Download Week #1 - (canvas.brown.edu).

3TAPS 1250 TWENTIETH-CENTURY WESTERN THEATRE AND
PERFORMANCE
Spring 2017. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-2:20 p.m. Prof. Golub
“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.” – Lewis Carroll
This course looks at the broad spectrum of theatre and cultural performance in twentiethcentury Western Europe and the United States, using the stage as a focusing structure and
mechanism and film as its dialogic partner. In the process, we will encounter various
definitions and examples of modernism and the avant-garde, including (but not limited
to) naturalism and realism, symbolism, expressionism, futurism, constructivism, dada and
surrealism, each movement regarded as being experimental in its time. We will consider
the historical contexts, as well as the aesthetic and cultural perspectives and concerns that
constituted the eventful century referred to by Charlie Chaplin and intellectual historians
as “Modern Times.” We will employ a variety of methods that will allow you to place
dramatic texts in historical contexts and also to capture in various forms (writing,
discussion, and performance), objects, gesture and rhetoric as containers and conveyors
of ideas.
Over 14 weeks, students will spend 2 hours and 40 minutes per week in class (37 hours
total). Homework and other out-of-class work (weekly reading and discussion question
composition) are estimated at around 9 hours per week (126 hours). In addition, there is a
one-time performance project, which should take 4 hours to compose and rehearse. There
are also a take-home midterm exam and a final paper for which approximately 3 hours of
review and writing for the former and 10 hours of research and writing for the latter are
assumed.
-------------------------Course Requirements:
• Regular class attendance. Missing more than three classes may result in a grade of
NC.
• See relevant productions on campus and at local theatres.
Discussions/Discussion Proposals: I will lecture for 50 minutes each class with 30
minutes reserved each class for a class discussion of play readings. Be prepared to
discuss. A good way to enter a play is through a particular object, movement,
gesture, or event—i.e., through something small, specific and concrete rather than
through general idea or theme. Extrapolate from the specific to the more general.
For each discussion you will submit to me electronically a question you want to ask
and a ½ page-1 page explanation of why this question is important. Remember to
1
make both the question and the explanation specific. The discussion proposals will
count for 25% of your grade in the course.
Group Performance Projects: Exceptions to this lecture/play discussion session will
be on days when group oral projects are presented. On those days, I will lecture for
50 minutes followed by a 10 minute group performance and a 20 minute class
discussion to be led by the group which includes any plays and theatrical or
dramaturgical ideas that fall within the topic of their group presentation. These
group presentations should be thought of less as oral reports and more like live
presentations in the style of or inspired by the topic under consideration. Do not
worry if you are not a natural performer. The emphasis is on devising a structure
for and an approach to the performance that captures something essential about the
topic in question. Synthesize your ideas and your text so that it can be presented in
your allotted 10-minute frame. Every student in the class will be required to
participate in one such performance project. The group members will each be
graded for the overall performance and the materials (text, sources) handed in on
the day of the performance. Here are some topics from which to choose:
*Expressionist Performance Project (Week #4)
*Dada/Surrealist Performance Project (Week #6)
*Futurist Performance Project (Week #7)
*Brechtian Performance Project (Week #9)
*Pirandellian Performance Project (Week #9)
*“Absurdist” Performance Project (e.g., Beckett, Genet, Ionesco, Pinter)
(Week #11)
*American “Realism” Performance Project (Miller, Williams, O’Neill,
Hellman, Stanislavsky/Strasberg, etc.) (Week #11)
*The American Dream Confronted Project: Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story
and LeRoi Jones’s Dutchman (Week #12)
*1960s Political Theatre Project (e.g., a la The San Francisco Mime Troupe,
Teatro Campesino, The Living Theatre, The Open Theatre, etc.) (Week #13)
*Postmodern Devised Theatre Performance Project (Week #14)
The performance project will count for 20% of your grade in the course.
•Two take-home short essay midtern exam (to be prepared outside of class; you may
use sources). The first exam will be handed out in class on Thursday, March 7 (Week #7)
and will be due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 12 (Week #8). The second
exam will be handed out in class on Thursday, April 18 (Week #13) and will be due at
the beginning of class on Tuesday, April 23 (Week #14). These two exams together will
count for a total of 25% of your grade for the course.
•One 8-10 page final paper. You are to use one of the following quotes from
Badiou’s The Century as the premise for your essay:
2
“The name is what allows singularity to assert its worth by itself” (Badiou, p. 104).
Think here about character, event and movement names, play titles and the like.
Select only one or two examples to discuss. What does the name/the title refer to and
contain thematically, historically, politically, psychologically, etc.?
“To the question: ‘What is there that is real?’, the century responds:
‘Demonstrating.’ What does not demonstrate is not” (Badiou, p. 108). Based upon
your reading of the century in this course, agree or disagree (or agree and disagree)
with this statement and justify your response. Be concrete!
In that this is a historical/critical research paper, it should be accompanied by
proper footnotes and a bibliography of the sources you consulted in writing the
paper. This final paper is due to me in my office by noon on Thursday, May 2 and will
count for 30% of your final grade for the course.
Required texts available at the Brown Bookstore (BB) on Thayer Street are listed
below. Copies of all required readings will also be placed on 3-hour reserve in the
Rockefeller Library (hereafter RL in the Course Outline). Note that some of these
readings are also available in e-book form through Josiah or, as noted, in PDF form
through OCRA).
