite: Drama 240E or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 341 Acting II

Fundamental scene study using texts with emphasis on integration of voice and body and the playing of actions. Students are encouraged to precede this course with Drama 207C. Prerequisite: Drama 240E. Preference given to majors.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3411 Intermediate Acting: Scene and Character Study

This course expands and develops the work begun in Fundamentals of Acting. The focus is on developing systematic strategies for challenging theatrical texts. Emphasis will be placed on integrating the use of the voice and body as well as the development of character via actions in scene study projects. We will focus on investing fully in the imaginary/given circumstances of the plays we encounter. In addition, students will augment their study of character through audition preparation and monologue techniques. Research and analysis are featured, and students are asked to demonstrate their proficiency in written assignments. Prerequisite: Drama 240E/2401.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3412 Acting II — Acting Styles in Theory and Practice: Modern

This 5-unit class fulfills both one theater studies and one theater arts requirement for the major. It combines fundamental actor training with dynamic, performance-oriented study of the stylistic foundations of modern acting. Text-based scene study that emphasizes the integration of voice and body and playing of actions is paired with units on contemporary and historical acting styles that give context to modern acting practice. Class units cover practical aesthetics and tactical choices for actors interpreting texts, as well as theories of the body in performance ranging from early modern notions of electric and vital passions, to oratorical gesture, Stanislavski, biomechanics, Brechtian alienation, and postmodern practices including documentary theater and cross-media mimesis. Since it fulfills both the Acting II requirement and a Theatre Studies requirement for the major, the class incorporates research, writing and critical thinking assignments. However, in keeping with the notion that performance constitutes a type of research outcome, student research projects involve kinetic elements. Acting styles are researched in archival sources and embodied in studio exercises and creative student projects.

Credit 5 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 342 Acting III

Emphasis on characterization while working with a diversity of playwriting styles. Prerequisites: Drama 341, either Drama 207C or 208C, and permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3422 Acting Styles: Realism to Nonrealism

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 343 Fundamentals of Directing

Directing is the most liberal arts of the creative theatre-making areas, drawing analytical, critical thinking, communication, design and actor coaching skills. This course will explore fundamental lessons in some of those areas, including text analysis from a directorial perspective, stage composition, auditions/casting, actor communication, time management and team leadership skills. Major course components will include one extensive script analysis paper and the direction of a scene from a contemporary play. The latter will require outside-of-class rehearsal time. Prerequisites: Drama 212E, Drama 240E/2401, junior or senior standing. Preference given to drama majors. For junior/senior status or grad students only.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 347 Shakespeare Globe Program: Acting Shakespeare

This course is a three-week summer intensive program taught by world-renowned artists and scholars at London’s Globe Theatre under the supervision of Washington University faculty. Students will take master classes in acting, movement, voice, stage combat, theatre history, and script analysis; they will hear scholarly lectures on interpreting Shakespeare’s plays, situating them within their cultural and historical context and understanding how they were performed on the early modern stage; and they will attend five or more professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays at the reconstructed Globe Theatre and other venues. Centered in London, the course includes an excursion to Stratford-upon-Avon, where students will visit Shakespeare’s birthplace and related historical sites and attend plays performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The course culminates with student performances of scenes and monologues on the Globe stage. The application process must be initiated either through the College of Arts & Sciences’ Ampersand Program or the Performing Arts Department office.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3491 Media Cultures

This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of cultural and media studies. Through a focus on television and new media, it analyzes current theoretical ideas and debates about culture. Main topics include the relationship between new technologies and everyday life and popular culture; analysis of media messages and images; how media help construct new identities and mark differences between groups; analysis of the globalization of the production and circulation of media culture; the rise of multimedia cultural industries; and the role of the audience. Required screenings.
Same as L53 Film 349

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM, VC BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 351 Intro to Playwriting

Same as L13 Writing 351

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 361 Stage Management

A practical approach to the study of theater stage management focusing on organizational and communication skills. Workshops, lectures and discussion; guest speakers and field trips covering the pre-production, rehearsal and performance periods; labor relations/performing arts unions; career opportunities; and supporting the vision of the artistic team. Prerequisites: Drama 212E and Drama 240E.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 365C Theater Culture Studies III: Melodrama to Modernism

The third in the department's three-course history sequence, TCS III surveys the dramatic literature and cultural history of the modern theater. Beginning with Romanticism's self-conscious break with the past, we'll study the rise of bourgeois melodrama with its intensely emotional rendering of character and spectacular effects. We'll consider how those effects were made possible by advances in industrial stage technology which reproduced the everyday world with unprecedented verisimilitude, and how playwrights responded to those technologies by calling for the theatre to become either a "total work of art" — plunging its spectators into a mythical realm — or a petri dish — analyzing the struggles of the modern individual within their modern milieu. Exploring a range of aesthetic modes — including Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, Expressionism, the Epic Theatre, and the Theatre of the Absurd — we will read classic plays by modern playwrights to consider how the modern theatre helped its audiences understand as well as adapt to the rapidly changing conditions of the modern world.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 367 Introduction to Drafting for the Theater

This course provides the student with a basic understanding of all of the various types of technical drawings needed to successfully execute a scenic design. Throughout the course the student masters all the technical and aesthetic skills needed to produce clean and effective draftings for the theater. In order to successfully complete this class, the student is required to purchase a drafting board and related drafting materials.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 368 Black Theater Workshop III

