Download Syllabus

SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS
University of Virginia, Academic Sponsor
Voyage: Fall 2014
Discipline: Drama
SEMS 2500-104: Theatre Around the Atlantic
Lower Division
Faculty Name: Reade Dornan
Credit Hours: 3; Contact Hours: 38
Pre-requisites:
None
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Featuring historic landmarks of 19th and 20th century drama, the plays in this course
will highlight key theatrical movements around the rim of the Atlantic. We will begin
with the Moscow Art Theatre and Chekhov's Cherry Orchard. We will read an
assortment of plays from Belgium, France, Ireland, Spain and Africa. The selections
draw on the ideologies of the symboliste and Theatre of the Absurd movements on the
European continent. We will also explore the themes of Anti-Colonialism in Africa,
South America, and Ireland as expressed in our plays. Discussions will center on how
these movements grew out of their time and place. In South America, we will
experiment with theatre games from Augusto Boal's workshops, which he once
conducted in Brazil and around the world. Assessments will be based heavily on class
participation, quizzes, and a final exam.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. To employ theatre games for unpacking the thematic currents of each play
1. To enjoy plays that are landmarks in world theatre
2. To ground each reading in the contexts of its time, in the theoretical movements that
shaped the style and ideas of the plays, and in their continued influences on later theatre
3. To engage with plays interactively, to envision staging possibilities and multiple
interpretations
4. To make connections between the history, politics, social conditions of the countries we
visit and their lasting arts
5. To appreciate the ways that the language of drama shapes a sense of community
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
AUTHOR: Boal, Augusto
TITLE: Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy
PUBLISHER: Routledge
ISBN #: 0-415-10349-5
DATE/EDITION: 1995
AUTHOR: Friel, Brian
TITLE: Translations
PUBLISHER: Faber and Faber
ISBN # 978-0-571-11742-0
2
DATE: 1981
AUTHOR: Jeyifo, Biodun
TITLE: Modern African Drama
PUBLISHER:Norton Critical Edition
ISBN # 0-393-97529-0
DATE/EDITION: 2002
AUTHOR: Maeterlinck, Maurice (available electronically)
TITLE: Pelléas and Mélisande
PUBLISHER: Bibliobazar, 2011
PLACE: Lexington, KY
DATE: 2011
AUTHOR: Tirso de Molina (aka Fray Gabriel Téllez)
TITLE: The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest
PUBLISHER:Aris and Phillips Hispanic Classics
ISBN # 0856683019
DATE/EDITION: 1986
AUTHOR: Walcott, Derek
TITLE: Moon-Child
PUBLISHER: Farrar Straus, and Giroux
ISBN #978-0-374-53339-7
DATE/EDITION 2012
And photocopies of three chapters.
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO BUY THE SIX TEXTS LISTED ABOVE, ANY EDITION
WILL DO. YOU MAY FIND THEM AT SECOND-HAND BOOKSTORES OR YOU
CAN PHOTOCOPY THEM FROM LIBRARY EDITIONS. FOR DIFFICULT-TOFIND PLAYS, STUDENTS SHOULD ALSO CONSIDER BUYING THE
INEXPENSIVE SCRIPTS AT www.samuelfrench.com.
NOTE IF YOU WANT FREE COPIES OF THE CHEKHOV PLAY, YOU MUST PRINT
THEM OUT BEFORE LEAVING ON SAS BECAUSE THE INTERNET SYSTEM ON
BOARD IS TOO SLOW TO ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK. OTHERWISE, YOU CAN
BUY THEM FROM THE UVA BOOKSTORE.
REGARDLESS OF EDITION OR SOURCE, YOU MUST HAVE A PERSONAL,
HARD COPY OF THE FOLLOWING DRAMATIC WORKS TO PARTICIPATE IN
CLASS.