• Artaud, Antonin. The Theatre and Its Double. Grove Press, 1994.
• Badiou, Alain, The Century, Malden: Polity Press, 2008.
• Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot. New York: Grove Press, 2011.
• Braun, Edward. The Director and the Stage: From Naturalism to Grotowski. New
York: A&C Black, 2003 (on backorder at the bookstore: intial readings are on OCRA).
• Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977.
• Caputi, Anthony, ed. Eight Modern Plays. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991
(1966).
• Cardullo, Bert and Robert Knopf. Theatre of the Avant-Garde 1890-1950. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2001. (Note: Also available in electronic form through Josiah)
*Jarry, Alfred. Ubu. London: Nick Hern Books, 1997. (This is the complete Ubu trilogy.
I have also put the single play Ubu Roi on Rock course reserve. You are only required to
read Ubu Roi, but may be interested in reading the other two plays as well. With this in
mind, I also ordered the Ubu trilogy).
• Chekhov, Anton, The Essential Plays, trans. Michael Henry Heim. New York: Modern
Library, 2003 (Also available in electronic form through Josiah)
(Also available in electronic form through Josiah)
• Handke, Peter, Kaspar and Other Plays. New York: Hill & Wang, 1970.
• Houghton, Norris, ed. Seeds of Modern Drama. New York: Applause Books, 2000
(1963).
• Ibsen, Henrik. Four Major Plays. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Eugene Ionesco, The Bald Soprano and Other Plays. (Includes The Bald Soprano and
The Lesson) New York: Grove Press, 1982.
• Kane, Sarah, Blasted. New York: Methuen Drama, 2011.
3
• Müller, Heiner, Hamletmachine. New York: Performing Arts Journal, 2001 (also
available through OCRA).
• Parks, Suzan-Lori. The America Play. New York: Theatre Communications Group,
l995.
• Pinter, Harold, Old Times. New York: Grove Press, 1994.
• Shattuck, Roger. The Banquet Years. New York: Vintage Books, l968.
• Shepard, Sam, Buried Child. New York: Vintage, 2006 (Also available through
OCRA).
• Wilde, Oscar, The Importance of Being Earnest. Simon & Brown, 2012 (Also available
in electronic form through Josiah)
• Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. New York: Samuel French, 2010.
Other readings, both required and recommended, are available in PDF form on
OCRA. For convenience, a packet (PK) of many of these readings (but not all) can
be ordered at Allegra Copy Center on Thayer Street (near the corner of Thayer
Street). A copy of the packet will also be placed on reserve in the Becker Library
(BK) in Lyman Hall, which must be read in the library during library hours. Note
that the order of required readings in the syllabus is most productive; the OCRA
listings are alphabetical and do not distinguish between required and recommended
readings.
Other books on reserve:
Copies of several books not at the Brown Bookstore are on reserve at the Rockefeller
Library. Some of these are noted in the schedule below as recommended readings. Books
of general interest that will also be available on reserve at the Rock include:
• Brockett, Oscar G. and Robert R. Findlay, Century of Innovation: A History of
European and American Theatre and Drama Since 1870
•Drain, Richard, Twentieth Century Theatre: A Sourcebook (also available on line
through Josiah)
•Dukore, Bernard F., Dramatic Theory and Criticism: from the Greeks to Grotowski
• Knowles, Ric and Joanne Tomkins, W. B. Worthen, eds., Modern Drama: Defining the
Field (on order at the RL)
• Harding, James M., ed., Contours of the Theatrical Avant-Garde: Performance and
Textuality
• Berghaus, Gunter. Avant-Garde Performance: Live Events and Electronic Technologies
• Webber, Andrew J., The European Avant-garde
•Innes, Christopher, Avant Garde Theatre 1892-1992.
•Worthen, William B., Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama
N.B. Required reading is listed in the course outline on the day that it will be
discussed, which means it is assigned the class before. Not all recommended readings
have been placed on reserve. These are books that you can find for yourselves in the
stacks of the Rockefeller Library (and occasionally, the John Hay Library) if you are
4
interested in learning more about a particular topic. This source referral is intended to
help you with your research projects in this course but also beyond.
-------------------------Course Outline
Note: Selections marked with a caret (^) are available at the bookstore. Selections
marked with an asterisk (*) are available the packet available at Allegra Copy
Center and when marked by an ampersand (&) as PDFs or by e- link through
OCRA. Selections marked with (#) are on reserve at the Rock and, in the case of the
course packet, in the Becker Library. Some plays are available in various
translations and in anthologies. You may read any translation that you can find.
Note: That all readings are listed in the course outline on the dates that they will be
referred to, lectured about, or discussed. You should begin reading these sources in
the week before they are scheduled to be brought up in class.
This schedule is subject to change during the course of the semester.
Week #1
Thurs. 1/26: Introduction to the course. Film Clip: Marcel Carné’s Children of Paradise.
Week #2
Tues., 1/31: Naturalism, Early Strindberg: Character as Pathology. Emile Zola’s Therese
Raquin (adapted to theatrical form in 1873) and Zola’s essay on Naturalism. The
Independent/Free Theatre Movement: (France; Germany; England; Ireland; Scandinavia):
Antoine, Brahm, Grein, Shaw, Hauptmann, Synge, Gorky. Film clips: Miss Julie
.
