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Fall 2001 |
Professor Deborah Geis (Debby) |
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English 349 (4130) |
Rice 9, (440) 775-8579 |
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TuTh, 1:30-2:45, King 335 |
Office hours: TuW, 2:50-4:20 |
This course focuses on major playwrights of England and Ireland from post-World War Ii to the present. Some of the areas of attention will be: the "angry young men"; metadrama; gender, race, and ethnicity; responses to Thatcherism; the "new brutalism." The goals of this course are for students to gain an understanding of the scope, history, and techniques of these playwrights and to express this understanding through written work and course participation.
TEXTS: Please note that the following list is subject to changes.
ATTENDANCE: Because our time together is extremely limited and because each class session will cover a great deal of material, it is absolutely essential that you attend class regularly, arrive on time with the required material for each session, and participate in class discussions and activities. A significant percentage of your final grade (see GRADES) will be based on your attendance and participation. If you miss more than three class meetings (not including any class for which you have a documented medical excuse), it will lower your grade. If you know that you have conflicts that will prevent you from attending class regularly and arriving promptly, please do not enroll for this course.
LATE PAPER POLICY: I expect you to hand in all work, prepared according to the format specified for each assignment, on the required due dates. If you have a good reason for submitting an assignment later than the deadline, please notify me in advance so that we can negotiate a new deadline. Any late work will be penalized by one letter grade for each weekday past the due date (e.g., a "B-" paper submitted two weekdays late becomes a "C" and so forth).
CONFERENCES: For help with your work, or if you have questions about anything else, please feel free to meet with me during my office hours. If my office hours don't fit your schedule, you may also make an appointment with me at a different time. You are also welcome to contact me by email at any time. When you make an appointment and are unable to keep it, please notify me in advance.
PLAGIARISM: Students in this course are expected to follow Oberlin's honor code. Plagiarism occurs when you use someone else's words or ideas without acknowledging the person and/or source appropriately. This includes the work of another student as well as any other type of source. For more information on proper acknowledgment of sources and on the definitions of plagiarism, you can consult a recent edition of any college writing handbook. If you have any questions about whether your use of material constitutes plagiarism, please don't hesitate to ask me. If you submit work that appears to be in violation of Oberlin's honor code, it will be submitted to the student honor code committee. Believe me, plagiarism is simply not worth the risk!
GRADES: Note that you must complete all work to pass the course.
Frankly, I would prefer not to assign you letter grades at all, but I don't have that option. Please keep in mind that a grade is my evaluation of a specific piece of work, not of "you" or of your background. Try not to become so anxious about your grade that you lose track of the more important educational aims of the course.
A FINAL WORD: Contemporary drama often contains explicit or disturbing subject matter. These playwrights may shock, frustrate, anger, or delight you; do not take the course if you prefer to avoid controversial subjects or "strong" language. Here's to an exciting and productive semester!
Always read ahead on your syllabus so that you'll have the reading done, and bring the relevant text(s) with you to class.
Please note that in addition to the meeting times listed here, we will be doing several out-of-class activities: a once-monthly evening Forum Theater workshop open to the College community (typically on Wednesday); an Invisible Theater workshop; workshops at Oberlin High School and/or other community venues; attendance at the College production of Angels in America (Dec. 7-9) and possibly other productions.
Tues. 9/4 introduction to the course
Thurs. 9/6 introduction to the course, continued
Tues. 9/11 Augusto Boal, excerpt from The Rainbow of Desire
(handout)
Thurs. 9/13 discussion and exercises
Tues. 9/18 Bertolt Brecht, excerpt from Brecht on Theater
(handout) and Threepenny Opera
Thurs. 9/20 Brechtian theater, continued
Tues. 9/25 agit-prop theater: Clifford Odets, Waiting for
Lefty
(no class Thurs. 9/27: Yom Kippur)
Tues. 10/2 Paolo Freire, excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed
(handout)
Thurs. 10/4 Black Revolutionary Theater: Amiri Baraka,
Dutchman
Tues. 10/9 Augusto Boal, excerpt from Theater of the
Oppressed (handout)
Thurs. 10/11 El Teatro Campesino: Luis Valdez, Los Vendidos
(handout)
Tues. 10/16 Invisible Theater: Boal, excerpt from Games for
Actors and Non-Actors
Thurs. 10/18 Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine
(no class Tues. 10/23, Thurs. 10/25 -- fall break)
Tues. 10/30 Michel Foucault, excerpt from Discipline and
Punish (handout)
Thurs. 11/1 Brian Friel, Translations
Tues. 11/6 bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress
Thurs. 11/8 hooks, Teaching to Transgress, continued
Tues. 11/13 Samuel Beckett, Catastrophe; Vaclav Havel,
Mistake; Maishe Maponya, Gangsters (handouts)
Thurs. 11/15 Beckett/Havel/Maponya, continued
Tues. 11/20 Forum Theater: Boal, excerpt from Games for Actors
and Non-Actors; Anna Deavere Smith, Fires in the
Mirror
(no class Thurs. 11/22 -- Thanksgiving break)
Tues. 11/27 Smith, Fires in the Mirror, continued
Thurs. 11/29 Tony Kushner, Angels in America Pt. I: Millennium
Approaches
Tues. 12/4 Kushner, Angels in America, continued
Thurs. 12/6 Jan Cohen-Cruz and Mady Schutzman, eds., excerpts from
Playing Boal (handouts)
Tues. 12/11 Suzan-Lori Parks, Venus
Thurs. 12/13 Parks, Venus, continued; wrap-up
(there is no final exam in this course)