A performance-oriented course that explores the black experience through acting, directing and playwriting. Students develop through classroom improvisation short performance pieces during the semester. They also are required to attend three to five plays. Each student must participate in a final performance which is in lieu of a written final examination.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 372 Advanced American Musical Theater

This course focuses on developing the acting, singing and dancing techniques required for performing in musical theater. The student develops group pieces and participates in scenes that explore character within a musical theater context. The class culminates in a workshop performance. Prerequisites: Drama 221 and permission of instructor, by audition. Repeatable one time for credit.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 374 Theories of Modern Drama

What makes modern drama "modern?" How does it differ from the drama of other cultural movements? When does the modern period begin? This course takes up such fundamental questions in order to examine not only the influential plays that have come to define the "canon" of modern drama, but the various theories that have been proposed as a way of understanding them in relation to the history of Western culture. From Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy to Walter Benjamin's thesis on the Trauerspeil to Emile Zola's Manifesto on Naturalism in the theater, we start by considering when modern drama begins and what constitutes its defining features. With such provisional definitions in place, we then engage the responses of fellow modernists such as Richard Wagner, William Archer, T.S. Eliot, Bertolt Brecht, Georg Lukacs and Theodor Adorno. We also consider whether so-called postmodern drama has broken with the modern period to introduce something altogether new, and how recent debates concerning interculturalism, the ideology of form and performance invite new ways of understanding the cultural function of modern drama and its legacy in our own historical moment.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3751 American Culture: Methods & Visions: Home, Bittersweet, Home: Histories of Home and Homeownership

Required course for AMCS majors. Refer to semester listing for current topic. As a Writing Intensive course, this course serves as an occasion for students to think about matters of argument and presentation, and to develop ideas and models for future research. This course is intended for students at the junior level or higher; it fulfills the "multidisciplinary" (MD) requirement for AMCS minors and the "Methods Seminar" requirements for AMCS majors.
Same as L98 AMCS 375A

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 378 Contemporary American Theater

This course is a focused investigation of the aesthetic, political, and urban landscapes of the contemporary American theatre. We will read published and unpublished plays, familiarize ourselves with the country's most important companies, festivals, and institutions, and discuss issues facing the American theatre now. We will explore the role of the arts in urban planning and development, and address the relationship between higher education and arts institutions, paying particular attention to ideas of community engagement and social justice work undertaken by both. Artists to be studied may include Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Caryl Churchill, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lynn Nottage, Young Jean Lee, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. This course will include a mandatory class trip at the end of March to the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky. Students will prepare for this trip by reading the works of featured playwrights and establishing a research project that will be carried out on-site. Findings from the research project will be presented upon the return to St. Louis. Admission to the course is by instructor permission only; an application form will be sent to all registered students at the conclusion of the registration period. In consultation with and with the permission of the instructor, this course may fulfill the Fieldwork requirement for American Culture Studies majors.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 379 Expressionism in Theater and Film

This course is designed as an advanced introduction to the aesthetic movement of Expressionism as it appeared in Germany and the United States in the media of theater and film. Characterized by stylized settings that "ex-press" the internal spiritual/emotional/psychological state of its central character, Expressionism is usually discussed as a reaction to Realism, given its overt symbolism, telegraphic diction and episodic action. Beginning with a brief general introduction to the movement (including its manifestation in the visual arts), we consider its cultural, political and critical history, while exploring more recent scholarly investigations into the significance of its performance dimensions.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 384 Digital Media for the Stage

Entertainment technology continues to evolve and push boundaries by taking our imagination and turning it into a version of reality. Digital Media will attempt to explore some of the tools used to bridge the two worlds of thought and sight. We will learn how to think creatively about imagery and how to paint that onto a stage through a different type of light: digital. Using QLab and Green Hippo — two of the most widely used media control systems in the world — we will learn how to deliver thought-provoking illusions of light and texture on the stage.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 387 In Living Color: Performing the Black '90s

From Cross Colours overalls to oversized sweatshirts and boom boxes, the 1990s was loud, colorful, and in your face. But along with the fun of house parties and the growing prominence of hip-hop, Black people in the United States also contended with heightened criminalization and poverty codified through the War on Drugs, welfare reform, police brutality, and divestment from public education. In the midst of insurgency, creativity, and the quiet that undergirded both, we will study the various cultural productions of Black performers and consumers as they navigated the social and political landscapes of the 1990s. Focusing primarily on urban centers, we will study major works growing out of hip-hop, R&B, comedy, television shows, films, and popular literature that attends to the regional differences throughout the nation. In this course, we will use theories from performance and cultural studies to understand the specificities of Blackness, gender, sexuality, religion, and geography in the 1990s.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 390 Immersive Story Studio

What possibilities and pitfalls do immersive practices create for live storytelling? How do the affordances of a digital tool amplify or suppress aspects of a source story? What new insights into familiar stories can we generate with radical adaptation? To engage these questions, this studio seminar blends humanistic scholarship with critical making, theatrical practice, and interdisciplinary, team-based agile development processes. Each two-week "sprint" engages a different immersive, theatricalized context, asking students to envision how the tools utilized therein might illuminate latent aspects of familiar stories. Topics include spatial computing/AR/VR/ XR, immersive theatre, theme parks, and cultural institutions/ museums. Additionally, this course utilizes "critical making" as an epistemology, wherein the site of knowledge creation is the process of devising an object, tool, performance, or installation in conversation with a discipline's critical apparatus. Accordingly, course-long projects will find students selecting and using immersive tools-digital, analog, or both-to radically adapt a familiar story, broadly construed. Importantly, while technological skills are welcome, they are not required. Students are encouraged to envision gloriously and scope effectively as they design a hypothetical or prototyped research project and complementary critical engagement. This course may be repeated for credit for students who wish to design and execute a more robust project.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 394W Writing For and About the Theater

