Download Yale School of Drama

Yale School of Drama
Paul Walsh
Summer 2017
Exemption Examination in the History of Theater and Drama
All students at the Yale School of Drama are expected to have a working knowledge of the
history of world theater and drama. Usually students fulfill this expectation by satisfactorily
completing Drama 6, a year-long introduction to the history of theater and drama as an art form,
as a profession, as a social event, and as an agent of cultural definition through the ages.
Occasionally students come to the Yale School of Drama with an excellent knowledge and
understanding of the history of theater and the world repertory. These students may seek to be
exempted from one or both semesters of Drama 6 by satisfactorily passing the three-hour
exemption exam offered before the start of each semester. To be exempted from taking Drama 6,
students must pass the exemption exam (with a score of at least 80 out of 100) before the course
is offered in their department’s curriculum (i.e., September or January of their first year for all
but design, TD&P and dramaturgy students).
The exemption exam for Drama 6A (“To 1700”) will be offered on DATE/TIME (TBD). The
exemption exam for Drama 6B (“Since 1700”) will be offered during the first week of January
2018. Students wishing to test out of either semester of Drama 6 must take the exemption exam
at the time scheduled by the registrar: no accommodation can be made for students who are
unavailable to take the exemption exam at the officially scheduled time.
While the format and content of the exams change each year, students will be expected to be able
to do the following:
1. Discuss important individuals, events, performances, and plays from the various periods and
cultures of world theater (to 1700 for the fall exam and after 1700 for the spring exam);
2. Discuss significant dramatic forms and approaches to staging;
3. Discuss and compare theatrical and dramatic trends and activities in major periods of
theatrical history, identifying the contributions of key individuals, plays, and performances;
4. Discuss and compare principle characteristics of theatrical performances in different periods
and cultures, including both dramatic and performance conventions, the means of theatrical
and dramatic production (playwriting, acting, design, management etc.), theater architecture,
the place of theater and theatrical performance in individual cultures and societies, and the
changing functions that theater and theatrical performance served in different historical
periods and cultures;
5. Discuss and compare representative plays and performances (of your own choosing) from
each of the major periods, genres and/or movements in the history of world drama (including
thematic resonances, dramatic conventions, and performance strategies);
Drama 6 Exemption Exam — 2
6. Make comparisons and connections among major theatrical trends, periods, styles and
functions.
The fall 2017 exemption examination will be comprised of short answer and essay questions.
While students are expected to be able to discuss key individuals, concepts and terms, the exam
will require more than simple memorization and identification. Students will be expected to
demonstrate an ability to think critically, comparatively, analytically, and historically about
aspects of the history of theater and drama. For example, students might be asked to do some or
all of the following:
1. Discuss the importance to the history of world theater and drama of selected playwrights,
actors, designers, managers, political figures, and theorists (e.g., Titus Maccius Plautus,
Aristotle, Zeami Motokiyo, Hildegard von Bingen, Edward Alleyn, Giacomo Torelli,
Montdory), identifying the period and country in which the individual was active and his or
her importance to the history of theater and drama (referencing at least one play by major
playwrights, naming the most significant theoretical texts of major theorists, and discussing
major contributions by significant actors, managers, and designers), and comparing their
contributions to those of other important figures.
2. Discuss and compare aspects of major periods or movements in the history of world theater,
placing each in its historical context and mentioning, as appropriate, at least two important
figures (actors, directors, playwrights, personalities) and two plays associated with each
(e.g., discuss the impact of staging innovations during the Italian Renaissance on 17thcentury Spanish theater, discuss the differences between Elizabeth tragedy and French
Neoclassical tragedy).
3. Discuss key terms, genres, character types, dramatic forms, or types of staging in the history
of theater and drama with appropriate reference to personalities, plays, and events (e.g., satyr
play, ekkyklema, Kathakali, Comedy of Manners, Arcade staging, vraisemblance, Teatro
Olimpico, corrales).
4. Write two or three detailed essays on specific topics, supplying illustrative examples and
details and arguing a particular thesis. Such essays may ask students to:
A) Compare theater and drama in different periods or countries, discussing differences in
theatrical architecture, staging and dramatic conventions, acting styles, or the relationship
of theater to society.
Sample Essays (Type A)
a. With particular examples from at least two characteristic plays from each period and
including consideration of dramatic and staging conventions, discuss the differences
between English comedy during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods (1558-1613) and
English comedy from the Restoration to 1700.
Drama 6 Exemption Exam — 3
b. With reference to at least two characteristic plays from each period and including
considerations of dramatic and staging conventions, discuss similarities and differences
between ancient Attic tragedy of the 5th century BCE, and 17th-century French tragedy.
c. With reference to at least three plays of the period discuss the effects of the Italian
Renaissance on theatrical production in England, France and Spain to 1700 (including
considerations of staging, playwriting, design, theory, etc.)
B) Compare major trends in theater and drama in different countries and/or different
centuries, mentioning important people, events, ideas, innovations, etc. as appropriate.
Sample Essays (Type B)
a. With reference to at least three plays from three different periods and theatrical cultures
compare how theater and drama contributed to the formation of distinctive civic and/or
national cultures. How did form, style, and mode of production reflect the social values
and interests of a particular city, nation or culture?
b. Compare and contrast court theater and courtly patronage of theater with specific
reference to theatrical culture in at least three of the following: France, Spain, India,
China, Japan.
c. Discuss changing notions and uses of scenic space in three distinctive theatrical cultures
between 1350 and 1700.
Anyone who has taken courses in the history of theater and drama (and presumably most of you
have) probably has a standard theater history textbook. Any of the following will assist you with
your review of pertinent facts and information:
Peter Arnott (1981). The Theater in Its Time: An Introduction. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
Margot Berthold (1999). The History of World Theater Vol. 1, From the Beginnings to the
Baroque. New York: Continuum
Oscar G. Brockett and Franklin J. Hildy (2008). History of the Theatre. 10th ed., Boston:
Allyn & Bacon (or any edition)
John Russell Brown (2001). The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. New York: Oxford
Univ. Press.
Erica Fischer-Lichte (2002). History of European Drama and Theatre. London: Routledge.
Glynne Wickham (1999). A History of the Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Phillip B. Zarrilli, Bruce McConachie, Gary Jay Williams, and Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei
(2006). Theatre Histories: An Introduction. New York: Routledge.