Modern Drama (260-226)
Instructor: Dr. Hollis Robbins
Time: MW 206C 12:30-1:50
Office Hours: M 11-12, W 2-3
Office: 204C
260.226 Modern Drama
I. Course Objectives:
We will read and analyze a selection of modern drama from American and non-American authors written in the decades after WWII. We will examine what makes drama different from other forms of literature as well as what aesthetic forces have shaped the idea of Modern drama. We will discuss theatre history, explore tools for reading dramatic texts, hone analytical skills in interpreting performance critically, and reflect on the dramatic traditions that still influence writers, audiences, and performers. You will be required to read a play a week, to keep up with the reading, to write short weekly interpretive papers, and to write a long, sustained analysis of one or more texts.
II. Course Requirements:
Attendance/Class participation
1 Oral Presentation (10 minutes minimum); 1 response (5 minutes minimum)
ID exam
Two analytical papers (4-6 pages, 6-8 pages)
Attendance for this class is critical. Much of what you will learn in this course will be the result of class exercises and discussion. Discussion and debate are crucial to the learning process. You are expected not only to attend but also to participate. Three absences (excused or not) will begin to push your final grade downward. You will be required to read and be prepared to discuss all of the assignments. The schedule below indicates the date by which particular works should be read and the amount of reading to be done each day to stay current with class discussion. Bring the text to class each week. I do not accept late papers unless there is a compelling reason for missing the deadline.
Grade: Your grade will be calculated as follows:
Class Participation: includes attendance, presentations, possible quizzes, contributions to class discussion: 20%
Presentation: 10%.
Two papers: Midterm paper (20%), final paper (30%) Total: 50%.
ID Exam: 20%
Writing Policy
All papers should be double-spaced, numbered, with your name on every page. Neatness and excellence in punctuation, spelling, and grammar should always be a goal.
All written work should be your own. This means that either: A) you are telling me what you think, or B) you are telling me what you think about what someone else thinks—which means you will tell me where you found this person’s opinion, when and where he/she expressed it, and how it is related to your own opinion. You may embrace someone else’s opinion, but you cannot pass it off as your own. This is called plagiarism and it is wrong.
A note about my grading:
A grade of A means you have produced a paper (or presentation) exemplary in almost every way. You have presented your thesis coherently, you have organized your thoughts effectively, and you have supported your argument meticulously. An A paper is also one that is excellent in style and voice or tone. And in an A paper, attention to form (spelling, punctuation, grammar, documentation) is as rigorous as it is to the content. Your work on the paper is superior.
A grade of B means you have gone beyond the minimum requirements of the assignment and have successfully balanced description with analysis. You express yourself more clearly, meaningfully, and imaginatively than in a C paper. Your work on the paper is good.
A grade of C means you have successfully completed the minimum requirements of an assignment. Your paper most likely has formal writing problems that could be rectified with an appointment with a writing tutor. Your work on the paper is fair.
A grade of D means your work is seriously deficient in some way.
A grade of F means your work has failed to meet the minimum requirements.
III. Required Texts:
Aristotle Poetics
Nine Plays of the Modern Theatre (Grove Press, 1981)
M. Butterfly, David Henry Hwang
Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
Plays, by Maria Irene Fornes
IV. Schedule and Reading
Week 1 Introduction
W Aug 31 What is Modernism? What is Drama?
Read Poetics, parts I-XVIII
Week 2 Beckett
M Sept 5 Waiting for Godot (1948)
W Sept 7 Godot and Poetics
Week 3 Beckett and Pinter
M Sept 12 Godot and Poetics (to end)
W Sept 14 The Birthday Party (1958)
Week 4 Pinter and Genet
M Sept 19 Birthday Party
W Sept 21 The Balcony (1956)
Week 5 Genet and Hansberry
M Sept 26 Balcony
W Sept 28 Raisin in the Sun (1959)
Week 6 Hansberry
M Oct 3 Raisin in the Sun (1959)
W Oct 5 Rhinoceros (1959)
Week 7 Ionesco
M Oct 10 NO CLASS
W Oct 12 Film: Rhinoceros
1st Paper Due
Week 8 Ionesco
M Oct 17 Rhinoceros
W Oct 19 Background and Hamlet films
Week 9 Stoppard
M Oct 24 Rosencranz & Guildenstern are Dead (1966)
W Oct 26 Rosencranz & Guildenstern
Week 10 Fornes
M Oct 31 The Danube (1982)
W Nov 2 Danube
AMERICAN BUFFALO opens at Centrestage
Week 11 Puppets
M Nov 7 Catch-up presentation about puppets
W Nov 9 ID Exam
Week 12 Mamet
M Nov 14 American Buffalo (1975)
W Nov 16 Film: Buffalo
Week 13 Mamet
M Nov 21
W Nov 23 No Class -- Thanksgiving
Week 14 Hwang & Puccini
M Nov 28 Puccini Madama Butterfly
W Nov 20 M. Butterfly (1988)
Week 15 Hwang
M Dec 5 M. Butterfly
W Dec 7 M. Butterfly
Week 16 Final Paper meetings
M Dec 12 TBA
F Dec 16 Final Paper Due