In this course, students will learn to write for and about the theater, exploring different forms of dramaturgical and scholarly research as well as journalistic and academic writing. To build skills in both critical analysis and synthesis, students will learn how the key elements of the playwright's text (e.g., language, character, plot, setting) work to create meaning within the work of dramatic literature and how theatre-makers use the various "languages" of the stage (e.g., costume/scenic/lighting design, music, acting) to give expression to an overarching interpretation of the play. Because research is essential to this course, students will learn how to access a variety of library resources by working closely with our subject librarians. By the end of the semester, students will have assembled a portfolio consisting of both journalistic and academic performance reviews, a dossier of dramaturgical research, and a research-based scholarly paper.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3950 American Musical Film

Film musicals were crucial to the success of the American film industry from the dawn of sound film in the late 1920s to the demise of the studio system in the late 1950s. This course examines the American film musical from a variety of aesthetic, critical, and historical perspectives, with particular attention to how the genre interacted with popular music and dance and the major political and social trends of the Thirties, Forties, and Fifties. Required screenings.
Same as L53 Film 359

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3952 Shakespeare in Performance

Same as L14 E Lit 3952

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 396 History of Western Costume

Of particular interest to fashion, history, anthropology, and performing arts majors, this course is an exploration into the clothing worn by predominantly Western cultures from Ancient Greece through the 1890s. Lectures incorporating images of extant garments, sculpture, art, and photographs will inspire discussion regarding the influences on fashion evolution and the cyclical nature of fashion. Assessment is by exam, the first of which is on the fourth class meeting, so this is not a recommended course to "shop." Please note that this course is a prerequisite for History of Western Costume in the 20th Century, which is offered in the spring semester.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM, VC BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3961 History of Western Costume in the 20th Century

History of Western Costume in the 20th Century is a continuation of the themes explored in Drama 396 (History of Western Costume from Ancient Greece Through the 19th Century). Ideally, students will have already taken Drama 396 before enrolling in this course. This is a fast-moving, lecture-style course that examines objects of human apparel from 1900 through the present and analyzes the causes of fashion evolution throughout the 20th century. Students will explore the influence and aesthetics of major designers, and they will observe and discuss the ways in which contemporary interpretations of the past are modified to comply with contemporary modes and expectations. Assessment is through exams and evaluation of a presentation to the class.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM, VC BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 3975 Wolves of Wall Street: American Business and Popular Culture

America's perceptions about Big Business and the Free Enterprise system have evolved and changed over time from the 1920s to the present. During the 1980s, for example, Oliver Stone's Wall Street seemed to endorse the notion that "greed is good." Today, however, the topic of rising income inequality has been connected with the collapse of prestigious Wall Street firms, the "housing bubble," a declining middle class, and widespread fear about the future of "The American Dream." This new course examines a variety of artistic, ethical and historical perceptions about American Business as depicted in popular culture and the arts over the past hundred years. How have America's foremost artists (among them F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Martin Scorsese), dealt with questions of conspicuous consumption, the acquisition of capital for its own sake, and the disparity between rich and poor? We survey several artistic genres and artistic forms, including American tragic works like The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, to popular musicals such as How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and The Producers.
Same as L98 AMCS 3975

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 400 Theatrical Rendering for Scenery

An exploration of media and rendering techniques used for presentation of design ideas in scenery. A variety of stage sets, still lifes and figure drawing are rendered during a two-hour studio format with some additional studio time required. Materials are provided by students.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 4001 Computer-Assisted Design for the Theater

This course is an in-depth study of how computers can assist designers in drafting and rendering processes. Primary study is focused on the program Vectorworks. We fully explore the use of this program in development of scenic and lighting design projects from basic line drawings to fully rendered 3D images. Other programs covered are Autocad, Google Sketch Up, AG132, Photoshop CS3 and some lighting design previsualization software. Projects are centered on theatrical applications and based on students' imaginations.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4011 Staging Atrocity: Theater of the Holocaust

Responding to the Holocaust has challenged artists working in every medium. Nowhere are these challenges more extreme than in the theater, where the intimacy of the space, the close proximity of live actors and audience, and the subject matter itself may serve to intensify its effect. We will read a careful selection of modern and contemporary dramas and explore the range of responses. Underneath each weekly topic reverberate the nagging question of whether one can — or should — make art from the Holocaust, as well as a serious exploration of the uses and effectiveness of theater to communicate on this subject. We look at the ways in which the Holocaust has been used as a subject to raise moral dilemmas, examine the limits of humanity, elicit doubt or faith, and provide political commentary. We will also discuss the ways in which playwrights have stretched the limits of the theater to meet the challenge of staging the Holocaust. Topics considered include the nationalization and personalization of the Holocaust, the role of the second generation, issues of audience, and the use of experimental forms and obscenity. The plays on the syllabus are from North America, Israel and Europe. All readings are in English (original or translation).