2
3
1. Cherry Orchard by Chekhov (print it out FREE at gutenberg.org)
2. Three Penny Opera by Bertolt Brecht
3. Happy Days by Samuel Beckett
TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE
B1- August 26: Introduction to Theatre: European Theatre and Modernism
*B2 - August 28: Read Cherry Orchard by Chekhov Topic: Pre-Revolutionary Russian
Theatre--Stanislavsky and Moscow Art Theatre -B3- September 2: Read Three Penny Opera by Bertolt Brecht.
Germany/Poland Topic: Brecht's "Epic Theatre" and Jerzy Grotowski
B4- September 4: View Three Penny Opera in class and more on Brecht.
Short intro to Maeterlinck. Nothing due.
*B5 -September 11: Read the Pélléas and Mélisande libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck
Antwerp Topic: Symboliste Drama, the Dada Movement, and theatre
*B6 - September 13: View the film and read Happy Days by Samuel Beckett before
coming to class. France Topic: Theatre of the Absurd and Mid-century drama
*B7- September 21: Read Chapter 2, pp. 9-36 "Cultural Roots" from Imagined Communities
by Benedict Anderson AND the play we will be experiencing in our field lab,
September 26 (if we have advanced notice of it).
*B8- September 23: Read Translations by Brian Friel Ireland Topic: The power of
language to form community identity and nationalism.
Sept. 26 Field Lab: A Day with the Irish Writers and the Dublin Theatre Festival
*B9- September 29: : Read The Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina (Fray Gabriel Téllez)
Spain Topic: Don Juan and his legacy in European film and theatre
B10- October 6 : : Nothing due--Wrap-up on European Theatre & QUIZ in class
B11- October 12: : Read pp. 415-433 in Modern African Drama Morocco
Topic: Introduction to African theatre and the profound influences of Islam and
colonialism
*B12- October 14: Read "Death and the King's Horseman" by Nigerian Wole Soyinka
AND critical articles on his Nobel Prize winning work (pp. 548-569 in anthology)
*B13- October 20: Read "The Dilemma of a Ghost" by Ama Ata Aidoo (in anthology)
3
4
AND the articles on her Ghanaian plays (582-601 in anthology) Ghana
*B14- October 22: "Sizwe Bansi is Dead" by South African Athol Fugard (in anthology)
B15- October 24: Read the short article, "Shakespeare in the Bush" by Linda Bohannan
(available electronically and online from Natural History magazine,
August/September, 1966).
B16- October 30 - Read pp. 433-493 in Modern African Drama Topic: Ideology on stage
B17- November 1: Nothing due--A Wrap-up on African theatre & QUIZ in class
B18- November 4: Read "Cultural Imperialism at Its Most Fashionable" by Roger M.
Allen (available electronically) Topic: Influences of Europe and America on Brazil
and its theatre. In class we may view scenes from
Como querem beber agua : Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro
B19- November 6: Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed-- San Salvador
Topic: Theatre of the Oppressed practices and Agitprop & some workshoping
B20- November 16: A Rainbow of Desire by Boal-- Rio de Janeiro
Topic: A Boalean Workshop
B21 - November 18: Read "Is There That I Born: The Gift of Place" by Paula
Burnett (available electronically and also in the book). Topic: Derek Walcott and
the Latin/o Theatre of the Caribbean
*B22- November 21: Read Moon-Child by St. Lucian and Nobel Prize in Literature
Winner Derek Walcott Barbados
B23- November 25: Cuban Theatre of Protest and Music
B24- November 27: Nothing due--preparation for the final exam
B25 -December 5: (All Day Finals): Final exam over major theatre movements
METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING RUBRIC
Requirements:
1. Read ten plays, select chapters in Rainbow of Desire and Imagined Communities
as well as four articles in the digital file, and the introductory material on
African drama
4
5
2. Participate in the class' theatre games
3. Take part in the discussions
4. Participate in the Field Lab and write a follow-up essay
5. Write the two announced quizzes and a final exam
Grading (Roughly 400 maximum points)
Daily participation in the theatre games and discussions of readings = 100 points total.
You will earn 5 points each day you participate in class by writing about or
performing in a play. Written responses and quizzes are graded on a pass/fail basis.