Required Reading:
• Edward Braun, Director and the Stage,“Meiningen Court Theatre” (chapter 1)
and “Antoine and the Theatre Libre” (chapter 2). &^ #
• Antoine, André. Excerpt from "The Free Theatre" (1890) from Richard Drain,
ed., Twentieth Century Theatre: A Sourcebook, pp. xvii-xviii. &#
• Strindberg, August, excerpt from the “Preface” to Miss Julie (1988) from
Dukore, Dramatic Theory and Criticism: from the Greeks to Grotowski, pp. 566574. &*
• Strindberg, August, Miss Julie (1888), trans. E. M. Sprinchorn (1961) in
Houghton, pp. 196-243 or Corrigan anthology, &^ #
• Burke, Kenneth, excerpt from "The Container and the Thing Contained" (1945)
from The Grammar of Motives, pp. 3-9, 15-16. &
• Lukács, George, excerpt from "The Sociology of Modern Drama." (1909) from
Bernard F. Dukore, ed. Dramatic Theory and Criticism, pp. 936-941. & #
• Andrew Roberts, “Science time-line 1885 – Jean Martin Charcot and Blanche
Whitman”: http://studymore.org.uk/ycharcot.htm
5
•New York Times review of Miss Julie at Antoine’s theatre in Paris.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E1DD1731E033A25756C0A
9649C94629ED7CF
Recommended:
•Naturalism arose largely in reaction to melodrama. For some film images of
melodramatic acting, though later than Zola’s day, see a few of these clips of
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/onstage/films/mv03hp.html
• By way of comparision with Miss Julie, read the full script of Emile Zola,
Thérèse Raquin (1873) in Houghton, ed., Seeds of Modern Drama, pp. 19-93 or in
PDF form. & ^#
• Leo Braudy , “Zola on Film: The Ambiguities of Naturalism.” Yale French
Studies, 42. (1969), pp. 68-88. Accesssible at http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00440078%281969%290%3A42%3C68%3AZOFTAO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N.
• Mel Gordon, Grand Guignol: The Theatre of Fear and Terror, pp. 1-20 &
• Andre de Lorde: Final Scene from a Grand Guignol script, The Laboratory of
Hallucinations (c 1910). &
• Charnow, Sally. "Commercial Culture and Modernist Theatre in Fin-de-Siecle
Paris: Andre Antoine and the Theatre Libre." Radical History Review . 77 (Sep
2014).: 60-90. &
• John Osborne, The Meiningen Court Theatre, esp. pages 18-53 and 141-173. #
• Tennessee Williams, Streetcar Named Desire (in Becker Library)
Thurs., 2/2: Ghosts: Romanticism, Realism, and Self-hood in Society. Ibsen. Film clips:
Ibsen, (Theatre History); Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse.
Required Reading:
•Ibsen, Ghosts (1881) and Hedda Gabler (1890) in Ibsen: Four Plays^#
•By way of comparison to Ibsen’s Ghosts, take a look at Shepard, Buried Child
(1978) & ^#
•George Bernard Shaw, selection from The Quintessence of Ibsenism (in Roland
N. Stromberg: Realism, Naturalism, and Symbolism, pp. 149-154. &
Recommended:
•Ibsen, A Doll House (1879), Wild Duck (1882), and Peer Gynt (Bammon
translation preferred) (1867).
Week #3
Tues., 2/7: Stanislavsky, Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theatre. Film clips from: Vanya
on 42nd Street (1990) Film Clips on Stanislavsky and Chekhov: Theatre History.
Required Reading:
• Edward Braun, Director and the Stage, “Stanislavsky and Chekhov” (chapter
5), pp. 59-76. ^ #
6
• Chekhov, Anton, The Seagull (1898), trans. Robert W. Corrigan (1962) in
Houghton, ed., Seeds of Modern Drama, pp. 349-413 ^, or trans. by Michael
Henry Heim in Chekhov: The Essential Plays ^#
• Chekhov, Anton, Letters to Maria Kiseleva and Alexei Suvorin in Caputi, ed.,
pp. 459-463 ^ #
• Stanislavsky, Constantin
• "Inner Impulses and Inner Actions" (1916-1920) from Drain, Twentieth
Century Theatre: A Sourcebook pp. 253-257 & *;
•Excerpt from Building a Character, Huxley and Witts, pp. & 360-362.*
• Briusov, Valery, “Against Naturalism in the Theater,” Cardulo and
Knopf, pp. 72-76. ^ #
• W. B. Worthen, “Chekhov’s Camera: The Rhetoric of Stage Realism” in
Modern Drama and the Rhetoric of Theatre, l992.*
Recommended:
• Chekhov, Anton, The Cherry Orchard (1904) in Chekhov: The Essential
Plays^#
• Chekhov, The Three Sisters (1901), trans. Elisaveta Fen (1951) in Caputi, ed.,
pp. 78- 132. Also in Chekhov: The Essential Plays^#
• Stanislavsky, Constantin An Actor Prepares, pages 33-53, 263-92. &
• David Richard Jones, "Konstantin Stanislavsky and The Seagull: The Paper
Stage" in Great Directors at Work, pp. 15-77. & #
• Styan, Modern Drama, Vol 1, pp. 45-52, 69-9. & #
• Paul Gray, “Stanislavski and America: A Critical Chronology.” The Drama
Review, Vol. 9, No. 2. (Winter, 1964), pp. 21-60. Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0886800X%28196424%299%3A2%3C21%3ASA
AACC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5. &
Thurs., 2/9: Victorian Rationalism/Irrationalism: The Case of Sherlock Holmes and
Dracula; Oscar Wilde and Decadence. Film Clip: Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of
Sherlock Holmes (The Case of the Upside-Down Room); The Importance of Being
Earnest.