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 403 Dramaturgical Workshop

A laboratory course that investigates dramaturgy from four vantage points: New Play Dramaturgy, Institutional Dramaturgy, Dramaturgy of Classics and Dramaturgical Approaches to Nontraditional and Devised Theater. This is a "hands-on" course where student dramaturges not only pursue the study of dramaturgy, but work actively and collaboratively with playwrights, actors and each other. Prerequisite: Drama 343.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM

L15 Drama 4031 Black and White in American Drama

This course addresses the complex issue of race in America through the 19th and 20th centuries as dramatized by American playwrights, black and white. Authors include Countee Cullen, Lillian Hellman, Eugene O'Neill, Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes and Arthur Miller. Prerequisites: junior standing, two 300-level courses or better.
Same as L14 E Lit 403

Credit 3 units. Art: HUM

L15 Drama 404 Topics for Writers: Beckett

Waiting for Godot, Happy Days, Krapp's Last Tape: These are but three of Samuel Beckett's revolutionary texts for theater. The complete canon of plays are examined for structure and compositional elements. Students undertake exercises in dramatic composition and perform a chamber presentation of Endgame. Course is intended for writers with some experience of the dramatic form. Intending students must interview with instructor Nov. 12-14.
Same as L14 E Lit 404

Credit 3 units. Art: HUM

L15 Drama 4081 Theater for Social Change

Drawing upon the principles and teachings of Brazilian director Augusto Boal, students explore ways of effecting positive social change in a theatrical context. Students study the aesthetic of Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed and learn various games and exercises designed to mine issues of social (in)justice. Using Boal's techniques of "image" and "forum" theater, students then create and perform plays focused on these issues. This public performance is an interactive event offered for and with the university community. No prior performance training or experience is required for this course.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4082 Advanced Theater for Social Change

This course is a continuation of exploration begun in Drama 4081, Theater for Social Change: a prerequisite for this advanced course. Students expand from exploring their own experience with oppression to facilitating that exploration with others. Students are introduced to the "Joker" system, developed by Brazilian director Augusto Boal. The Joker is the director of a forum theater event. He leads both the exploration and playmaking phases of the process. In preparation for stepping into this role, students read Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which gives them a foundation in the power and efficacy of collaborative educational techniques. In addition, students read Theatre for Living, Canadian director David Diamond's book detailing his application of Boalian techniques in a less overtly oppressive society. Students begin their practical exploration by first working with one another, learning how to lead exercises and games, followed by an exploration of playmaking and the facilitation of an interactive forum theater event. The course culminates in an outside project in which each student is placed with a St. Louis area school or social organization. The student applies skills they have acquired throughout the semester by serving as the "Joker" of the workshop. In this role, the student leads the entirety of the workshop process with a selected group exploring ways of effecting positive social change in a theatrical context. The student facilitates exercises with the group that mine a chosen area of oppression with which the group is grappling. The student guides playmaking with the group that highlights this area of oppression. The resulting plays are presented then to the larger school or organization community. This culminating event is an interactive forum theater presentation that the student leads as "Joker."

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 409 The Modernist Revolution in the Arts

What is/was Modernism? How did this worldwide phenomenon impact the arts in every genre and medium from the turn of the 20th century to the present? Do we still live in the age of Modernism, or should we consider ours a new, Postmodern age? This course examines these and other questions as they relate to the theater, prose, poetry and the visual arts. Our investigation focuses on most of the major literary and artistic movements, including Naturalism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Surrealism and Expressionism. We examine literary manifestoes that help to illuminate the periods under discussion, as well as look at individual works themselves. Central to our approach in the course is an interdisciplinary perspective. Among the luminaries whose work is considered are Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Hemingway, Dali, Picasso, Stravinsky, Artaud, Kafka and Beckett.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 410 Advanced Stage Lighting

This course is an advanced course and a continuation of Drama 310 Stage Lighting. Emphasis is placed on cultivating design aesthetics and a further exploration of controlling light in a laboratory and live setting. Students will dive deeper into color theory, light plot development, and ultimately into advanced lighting console programming. The course objectives will cover a wide range of production styles and performance venues within a series of challenging design projects. Prerequisite: L15 310 or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4101 Lighting Technology

Lighting Technology is an extremely hands-on approach to learning how the top industry designers create major shows and concerts with the most state-of-the-art equipment. We spend a considerable amount of time learning how to use and program robotic/moving lights, LED fixtures and video integration for use in drama, dance, musical and concert settings. The student gains intensive training in the use and programming of the ETC Express, ETC Ion and GrandMA 2 Light consoles with a full range of Vari*Lite robotic fixtures. In addition, the student receives training in Isadora, a very powerful video design program. Prerequisites: Drama 212 and Drama 310.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 412 Advanced Practicum in Technical Theater

Independent Study. Intensive practical experience in scenic design building and painting; lighting design and installation; costume design, coordination and construction; makeup; and audio production. Prerequisites: Drama 212E, credits on at least two productions, and permission of staff.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 4121 Advanced Practicum in Technical Theater: Scene Painting

Exploration of the skills and traditions of theatrical scene painting in a laboratory setting. Projects involve color theory, basic surface treatment techniques, representational depiction and advanced problems. Realized paint work on Performing Arts production is part of the course. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

L15 Drama 416 Period Style and Design History

Examination of period styles as they relate to theatrical design and history. Study of architecture, furniture and props from Greek to contemporary periods. Prerequisite: Drama 212E.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM

