Download ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Spring 2011 1 M/W/F 11:30

ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Spring 2011
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M/W/F 11:30-12:25/Room: PAC 263
Prof. Eszter Szalczer; Office: PAC 357; Tel.: 442-4211; email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Mo/We 1:00-2:00PM
Course Description:
The course is designed to familiarize you with analytical tools, research methods and critical
approaches that help you appreciate and understand plays both as informed readers of
dramatic literature and as spectators in the theatre. We explore plays as products of particular
socio-cultural contexts and at the same time as artworks that comprise a complex world of their
own. In addition, students will learn about the processes of transposing written scripts into
theatrical productions and will learn to analyze theatrical performances as specific
interpretations of play-texts. Assignments are geared to develop critical thinking, analytical
skills and a vocabulary for expressing complex ideas in the discipline of theatre arts with a
special emphasis on the written practice of analyzing plays and performances.
Writing Intensive Course Characteristics:
Play Analysis fulfils the General Education requirement of a lower-level Writing Intensive
course. Writing Intensive courses use writing as an important tool in the discipline studied and
are not designed primarily to teach the technical aspects of writing. The focus is on written
practice of analyzing plays as well as theatre performances. The course fulfills the following
criteria for the Writing Intensive requirement:
1. A Substantial Body of Finished Work: This is generally expected to be a total of 20+ doublespaced pages in at least two, preferably more, submissions. It may be in a variety of forms—
journal, reports, essays, research papers, etc.—not all of which need to be graded.
2. Opportunity for Students to Receive Assistance in Progress: Such assistance may take
several forms, from visits to the Writing Center (HU-140) to conferences with the instructor.
3. Opportunity to Revise Some Pieces: As revision is an essential characteristic of good writing,
students should be able to revise some portion of their work.
4. Response to Student Writing: Such response may take several forms—from extended
comments from the instructor to peer evaluation in student groups. It is expected, however, that
the instructor will respond in detail to some extended work of the student.
Learning Objectives for Lower Division Writing Intensive (Basic Communication):
1. Students will demonstrate their abilities to produce coherent texts within common
college level forms
2. Students will demonstrate the ability to revise and improve such texts
Readings:
Jacobus, et al eds. The Bedford Introduction to Drama (Fifth Edition; University Bookstore)
David Ball, Backwards and Forwards (University Bookstore)
Essays by Konstantin Stanislavsky, Uta Hagen, William Ball, Bertolt Brecht (handouts)
Requirements:
Preparation and class participation: Since class interactions provide the major forum of learning
in this course, class participation is an essential requirement. Prepare for class by reading the
assigned play and/or essay before class, take notes while reading and jot down you questions
or comments and come to class prepared to discuss the day's topic.
Exams, Papers, Assignments: For journal and paper assignments you are encouraged to
consult the instructor during the writing process and submit drafts for review before the final
version.
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1. Students are required to keep a journal and make an entry for each play discussed in
class. The entry should not consist of students‘ class-notes, but their own informed assessment
of each play. Each entry should comprise a three-page typewritten (double-spaced) analysis of
the particular play, which discuss the following aspects:
A. Brief introductory information on the cultural background of the play
B. Information about the world of the play and how that world operates:
- What are the given circumstances?
- What inciting incident triggers the plot ?
- Characteristics of the plot-structure (the connections between the unfolding events
and the time and space parameters of the action).
- Who are the main characters (protagonist, antagonist, secondary characters) and
how do they affect the plot? What is their ‗agenda‘ (what objectives they want to
achieve, what obstacles they need to overcome)?
- What are the mot important images throughout the play and how are they related to
the central theme/s of the play?
- Determine the beginning-middle-and end (stasis-intrusion-stasis): describe how the
situation in the beginning of the play has changed by the end of the play and why
(reversals, recognitions, etc.).
- Describe the characteristics of the given genre.
The journals will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and will be handed back to you with
comments for re-writes. They will be evaluated in their entirety at the end of the semester and
awarded a grade that will reflect both content and the improvements of writing.
2. The midterm test will evaluate students' understanding of the critical, analytical and
research terms and methods we study.
3. Research assignment: each student will be assigned a research topic related to the
plays discussed in class. The research will be presented orally in class and an annotated
bibliography of your research will be handed in.
4. The final essay exam is designed to evaluate how students by the end of the course
have learned to apply the analytical processes learned and practiced in class.
5. You are required to attend all productions offered or sponsored by the Theatre
Department during the semester and to prepare a written response as part of your journal.
The following productions are scheduled for this semester:
10 for 2010:
Celebrating 100 Years of History
Thursday-Saturday, February 18-20 at 8pm
Saturday & Sunday, February 20 & 21 at 2pm
The Crucible
Friday & Saturday, April 16 & 17 at 8pm
Sunday, April 18 at 2pm
Friday, April 23 at 8pm
Thursday & Friday, April 29 & 30 at 8pm
Saturday, May 1 at 2pm
Other requirements: For a passing grade in the class it is expected that beyond a thorough
familiarity with the covered material students achieve a satisfactory level of communicating their
knowledge orally and in writing. Students must show evidence of clear and articulate
expression of thoughts, facts, and ideas and an understanding and respect for others‘ thoughts
and ideas.