Required Reading:
• Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) ^#
• By way of comparison to another play written in the same year as Earnest, take
a look at Shaw, Candida (1895) in the Caputi, ed. ^ #
Recommended:
• Wilde, Salomé (1893) (available in RL and, most likely, BL stacks)
• Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) (available in RL and, most likely, BL stacks)
Week #4
Tues., 2/14: Strindberg and The Ghost Sonata, Yeats, the Mysterium. Film Clip: Carl
Dreyer’s Vampyr.
7
Required Reading:
• Cardullo and Knopf on Strindberg, pp. 127-133. & ^ #
• Strindberg, August, The Ghost Sonata (1907), in Caputi, pp. 183-209 or Cardullo
and Knopf pp. 134-160 & ^ #
• Styan, J.L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice, Vol. 2: Symbolism, pages 2427. & *
• Yeats, William Butler, excerpt from "The Play, the Player and the Scene"
(published 1924), from Aughtry, Landmarks in Modern Drama, pp. 392-395. & *
• Yeats, William Butler, At The Hawk's Well (1917) from The Collected Plays of
W.B. Yeats (1953). & * or Yeats, William Butler, Purgatory (1938), from
Harrington, pp. 33-39. & *
Recommended:
• Eszgter Szalczer, “Nature’s Dream Play: Modes of Vision and August
Strindberg’s Re-Definition of the Theatre.” Theatre Journal 53, no. 1, 2001: 3352. Accessible at:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_journal/v053/53.1szalczer.html &
• Ibsen, Henrik, The Wild Duck (1884), trans. Dounia B., Christiani . In Caputi,
ed., pp. 3-77. ^ #
Thurs., 2/16: Symbolist Theory and Drama: Continental European version (Mallarmé,
Maeterlinck); Chekhov; Kandinsky; Russian symbolism (Ivanov, Briusov, Blok). Film
Clips: Kandinsky’s Yellow Sound; Dance (Theatre History)
Symbolist Staging: Appia, Craig, Lugne-Poe, early Meyerhold. Film Clips: Appia, Craig
(Theatre History)
Required Reading:
• Daniel Gerould, “The Art of Symbolist Drama” in Doubles, Demons, and
Dreamers. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publication, l985. Pp. 7-13.& *
• Appia, Adolph
• excerpt from Music and the Art of Theatre (1899), pages 10-28 &*
• excerpt from "How to Reform our Staging Practices" (1904) from Drain,
Twentieth-century Theatre: A Sourcebook, pp. 237-239 & *
• excerpt from "Actor, Space, Light, Painting” (1919), in Michael Huxley
and Noel Witts, eds., The Twentieth Century Performance Reader, pp, 2124. & *
• Maeterlinck, Maurice, The Intruder (1890) and “The Modern Drama” in
Cardullo and Knopf, pp. 41-61. & ^#
• Maeterlinck, Maurice, "The Tragical in Daily Life' (1896) from Dukore, ed.,
Dramatic Theory and Criticism: from the Greeks to Grotowski, pp. 726-731.& *
• Richard Beacham, “Prologue” from Adolphe Appia: Theatre Artist, 1-7. & *
• Edward Braun, Director and the Stage, “The Symbolist Theatre” (chapter 3), pp.
59-76. ^ #
8
• Edward Braun, Director and the Stage, “Edward Gordon Craig” (chapter 6), pp.
77-94. ^ #
• Craig, Gordon
• "The Actor and the Ubermarionette" from On the Art of the Theatre
(1907), 54-94 & *
• excerpt from "Rearrangements" (1915), from Drain, 17-18 & *
• Fuller, Loïe, excerpt from "Light and Dance" (1908), from Drain, ed., pp. 245247.& *
• Duncan, Isadora, "Depth," from Drain, pp. 248-249 & *
Recommended:
• Styan, J. L., Modern Drama in Theory and Practice, Vol. 2, pp. 1-35 & #
• Cardullo, Bert, “En Garde!: The Theatrical Avant Garde in Historical,
Intellectual, and Cultural Context” in Cardullo and Knopf, pp. 1–39 & ^ #
• Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea, published in German in 1819
and influential on Neitzsche and Wagner and modern art (available in RL stacks)
• Maeterlink, The Blind, see http://brownblind.blogspot.com/2007/02/here-isdraft-of-script-we-will-be.html &
• Maeterlink, Pélleas and Mélisande (1892)
• Fratisek Deak, Symbolist Theater (1993)
• Eszgter Szalczer, “Nature’s Dream Play: Modes of Vision and August
Strindberg’s Re-Definition of the Theatre.” Theatre Journal 53, no. 1, 2001: 3352. Accessible at:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_journal/v053/53.1szalczer.html
• Paul Marqueritte, Pierrot: Assassin of His Wife (1882), in Doubles, Demons,
and Dreamers, edited by Daniel Gerould. 45-50. New York: Performing Arts
Journal Publication, l985.& *
• Friedrich Nietzsche, excerpt from Richard Wagner in Bayreuth (1876). & *
•Wagner, Richard, excerpt from "The Art-Work of the Future" (1849), from
Dukore, ed., pp. 786-791.& *
• Kandinsky, Wassily, The Yellow Sound (1909) and "On Stage Composition
(1912)" in Cardullo and Knopf, pp.169-186. & ^ #
• Appia’s full Music and the Art of the Theatre, translated by Corrigan and Dirks
#
• Richard C. Beacham, Adolphe Appia, Theatre Artist
• Beacham, ed. Adolphe Appia: Essays, Scenarios and Designs
• J. Michael Walton, ed., Craig on Theatre (1983)
• Laurence Senelick, Gordon Craig’s Moscow Hamlet
• Christopher Innes, Edward Gordon Craig.