L15 Drama 4224 Acting Styles: Realism to Nonrealism

This course builds on skills in character development and scene study, beginning with psychological realism and then shifting into various forms of nonrealism. Through written analysis and performance, students apply acting techniques that address a variety of playwriting styles. Prerequisites: Drama 240E/2401 and Drama 341/3411. The semester begins with a deepening understanding of psychological realism through the exploration of Anton Chekhov's plays. Focus then shifts to nonrealism with Harold Pinter. The second half of the semester is solidly rooted in nonrealism. Students hone their skills by exploring two more scenes from classical and/or contemporary texts. Additionally, in the final scene, students are encouraged to explore applicable considerations of gender-identity, race, and ethnicity in play and character selection. Prerequisites: Drama 2401 Fundamentals of Acting, Drama 3411 Intermediate Acting This course is open exclusively to seniors and graduate students

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 422A Film Stardom, Performance and Fan Culture

This course focuses on the Hollywood star system. We explore stars in relation to celebrity and consumerism, especially how "stardom" is created by a system that seeks to create effects in film viewers whether conceived as audiences, fans or spectators. We examine the performance element of stardom and its relationship to genre, style and changing film technology. Also of concern is how stars and the discursive construction of stardom intersect with gender representation, race, ideology, sexuality, age, disability, nationality and other points of theoretical interest to and historical inquiry in contemporary film studies. While emphasis is placed on mainstream commercial U.S. cinema, students are encouraged to pursue questions beyond this framework within their own research. Required screenings.
Same as L53 Film 422

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 4234 Performing Knowledge: Arts Integration Pedagogy in Theory and Practice

This course invites students interested in the performing arts to apply their talents to the K-12 classroom through a service-learning component that allows them to develop and implement an arts-integrated curriculum grounded in current research in the cognitive sciences. Divided into four units, the course begins with a survey of recent research in cognitive science that traces the effects of arts-related activities on brain development. The second unit builds upon that theoretical grounding, focusing on a model of arts-integrated pedagogy developed through Harvard University's "Project Zero." The third and fourth units are practice-based, with students developing a lesson plan in a core subject area that incorporates the performing arts. Then — in consultation and collaboration with an Interchange artist-in-residence and a master teacher in the St. Louis or Normandy Public Schools — students implement their curriculum in a K-12 classroom, testing its efficacy as well as the theoretical assumptions upon which it is based. This course is open to all students across campus who have a strong interest and/or background in the arts, and who wish to explore opportunities in service learning.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4261 Performing the Political in American Dance

This course is an exploration of the politics of performance and the performance of politics through the lens of American dance in the 20th and 21st centuries. Through readings, screenings, and discussions, we will examine the ways in which American dance developed against and alongside political movements in the United States, particularly ones concerning nationalism, race, gender, and human rights. We will also investigate how the lens of dance and choreography offers an expansive means to conceptualize political questions of citizenship and social protest, broadening our understanding of embodied performance. Guided by several key philosophical texts, this course will focus on the concepts necessary for examining the convergence of performance and politics (e.g., representation, ritual, spectacle, body, mimesis, propaganda) while also paying special attention to the politics of funding and censorship that has governed the creation and presentation of dance in the United States. No dance experience is necessary.
Same as L29 Dance 426

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD, WI Art: CPSC BU: BA EN: H

L15 Drama 431 English Drama Exclusive of Shakespeare to 1642

Studies of selected major plays against a background of change and tradition in English drama from its beginnings to the closing of the theatres.
Same as L14 E Lit 431

Credit 3 units. Art: HUM

L15 Drama 432 Topics in Renaissance Drama

A study of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatrical culture — the plays, players, playwrights and audiences of public theaters, private theaters and banqueting halls. Study includes the plays of Lyly, Kyd, Marlowe, Jonson, Chapman, Ford, Beaumont, Fletcher, Marston, Middleton, Webster and Shakespeare.
Same as L14 E Lit 432

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 435 Expressionism in the Arts

A close study of expressionism as an international phenomenon in the arts, from the anti-naturalist movements of the 1890s to Hitler's condemnation of expressionism as decadent. The evolution of expressionist theater from Wedekind to Toller and Kaiser and such composers as Schoenberg and Berg; in the visual arts, such groups as Der blaue Reiter and Die Brucke, such independents as Kokoschka; in cinema, such figures as Pabst, Murnau, Von Sternberg and Lang. Prerequisite: Drama 208E, Drama 336 or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. Art: HUM

L15 Drama 436 Seminar in Comparative Drama

The course begins with Plato's critique of mimesis and Aristotle's defense, as we read The Poetics as a response to Plato. We take some of Aristotle's basic concepts, such as mimesis, plot, character and thought, and attempt to apply them to drama up to the present day. We also consider fundamental elements of both the dramatic text and the dramatic production, such as space, time, dialogue, narrative devices and perspective. Brecht's theory of "epic drama" form the other conceptual pole in the course, opposing Aristotle. Besides these two theorists, other figures include Ben Jonson, Corneille, Dryden, Diderot, Schiller, Hegel, Zola, Artaud and Grotowski. The course, then, has both chronological and thematic axes. Three papers and one oral presentation.
Same as L16 Comp Lit 436