Points are awarded on the basis of effort and demonstration of comprehension
Two Quizzes = 50 points each (100 points total)
Field lab and essay = 100 points
Final exam = 100 points
ATTENDANCE: Because daily attendance is crucial to the functioning of this class, you
are permitted only TWO absences without question. Please save those days for
emergencies-- heavy study schedule, external activities, long shore time--allow excused
absences ONLY for serious illness accompanied by a doctor's excuse or equally serious
event. Excess absences reduce your final grade in the course by a half grade (-.5) for
each time missed beyond the allotted one. If you are having problems attending the
class or accessing the plays so you cannot participate in class activities, please make
new arrangements with me.
The Honor System assumes that you do your own thinking, reading, and writing in this
course. Plagiarism is the use of material that is in part or whole not entirely your own
work without crediting those same portions to the original source. You must credit
ALL ideas, sequences of ideas, wording, facts, opinions and any other intellectual
property to the person or group of people who generated them. This applies to taking
material verbatim from the Internet and to short phrases that you might borrow from
another source as well as to full length sentences or whole paragraphs. Failure to treat
your information sources honestly is a serious breach of academic protocol and could
lead to failure in the whole course. If you have any doubt about how to treat your
sources honestly, please ask me to read your paper before you hand it in for credit.
RESERVE LIBRARY LIST
AUTHOR :Zarrilli, Phillip B., et.al.
TITLE Theatre Histories
PUBLISHER: Routledge
DATE/EDITION: 2010 [second edition]
AUTHOR: Grotowski
5
6
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "The Theatre's New Testament" and "Towards a Poor
Theatre"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Towards a Poor Theatre
PUBLISHER: Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster
DATE: 1968
PAGES: pp. 15-53
AUTHOR Kerr, David, ed.
TITLE African Theatre: Media & Performance
PUBLISHER: Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK
DATE/EDITION: 2011
AUTHOR: King, Kimball, ed.
TITLE: Western Drama Through the Ages
PUBLISHER: Greenwood Press
ISBN #:978-0-313-32936-4
DATE/EDITION, a two-volume set: 2007
AUTHOR: :Winograd, Annabelle
TITLE: Dada and Surrealist Performance
PUBLISHER: PAJ
DATE/EDITION: :1994
ELECTRONIC COURSE MATERIALS
AUTHOR: Allen, Roger M.
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Cultural Imperialism at Its Most Fashionable"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics
PUBLISHER: Duke UP
DATE: 1999
PAGES: pp.447-453
AUTHOR Anderson, Benedict
TITLE: "Cultural Roots" from Imagined Communities
PUBLISHER: Verso
DATE/EDITION: 1983
PAGES: Chapter 2, pp. 9-36
AUTHOR: :Bohannan, LauraA
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Shakespeare in the Bush: An American Anthropologist Set
Out to Study the TIV of West Africa and Was Taught the True Meaning of Hamlet."
JOURNAL TITLE: Natural History
6
7
VOLUME:75
DATE: 1966 (also available on the Internet)
PAGES: pp. 28-33
AUTHOR: Burnett, Paula
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Is There That I Born: The Gift of Place"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Derek Walcott: Politics and Poetics
PUBLISHER: Florida UP
DATE:2000
PAGE: pp. 29-62.
FILMS AVAILABLE ON DVD THROUGH VIRGO These DVDs will be available
over the Intranet and scenes from them may be shown in class:
The Cherry Orchard
Como querem beber agua : Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro
Happy Days
Pélléas et Mélisande
Three Penny Opera
We are the Music! Nosotros, la música! The Golden Age of Cuban Music
HONOR CODE
Semester at Sea students enroll in an academic program administered by the University
of Virginia, and thus bind themselves to the University’s honor code. The code prohibits
all acts of lying, cheating, and stealing. Please consult the Voyager’s Handbook for
further explanation of what constitutes an honor offense.
Each written assignment for this course must be pledged by the student as follows: “On
my honor as a student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received aid on this
assignment.” The pledge must be signed, or, in the case of an electronic file, signed
“[signed].”
7