Week #5
Tues., 2/21: NO CLASS. LONG WEEKEND.
Thurs., 2/23: World War I and German Expressionism in theatre and film:
9
Büchner, Kaiser, Toller. Film Clips: The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari; Fritz Lang’s
Metropolis; Gunter Berghaus’s production of Kokoshka’s Murderer the Woman’s Hope;
Guy Madden’s Careful. Germany in the 1920s: Weimar Culture (Wedekind and Lulu),
Bauhaus. Film Clips: Fritz Lang’s M; G.W. Pabst’s Lulu; Wedekind (Theatre History);
Bauhaus (Theatre History).
Required Reading
• J. L. Styan, Modern Drama, vol. 3, pp. 1-46. #
• Büchner, Georg, Woyzeck (1836, first performed, 1909). You may read this in
any translation. One translation will be put on RL reserve.
• Frank Wedekind, Lulu.#
• Wedekind, Frank, Spring Awakening (1891, produced 1906)#
(We will attempt to put copies of both of these plays on reserve in RL and BL.)
Recommended:
• Expressionist Anthologies edited by Mel Gordon and Walter Sokel#
• Kokoshka, Oskar, Murderer the Women's Hope (1907/1909/1916), trans.
Michael Hamburger from Walter H. Sokel, ed., Anthology of German
Expressionist Drama, pp. 17-21. & #
• Peter Jelavich, Munich and Theatrical Modernism & #.
• Oskar Schlemmer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Farkas Molnár, The Theatre of the
Bauhaus (1961) &
*Expressionist Performance Project in class today.
Week #6
Tues., 2/28: The Birth of the American Avant-Garde, ca. 1910-1930: Overview of
American Drama: George Pierce Baker, Susan Glaspell, Elmer Rice, the Theatre Guild,
the New Stagecraft, The Provincetown Players and early (and expressionist) Eugene
O’Neill. The Harlem Renaissance. Film clips: Edison’s Kinescope; Early American Film;
Ziegfeld Follies; Showboat; Fanny Brice; Eddie Kantor; Bert Williams; Shuffle Along;
Ethel Waters; The Harlem Renaissance; O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones (Theatre History)
Required Reading:
• J. L. Styan, Modern Drama, Vol 1, pp. 109-147.& *
• J. L. Styan, Modern Drama, Vol. 3, pp. 97-121.& *
• Ira A. Levine, excerpt from Left Wing Dramatic Theory in the American
Theatre, pp. 151-176.& *
• Eugene O’Neill, The Emperor Jones & *
•Langston Hughes, The Em-Fuehrer Jones & *
• James V. Hatch, "Introduction" From James V. Hatch and Leo Hamalian, eds.
Lost Plays of the Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940, pp. 9-20. & *
• W.E.B DuBois,., "Program Note for Krigwa Players: A Little Negro Theatre,
Season of 1926," from James V. Hatch and Leo Hamalian, eds. Lost Plays of the
Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940, pp. 449-450. & *
10
• Langston Hughes, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926) from
Hatch and Hamalian, eds., pp. 408-412. & *
Recommended:
• Glaspell, Susan. Trifles (1916), in Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama#
• Mordecai Gorelik, New Theatres for Old (1940/1962)
• Elmer Rice, Street Scene (1928), from Burns Mantle, ed., The Best Plays of
1928-1929, pp. 26-53.
• Lee Simonson, The Stage is Set (1932)
• Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty &
Thurs., 3/2: Surrealism and Dada: Jarry, Duchamp, Breton, Apollinaire, Lorca, Tzara,
Dali, Louis Feuillarde’s Les Vampires. Also, Film Clips: Surrealism: Miro; Lorca
(Theatre History).
Required Reading:
• In Badiou’s The Century, Chapt. 11: “Avant-Gardes,” pp. 130-47. ^ #
• Jarry, Ubu Roi (1896); Tzara, Tristan, The Gas Heart (1920) and Dada
Manifesto (1918) in Cardullo and Knopf, pp. 265-289. & ^ #. The complete Ubu
trilogy is available in a separate edition that I also ordered for the class.
• Listen to Marie Osmond performing Hugo Ball’s Karawane
http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/ball_hugo/Marie-Osmond_Hugo-Ball_Karawane.mp3
See other “reconstructions” at http://www.ubu.com/sound/ball.html
Recommended:
• Mel Gordon, ed., Dada Performance (1987)
• “Alexis,” “A Visit to the Cabaret Dada” (1920), from Joel Schechter, ed,
Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook, (2003), pp. 186-188
• Dickerman, Leah and Matthew S. Witkovsky, The Dada Seminars
• Annabelle Melzer, Latest Rage the Big Drum: Dada and Surrealist Performance
(1980/1994)
• Richter, Hans, Dada: Art and Anti-Art, pp. 11-64. #
• Richard Hulsenbeck on Dada in Germany in Dadas on Art, pp. 45-56.