Credit 3 units. Art: HUM

L15 Drama 437 Performing Ghosts: Blackness, Performance, and Archival Erasure

Taking ghost as apparition, metaphor, an imaginary, and type of possession, this course focuses on the intersections between performance, affect theory, and archival practice to investigate how scholars and artists contend with the psychic and affective terrors against blackness. Part of these terrors, the course asserts, happened and is happening in the realm of the affective, ephemeral and archival. Moving across theoretical works, literature and theater, our readings differently query: How can performance enable us to recuperate the lives of those violently erased from the archive? How to imagine embodiment for subjects "tracked" by history, such as black folks whose bodies suggest other forms of pathology, like sexual deviancy, mentally "insanity," and other forms of criminalization? How have attachments to ghosts been used as a methodology to stage and reperform blackness in the past and in the present? And lastly, how can we capture embodiment (or enfleshment) without live bodies? By rethinking "liveness," "absence," "loss" and "remains," the readings and discussions will offer performance as a methodological and analytical infrastructure to conduct historical and/or archival research.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4370 Music and Performance

In his 1998 book, Musicking, Christopher Small asserts that music is not a thing but an activity — something that people do. Starting from this premise, this course explores musical performance as a live event, one in which additional aspects of performance — dramatic enactments, costume, choreography and stage design — also come into play. While recorded music plays an important role in our investigations, we focus on musical events that take place before and with live audiences. Exploring the choices of performers and the expectations of audience members in settings from gospel churches to Radio City Music Hall, this course moves through a wide variety of musical genres, including cabaret, blues, opera, protest song, musical theater and rock. We examine artists whose work blurs the line between "music" and "theater," including George Clinton, Taylor Mac and Gertrude Stein, as well as everyday people, such as the singers of the Civil Rights Movement, who used the power of live musical performance to change the course of human history. We also attend performances around St. Louis, guided by the interests of the class. Students with an interest in music, theater, dance, cultural history, American studies, and African-American studies are especially welcome.
Same as L98 AMCS 4370

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 440 Acting IV

Acting IV synthesizes the student's performance training, creative and scholarly writing skills and knowledge of dramatic literature. The advanced acting student is encouraged to develop and articulate his/her own aesthtetic convictions. The course includes intensive solo performance projects, including writing and performing original monologues. Also, significant emphasis is placed on preparing the student for the work of professional acting, including workshops on audition monologues, head shots, resumes, and economic issues. In addition, the students become familiar with various American theater cities, the regional theater system and prominent working theater artists. The course closes with a public performance of the original, scripted and audition material developed over the semester.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4401 The Creative Artist: Empowering the Actor

In this course, the projects are designed to synthesize the student's theatrical training and experience through solo performance as well as ensemble-based critical support. While the course's performance work is explored through an actor's lens, the class is open to all advanced drama students who meet the prerequisites. Students will be encouraged to develop and articulate their own aesthetic convictions through an examination of the creative process, the development of original solo material, the exploration of the theater profession within the current American and international theatrical climate, the development of new audition pieces, small group presentations and an analysis of plays and other reading assignments. The course closes with a public showcase of the original material written and developed over the semester. Prereq: L15 240E/2401 and 341/3411. This course is open only to seniors and graduate students.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 444 Directing II

Further study in the fundamentals of directing. Emphasis on the director's work with actors, designers and a realized metaphorical concept. Prerequisites: Drama 343 and permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 445 Seminar

Rotating upper-level seminar. Senior seminar normally offered each semester and meant to satisfy the 400-level requirement for the drama major.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4452 Senior Drama Capstone

This course, which is required for seniors completing the drama major, is team-taught by one PAD faculty member in Theater Arts and one in Theater and Performance Studies. In order to remain responsive to each senior class as well as the particular expertise of the faculty pair, the course is built on a flexible curricular model. Components will include an exploration of contemporary theatre literature and theatre-making, individual and ensemble-based activities, research and critical writing projects. A culminating project that synthesizes the semester's study will be part of the course.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 448 The History of Theater Design

Survey course covering the history of the performance space and the scenic design elements contained within that space. The visual elements and theater architecture of each period are examined in relationship to the art and technology of the time. Prerequisites: Drama 207C or Drama 208C, and Drama 212E.

Credit 3 units. Art: HUM

L15 Drama 449 Seminar in Dramatic Theory

This course is an in-depth exploration of core works of dramatic theory from the ancient world to the present, and it will introduce texts that enunciate what theater is, has been, and should be. We will study authors' expressions of theater's role in society, their articulations of and responses to anti-theatrical prejudice, and their negotiations of the contradiction of putting "the real" on stage. Other significant themes include accounting for the aesthetic pleasures of drama and theater; theater as a means of educating the citizen; and the relationship between dramatic form and social and political revolution. Moving chronologically, we begin with foundational documents of the ancient world, including Aristotle's "Poetics," Bharata's "Natyasastra," and Horace's "Ars Poetica." The course then progresses through the Middle Ages, the Neoclassical and Romantic eras, and the explosion of fin de siecle avant-gardes. We will also read key texts from beyond the European tradition, including works of dramatic theory written in medieval Japan (Zeami), postcolonial Nigeria (Soyinka), and the millennial, multicultural United States (Parks). Along these same lines, we will also be attuned to transnational exchange and influence, particularly as it appears in the 20th-century theories of Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, and Konstantin Stanislavsky. Although the course will be focused on efforts to describe and prescribe theories of drama, dramatic genre, and theatrical pleasure, it will also position play scripts alongside the theoretical treatises that guide or are guided by them.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC EN: S

L15 Drama 450 Advanced Scenic Design

Advanced projects in scenic design including drafting, rendering, model building, and conception. Prerequisite: Drama 311M, or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 451 Topics in Period Style: Baroque Opera and Neoclassical Style