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Attendance Policy: Regular attendance of classes is required. You are allowed three absences
for the semester. More than three absences will result in the lowering of your final grade. Four
absences above the allotted three (a total of seven) will result in a failing grade for the course.
Two latenesses (10 minutes or more) equal 1 absence.
For a passing grade in the class it is expected that beyond a thorough familiarity with the
covered material you achieve a satisfactory level of communicating your knowledge orally and
in writing. You must show evidence of clear and articulate expression of thoughts, facts, and
ideas and an understanding and respect for others‘ thoughts and ideas.
BEFORE entering the classroom please turn off your cell-phone. No text-messaging or mute
phone use are allowed during class. Please take notes by hand. If you have special reason
you need to use electronic device for note-taking, you need to obtain instructor‘s permission.
Plagiarism or any form of Academic Dishonesty is inexcusable and will result in a failing
grad. See detailed description of what is considered plagiarism in the Bulletin or at the UAlbany
Website.
Grading:
Journal
20%
Midterm
25%
Final
25%
Class participation
15%
Research assignment 15%
ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Spring 2011
TOPICS and READINGS
January
19 W- Introduction - Plays and their backgrounds
21 F - Approaches to dramatic structure and some analytical tools to begin with
Read pp. 1-5, 13-20 and Lady Gregory, The Rising of the Moon
in The Bedford Introduction to Drama (BID)
24 M - The world of the play
Read Fuchs, ―EF‘s Visit on a Small Planet‖ (handout)
Classical Theatre
26 W - The nature of drama and elements of dramatic structure
Read Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and the chapter by Aristotle in BID
Presentations: - Sophocles and The Theban Plays
- Characteristics of classical Greek staging
28 F - Plot and story in Oedipus
31 M - Cause-and-effect (climactic) structure
Read Ball, Backwards and Forwards, pp. 9-24
February
2 W - Plot construction, retrospective structure—Oedipus
4F-
The tragic hero: hamartia, peripety, catharsis—Oedipus
7 M - Interpretations of Oedipus
9 W – Classical comedy
Plot structure in classical comedy: parallel plot
Read Lysistrata by Aristophanes in BID
Presentation: - Aristophanes and characteristics of classical comedy
11 F - Character, action and comic devices—Lysistrata
14 M - Elizabethan comedy
Read A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare in BID
Presentation/s: - Elizabethan playhouse and performance
16 W - Episodic structure, parallel plots and spoken décor
Midsummer continued
18 F - Characters, imagery, theme—Midsummer
Mon - Sat, Feb. 21-26 Classes Suspended – Winter Break
28 M - Interpretations of Midsummer
March
Modern drama and modern theatre
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ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Spring 2011
2 W - Read A Doll House and articles on “The Woman Question” in BID
Presentation/s: - Ibsen‘s social plays
- Realism, naturalism, and the well-made play
4F-
Plot and story: retrospective action in A Doll House
7 M - Plot and subplot in A Doll House
9 W - Dramatic character: Conflict and subtext
Read Ball, pp. 25-36
11 F - Microstructure: Objective, obstacle, actor's beat
Read handout-essays by Stanislavski, Hagen, and Ball
14 M - Character and imagery—Doll House
Read Ball, pp. 39-59
16 W – Practice and review
18 F - MIDTERM
21 M – Interpretations of A Doll House
Theatre and plays in the twentieth-century
23 W – Read Trifles by Susan Glaspell in BID
Presentation/s: - The Provincetown Players
- Twentieth-century women playwrights
25 F – Plot structure and imagery in Trifles
28 M - Illusion, reality, theatricalism
Read Six Characters in Search of an Author by Pirandello in BID
30 W - Questions of character, plot, play-within-play in Six Characters
April
1F-
Discussion of Six Characters continued; adaptations, interpretations
4 M - Space and time in a ―memory play‖
Read Glass Menagerie by Williams in BID
Presentation/s: Williams and the memory play genre
- American drama and the American Dream
6 W – I magery and theme in The Glass Menagerie
Read Ball, pp. 68-78
8F-
Stage to screen: change of style—Glass Menagerie
Interpretations
11 M – The American Dream and African American drama
Read A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry in BID
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ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Spring 2011
Presentation/s: - Hansberry and twentieth-century African America drama
13 W - Poetic Realism—Raisin in the Sun
15 F – Interpretations
Mon - Mon, April 18-25 Spring Break
Contemporary theatre and society
27 W - Read The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl in BID
Presentation/s: - Sarah Ruhl, contemporary women playwrights and their themes
Completed JOURNALS due
29 F - The Clean House continued
May
2 M - Conclusion
FINAL EXAM ASSIGNMENT (Essay) DUE
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