N.B. There are a great many published sources on surrealism, many of which
should be available in the RL.
*Dada/Surrealist Performance Project in class today.
Week #7
Tues., 3/7: Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty; Film clip: Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of
Joan of Arc). Also, Film Clip: Artaud (Theatre History).
Required Reading:
11
• In Badiou’s The Century, Chapt. 10 “Cruelties,” pp. 111-30. ^ #
• Edward Braun, The Director and the Stage, chapter on Artaud, pp. 180-190. ^ #
• Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double, pp. 7-113. ^ #
• Antonin Artaud, Spurt of Blood (1925) in Cardullo and Knopf, pp. 378-381. &
^#
Recommended:
• Styan, J. L., Modern Drama, Vol. 2, pp. 105-117; 145-156
• Christopher Innes, Avant Garde Theatre 1892-1992.#
Thurs., 3/9:
Take-home midterm exam is handed out in class.
Italian and Russian Futurism and Constructivism: Marinetti, Mayakovsky, Meyerhold’s
biomechanics and constructivist productions of the 1920s, Eisenstein and the montage of
attractions.
Cubism and the landscape play: Picasso and Gertrude Stein; Vakhtangov’s Fantastic
(Imaginative) Realism; Film Clips: Georges Braque and Cubism. Vakhtangov’s
Turandot (Theatre History).
Required Reading:
• In Badiou’s The Century, “The Strategic Brain of A Man Directing,” pp. 182-86.
^#
• Roselee Goldberg, “Futurism.” From Performance Art, pp. 11-30.& *
• F. T. Marinetti, F.T., excerpt from "The Variety Theatre" (1913), from Drain,
pp. 171-174 & *
• Prampolini, Enrico, excerpt from "Futurist Scenography" (1915), from Drain,
pp. 23-24. & *
• Futurist Plays and Manifestos by Umberto Boccioni, Francesco Cangiullo,
Filippo Marinetti, Emilio Settinelli, and Bruno Corra, and commentary in
Cardullo, pp. 187-206. & ^ #
• F. T. Marinetti; Francesco Cangiullo; Gianni Calderone; Victoria Nes Kirby,
and Michael Kirby. “Marinetti’s Short Plays.” The Drama Review: TDR 17, No.
4 (1973), pp. 113-125. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00125962%28197312%2917%3A4%3C113%3AMSP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F
• Highly recommended: Berghaus, Gunter. Avant-Garde Performance: Live
Events and Electronic Technologies, pp. 31-47 & *#
• Edward Braun, Director and the Stage, “Meyerhold: Theatre as Propaganda”
(chapter 9). ^ #
• Meyerhold, excerpts from Meyerhold on Theatre [Out of print], pp. 98-103;
122-128; 204-205. & *
• Worrall, Nick. “Meyerhold’s Production of The Magnificent Cuckold.” The
Drama Review (TDR) 17, no. 1, 1973. & *
• Okhlopkov, Lee Strasberg, Sidney Kingsley, Molly Haskell, Jay Leyda.
“Meyerhold's Bio-Mechanic Exercises (A Photographic Series).” The Drama
12
Review: TDR, Vol. 17, No. 1, Russian Issue. (Mar., 1973), pp. 113-123.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00125962%28197303%2917%3A1%3C113%3AMBE%28PS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S
•To see actors rehearsing Meyerhold’s biomechanics, go to:
http://max.mmlc.northwestern.edu/~mdenner/Drama/directors/stan2.mov
• Alain Piette, Alain. “Crommelynck and Meyerhold: Two Geniuses Meet on the
Stage. Modern Drama 39, l996. &
• Gerould, Daniel. “Eisenstein’s Wisseman.” The Drama Review: TDR 18, No. 1,
1974), pp. 71-76. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00125962%28197403%2918%3A1%3C71%3AE%22%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
• Eisenstein, Sergei. “Montage of Attractions.” The Drama Review: TDR, Vol.
18, No. 1, 1974), pp. 77-85. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00125962%28197403%2918%3A1%3C77%3AMOAF%22S%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K
• Golub, Spencer. “Charlie Chaplin: Soviet Icon.” In The Performance of power:
Theatrical Discourse and Politics. Edited by Sue-Ellen Case and Janelle Reinelt.
Iowa Citiy: University of Iowa Press, l991.& *
• Arnold Aronson, chapter 1, American Avant-garde Theatre. & *
• Gertrude Stein, Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights, in Cardullo, 425-449. ^ #
• Gertrude Stein, “Plays” in Cardullo, 450-465. & ^#
• Gertrude Stein, Stein reading “If I Told Him: A Complete Portrait of Picasso.”
On Ubuweb: http://media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Stein/1935/SteinGertrude_If-I-Told-Him.mp3
• Gertrude Stein “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene” from Geography and Plays,
rendered by Warren Burt on Ubuweb:
http://www.ubu.com/sound/softpalate_stein.html
Recommended:
• The Theatre of Meyerhold: Revolution on the Stage, by Edward Braun
• Crommelynck’s play The Magnanimous Cuckold (on order at the Rock)
• Banu, Georges, “Mei Lanfang: A Case Against and a Model for the Occidental
State (1986), from Asian Theatre Journal, 3, 2 pp. 153-171. &
• Alma Law and Mel Gordon, Meyerhold, Eisenstein, and Biomechanics : Actor
Training in Revolutionary Russia
•Paul Schmidt, “A Director Works with a Playwright: Meyerhold and
Mayakovsky.” Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 29, No. 2. (May, 1977), pp.