An exploration of the dynamic interplay between high Baroque culture and the perceived style of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Primary sources used are paintings, sculpture and renderings for Baroque operas, as well as rare artifacts which exist from that time as these sources relate to classical evidence extant in that period. Secondary sources are journal articles and records of fully staged productions of intervening years. Primary interest is retracing the thought processes of the designers of Baroque opera. Focus is on Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, looking at the libretto and its relationship to source texts, both ancient and contemporary, and also its place within the cultural history of the theatre. Projects include: in-class presentations and a research paper or fully realized design project.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM

L15 Drama 453 American Drama

Topics in American Drama.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4530 Presence in Performance: Alexander Technique and Mindful Movement for Performing Artists

This course provides group and individual instruction in principles and methods from Alexander Technique and other somatic arts for training mindful, embodied presence in performance. Mindful movement techniques are widely used by professional dancers, actors, and musicians to enhance performance skill and to address/prevent injury and chronic pain. Through a workshop process of guided learning, students gain awareness of subtle inefficiencies in coordination and balance that cause pain and limit ability. Students gain ability to self-assess and adjust problematic movement patterns to improve freedom and expression. Alexander Technique works at fundamental levels of movement coordination, and its methods are applicable to all performing art genres. Training is tailored to each individual student's needs, skills and goals. This course involves experiential learning supported with related readings, discussion, personal research projects and presentations. Prerequisites: Graduate standing; also open to undergraduate students studying at the 400 level in their discipline with permission of instructor.
Same as L29 Dance 453

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 455 Practicum in Arts Management

Assigned work and projects under faculty supervision in Washington University's Edison Theatre or off-campus cooperating institutions. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 456 A Madman in the Theater: The History of Insanity on Stage from Sophocles to Shaffer

The image of the madman and the theme of insanity have been extraordinarily captivating to theater artists from the Greeks to the present. In this course we consider some of the most remarkable examples from the classical period, including Sophocles' Ajax and Euripides' Medea and The Bacchae, and the Renaissance (Hamlet, Othello, The Spanish Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, Life is a Dream). We investigate these works both for what they tell us about the image of the madman in the historical period and culture in which they were written as well as in order to closely examine the texts themselves. We also examine plays from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Buchner's Woyzeck, O'Neill's Emperor Jones, Anouilh's The Madwoman of Chaillot, Miller's Death of a Salesman and Shaffer's Equus. Finally, the course makes extensive use of the Performing Arts Department's production of Peter Weiss' extraordinary work Marat/Sade and incorporate theoretical writings such as Michael Foucault's Madness and Civilization into discussions.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM

L15 Drama 459 The Filmed Stage Play

Close textual analyses of stage plays and their film adaptations, examining structural parameters such as space, time point of view, spectator position and performance in the two art forms. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 460 The Creative Impulse

Developed with the director and designer in mind, this course encourages imaginative theater making by developing the student's own sense of creative confidence and ability, by expanding the source options for artistic inspiration, by recognizing and valuing the synergistic properties of transcendent theater making, and by strengthening the collaborative skills essential to the art. The course includes creativity exercises, comprehensive forms of text analysis, exploration of other art forms, cooperative conceptual projects, and field trips to area productions and museums. Students are expected to complete several individual projects, presentations and research papers, as well as intensive small-group projects. Prerequisite: one of the following courses: Drama 307, 310, 311 or 343.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM

L15 Drama 465 The Chinese Theater

This course is a survey of the performance and literary traditions of the Chinese theater from their pre-Tang origins to the present day. The course focuses on three forms: 14th-century zaju plays, 16th- and 17th-century chuanqi plays, and recent films from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Background in either China studies or theater in other cultures recommended. Prerequisite: junior level or above or permission of instructor
Same as L04 Chinese 467

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 469 Topics in Shakespearean Production

This course examines Shakespeare's comedies in performance. Combining scene work and production history, students gain access to the world of the comedies from a hands-on, theoretical and historical perspective. Prerequisites: Drama 395C or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 4691 Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 471 Millinery Design and Construction

A hands-on course exploring the major sewing and patterning techniques used to make hats from a variety of materials in a variety of styles. Students will be required to purchase some of their own materials to create several hats over the course of the semester. Prerequisite: Drama 207 or sewing equivalent or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 473 Advanced Playwriting

This course explores the tendencies and relationship between each individual student writer and the page. Exercises dispel any lingering doctrine that presupposes a certain style of writing. A large part of the class centers around collaborations. The writers write scenes as a final project for an acting class, and also work with two professional actors in an extended writing project that culminates in a script-in-hand presentation. The informal moments between collaborations look at the process beyond the first draft — i.e., the playground of language, nonverbal options, and the maintaining of "the work" through rewrites, readings, workshops and productions. Prerequisite: Drama 227.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 474 Acting Theories

This course explores in depth the major theoretical texts on acting and performance theory. Pertinent philosophical texts, dramatic theories, acting systems and methodologies are studied. The survey operates chronologically from early documents on acting (Greek, Roman, Italian Renaissance) through to modern and contemporary documents that inform acting and acting training today (Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski, Meisner, Spolin, Suzuki). Methodologies and practices of select major stage actors are explored as well. In some cases, directing theories that have had major influence on acting theory are examined.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM

L15 Drama 479 Fundamentals of Sound Design

Encompassing both creative and technical aspects of sound in the performing arts, the course gives theoretical knowledge of and practical experience in the following areas: fundamental rules of physics and electronics related to sound, use of standard digital recording studio equipment, "training" of the ear, and basic techniques of sound montage. Students are expected to participate in a variety of conceptual and research-oriented exercises as well as complete several lab projects. Sound-related work on Performing Arts Department productions may be required. Prerequisites: Drama 212 and permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 487 Theater Culture Studies Seminar

Rotating upper-level topics course. Topics come from Theater Culture Studies sequence.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI

L15 Drama 491 Staging Illness

"Suddenly some force struck him in the chest and side, making it still harder to breathe, and he fell through the hole and there at the bottom was a light." This quotation, from Tolstoi's story "The Death of Ivan Ilych," offers an example of how artists have employed serious or life-threatening diseases as a means of illuminating both physical suffering and spiritual rebirth. Even as it invades the body and isolates us from our fellow man, illness may offer opportunities for spiritual growth and renewal, serving as an apt metaphor for human survival in times of extremis. In her brilliant essay, "Illness as Metaphor" (1978), Susan Sontag takes issue with how illnesses like tuberculosis were misunderstood or even romanticized during the 19th century in works like Dumas's "Camille" and Puccini's "La Boheme." During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, American artists — particularly theatre artists, whose communities were decimated by the disease — were forced to consider how this global pandemic impacted their lives, especially at a time when the term AIDS was not even mentioned by the President of the United States. In conjunction with the Performing Arts Department's 25th anniversary production of Tony Kushner's extraordinary play, "Angels in America, Part 1, Millennium Approaches," this new course examines how disease has been a focal point of artistic inquiry over the course of centuries. By examining works that are focused on illness throughout history, the seminar offers both a deeper understanding of and context for Kushner's masterpiece and the AIDS crisis, and it considers how illness has always been an important subject for the investigation of what it means to be fully human.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 493 Senior Project

Specialized study in a selected area in drama. Required of all drama majors not taking Drama 499. Prerequisite: 15 units of advanced work in drama at the 300 or 400 level.

Credit 3 units.

L15 Drama 497 Performance Theory

This course introduces students to contemporary theories of performance, with "performance" understood as both metaphor and event. From a multidisciplinary perspective, students consider how cultures produce meanings — and, indeed, perform those meanings — to create and/or disrupt their own social coherence. Theories likely to be studied include: J.L. Austin's speech-act theory and its engagement by John Searle and Jacques Derrida; Victor Turner's analysis of ritual as social process and Richard Schechner's use of it to transform "theater studies" into "performance studies;" Erving Goffman's sociology of the self and its relation to a post-structuralist model of subjectivity; Michael Fried's screed against minimalist art and its relation to Happenings, Body Art, Fluxus, and other mid- to late-20th century examples of "performance art;" and Judith Butler's influential revision of Austin's performative in her theory of queer "performativity."

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

L15 Drama 498 Special Topics in Playwriting: Art and Activism

Taught by guest teaching artist, Regina Taylor, playwright, director, stage/screen actor, this course will focus on how art can effect change through personal expression. The monumental cultural shift that is in motion throughout the world will be explored through the specific lens of each student's life. Students will write short pieces and one-act plays that will explore where they are at this moment in time. Works in the class may be added to Regina Taylor's black album mixtape. No playwriting experience necessary. Course open only to juniors, seniors and graduate students.

Credit 3 units. BU: HUM

L15 Drama 499 Study for Honors

Prerequisites: senior standing, a cumulative and a major GPA of 3.5, and permission of the chair of the Performing Arts Department.

Credit variable, maximum 6 units.

L15 Drama 4990 Independent Work

Students may contract with a faculty supervisor for credit for their work on theatrical productions or research. Contracts must be signed by the student and the coordinator of Drama 500 before the student's work on the project commences. Credit and grade option to be determined in each case. In order to enroll for this course, students must complete a contract and submit it to the Performing Arts Department office.

Credit variable, maximum 6 units.

L15 Drama 4991 Acting

Independent study. In order to enroll for this course, students must complete a contract and submit it to the Performing Arts Department office.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 4992 Directing

Independent study. In order to enroll for this course, students must complete a contract and submit it to the Performing Arts Department office.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 4993 Technical Theater

Independent study. In order to enroll for this course, students must complete a contract and submit it to the Performing Arts Department office.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 4994 Voice, Speech

Independent study.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 4995 Literature, Theory, Criticism

Independent study. In order to enroll for this course, students must complete a contract and submit it to the Performing Arts Department office.

Credit variable, maximum 3 units.

L15 Drama 4996 Race, Memory, and Performance

This course takes as its starting point the vexing questions of history, memory, and identity that activists, scholars, artists, and others have posed in recent years. What is to be done with the commemorative landscape of monuments and memorials? How do we account for the silences and erasures in archival records? How should histories of racial violence be commemorated? These are questions that have been taken up in many arenas of civic life, including public art, "living history" tourism, museum studies, and urban planning. They have also been taken up by theater artists and performance artists who use their bodies, narrative, historical fact and, sometimes, fiction to bear witness to the past and to imagine new futures. In this course, we will examine the role of theater and performance in constituting-and challenging-the historically contingent meanings of "race;" we will also explore how performance of history shapes national narratives. Artists to be explored might include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Dread Scott, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Simone Leigh, and Heidi Schreck. Artistic and/or performance experience is not required. Students will have the opportunity to propose their own commemorative projects; together we will explore whether and how performances of the past can do a certain kind of reparative work necessary for a more equitable future.

Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM, VC BU: BA, ETH