214-220. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00131989%28197705%2929%3A2%3C214%3AADWWAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
• Meyerhold, Vsevlod. “Meyerhold Speaks: Observations on Acting and
Directing.” The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 18, No. 3. (Sep., 1974), pp. 108-112.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00125962%28197409%2918%3A3%3C108%3AMSOOAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9
*Futurist Performance Project in class today.
13
Week #8
Tues., 3/14:
Midterm take-home exam is handed in at the beginning of today’s class
American Social Drama of the 1920s and 1930s, Part 1: The Harlem Renaissance (tent.),
Clifford Odets and The Group Theatre. MAT in America, Michael Chekhov, Richard
Boleslavsky and the American Laboratory Theatre. Film Clips: The Stock Market Crash;
The Cradle Will Rock; The Living Newspaper; Harlem in the 1930s; The Harlem Unit of
the Federal Theatre Project; The Yiddish Theatre; The Group Theatre (Theatre History)
Thurs., 3/16: American Social Drama of the 1920s and 1930s, Part 2: The Great
Depression and the Federal Theatre Project The Living Newspaper, Orson Welles and the
Mercury Theatre. Film Clips: Early American Cinema; Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times
(Theatre History).
Week #9
Tues., 3/21: Brecht, Piscator, epic theatre. Film clips: Brecht (Theatre History); Leni
Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (Theatre History); Hans-Jurgen Syberberg’s Our Hitler
(1977).
Required Reading:
• Brecht, Bertolt, Brecht on Theatre, pp. 6-9, 43-51, 57-62, 91-99, 136-47, 23638, 179-205. ^ #
• Brecht, Bertolt, Mother Courage (1941) in Caputi, ed., pp. 347-402.^ #
• Edward Braun, The Director and the Stage, chapter on Piscator, pp. 145-161.^#
• Piscator, Erwin, excerpts from The Political Theatre, pp. 20-25;30-36; 71-77;
81-84; 91-98; 118-123185-188; 213-215; 254-69. & *
• Edward Braun, The Director and the Stage, chapter on Brecht, pp. 162-179.^#
Recommended:
• Brecht
• Baal (1923)
• In the Jungle of the Cities (1923)
• Man Is Man (1926)
• J. L. Styan, Modern Drama, vol 3, pp. 1-75; 128-149
• Christopher Innes, Erwin Piscator's Political Theatre: The Development of
Modern German Drama
• Maria Ley-Piscator, The Piscator Experiment (1967)
• John Willet, The Theatre of Erwin Piscator: Half a Century of Politics in the
Theatre;
• Benjamin, Walter, excerpt from "What Is Epic Theater" (1939), from Huxley
and Witts, Twentieth-Century Performance Reader, pp. 64-70. &
14
• J.L. Styan, Modern Drama, Vol 3, pp. 150-184
• Denis Calandera, Excerpt from “Karl Vanentine and Bertolt Brecht,” from Joel
Schecter, ed., Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook, pp. 188-191, 198-199, &
• David Richard Jones, "Bertolt Brecht and the Couragemodell 1949" in Great
Directors at Work, pp. 78-137. &
• John Willett, The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht (1959)
• John Fuegi, Bertolt Brecht: Chaos, According to Plan (1987).
• Brecht's Modellbuchs for Mother Courage and Galileo in Becker.
*Brechtian Performance Project in class today.
Thurs., 3/23: Thornton Wilder, Luigi Pirandello and Metatheatre. Film Clips: Pirandello
(Theatre History); The Wooster Group’s production of Our Town (Route 1 and 9).
Required Reading:
• In Badiou’s The Century, Chapt. 5: “The Passion for the Real and the Montage
of Semblance,” pp. 48-57. ^ #
• Pirandello, Luigi. Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) in Caputi, pp.
210-256. ^ #
• Styan, J. L., Modern Drama, Vol. 2, pp. 76-84; 91-105. *
• Pirandello, Luigi, "Preface" to Six Characters in Search of an Author (1925)
from Charles Edward Aughtry, ed., Landmarks in Modern Drama, pp. 469-478.&
*
• Thornton Wilder, Our Town ^
*Pirandellian Performance Project in class today.
Week #10: March 28 and March 30: NO CLASS. SPRING BREAK.
Week #11
Tues., 4/4: American Theatre and Culture in the 1940s and 1950s: Hellman, O’Neill,
Williams, Miller (and August Wilson), the Actors Studio, the bomb, the Cold War and
TV. Film clips: the Marx Brothers, Screwball Comedy (His Girl Friday), O’Neill’s Long
Day’s Journey into Night (Theatre History); Film noir (Kiss Me Deadly).
Required:
You should be familiar with at least one play by Tennessee Williams, one play by
Arthur Miller and one play by August Wilson.
*American “Realism” Performance project in class today.
15
Thurs., 4/6: Post World War II Theatre and Drama: Existentialism and Absurdism in
Europe (Ionesco, Genet, Mrozek); Anger and After in the U.K. (Osborne, Pinter, Bond).
Required Reading:
In Badiou’s The Century, Chapt. 8: “Anabasis,” pp. 81-97.^ #
Ionesco, The Lesson and The Bald Soprano (Two one-act plays) ^
Pinter, Old Times ^
*“Absurdist” Performance Project (e.g., Beckett, Genet, Ionesco, Pinter) in
class today.
Week #12
Tues., 4/11: Beckett. Film clips: Buster Keaton; Chaplin’s Limelight (Theatre History);
Laurel and Hardy; Waiting for Godot (Zero Mostel and Burgess Meredith) (Theatre
History).
Required Reading:
• J. L. Styan, Modern Drama, Vol 2, pp. 124-137.*
• Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, http://samuelbeckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part1.html.
• Samuel Beckett, Not I, http://www.english.emory.edu/DRAMA/beckettnoti.html
• Samuel Beckett, Mp3 of Text for Nothing 8,
http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/aspen/mp3/beckett.mp3
• Martin Esslin, “The Theatre of the Absurd” in Cardullo, 499-502. & ^ #
Recommended:
• Samuel Beckett, Happy Days in Caputi. ^ #
• Arthur Adamov, The Invasion in Cardullo. & ^ #
• Other materials on Beckett at http://www.samuel-beckett.net/#x4.
Thurs., 4/13: America in the 1960s, Part 1: Vietnam (Rabe, Kopit), Styles of Black
Radical Will (Kennedy, Baraka, Gordone). Film Clips: Bread and Puppet Theatre
(Theatre History).
Required Reading:
Adrienne Kennedy, Funnyhouse of a Negro (1962)#
Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Dutchman (1964)# [PDF]Dutchman
Charles Gordone, No Place to Be Somebody (1967)#
*The American Dream Confronted Project: Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story and
LeRoi Jones’s Dutchman in class today.
16
Week # 13
Tues., 4/18: America in the 1960s, Part 2: Off-Broadway. The Living Theatre, the Open
Theatre, the Performance Group, Happenings, environmental Theatre. Film Clips:
Spalding Gray (Theatre History); The Performance Group’s Dionysus in ’69. Polish
Theatre: Polish Romanticism, Witkiewicz, Gombrowicz, Rozewicz, Kantor, Grotowski
and Poor Theatre. Film Clip: Grotowski’s Polish Laboratory Theatre (Theatre History);
The Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor.
Required Reading:
• Theodore Shank, selections on the Living Theatre in American Alternative
Theatre, pp. 1-37. & *
•Beck, Julian, excerpt from "Storming the Barricades" (1965), from Kenneth H.
Brown, The Brig (1963), pp. 6-35 & *
• Malina, Judith, excerpt from "Directing The Brig" (1964), from Brown, The
Brig, pp. 83-87. & *
• Interview with Julian Beck and other sound materials on Ubuweb at
http://www.ubu.com/sound/beck.html.
*1960s Political Theatre Project (e.g., a la The San Francisco Mime Troupe,
Teatro Campesino, The Living Theatre, The Open Theatre, etc.) in class
today.
Thurs., 4/20: Mabou Mines, Richard Foreman. Robert Wilson and Heiner Müller. Film
Clips: Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson productions.
Required Reading:
• Theodore Shank, selections on Robert Wilson and Richard Foreman in
American Alternative Theatre, pp. 123-135, 155-70. & *
• Michael Kirby, “Richard Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric Theater” TDR
• Richard Foreman, excerpts on his writing process from Reverberation
Machines, pp. 190-221. & *
• Richard Foreman’s Strong Medicine on Ubuweb at :
http://www.ubu.com/film/foreman.html
• Richard Foreman, “Program Notes for Pearls for Pigs” TDR 42, no 2.
• Müller, Hamletmachine & ^#”
• Theodore Shank, selections on Robert Wilson and Richard Foreman in
American Alternative Theatre, pp. 123-135, 155-70. &*
Week #14
Tues., 4/25: Suzan-Lori Parks (The America Play); Sarah Kane (Blasted); The Wooster
Group.
Required Reading:
17
• Suzan-Lori Parks, The America Play, in The America Play and Other Works. ^ #
• Sarah Kane, Blasted ^#
• David Savran, Breaking the Rules, pp. 9-45; 169-197. *#
• Wooster Group, Emperor Jones, DVD, view at the Media Library (We will try
to upload this to a class webpage).
• Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, An Octoroon^
• Gerald Rabkin, “Is there a Text on this Stage:
Theatre/Authorship/Interpretation.” Performing Arts Journal 9, No. 2/3 (1985),
pp. 142-159. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=07358393%281985%299%3A2%2F3%3C142%3AITATOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2 &
• Kermit Dunkelberg. “Confrontation, Simulation, Admiration: The Wooster
Group's Poor Theater.” TDR: The Drama Review 49, Number 3 (2005). URL:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_drama_review/toc/tdr49.3.html
• David Savran. “The Death of the Avant Garde.” TDR: The Drama Review 49, 3
(2005). http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_drama_review/toc/tdr49.3.html
Thurs., 4/27: The Facsimile Real.
Required Reading:
•W. David Hancock, The Race of the Ark Tattoo (25 pages) and an interview with
Hancock by Erika Munk (9 pages) and an introduction to his plays by Elinor Fuchs (5
pages).*
Recommended Reading:
•W. David Hancock, The Convention of Cartography, in Play: A Journal of Plays, vol. 1
(spring 2003).
• Etchells, Tim. Certain Fragments: Forced Entertainment. New York: Routledge, 1999.
*Postmodern Devised Theatre Performance Project in class today.
Week #15
Tues., 5/2: READING PERIOD. Catch-up day, if needed.
Thurs., 5/4: NO CLASS. Final papers are due to me in my office (room 210 Lyman
Hall) by noon today.
18