Theatre Arts 100 INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE ARTS Professor Mazer Fall 1996 Bennett Hall 305, x7382; cmazer@dept.english.upenn.edu Office Hours: Tu 1:30-3:00, Th 1:00-2:30, and by appointment September 5: Introduction: What is Theatre? September 10: Theatre and Representation Reading: Susanne K. Langer, "The Dramatic Illusion," from Feeling and Form (bulkpack). September 12: Theatre and Representation (cont.) Reading: Bernard Beckerman, "Imitation and Presentation," from Theatrical Presentation: Performer, Audience and Act (bulkpack). September 17: Acting and Behavior Guest Lecturer: Jim Schlatter, Theatre Arts Reading: Robert Cohen, "Playing the Situation: Out of the Self," from Acting Power: An Introduction to Acting (bulkpack). September 19: Acting and Action Reading: Bernard Beckerman, "The Theatrical Segment" and "The Dramatic Segment," pp. 44-64, from Dynamics of Drama: Theory and Method of Analysis (bulkpack). [REQUIRED THEATREGOING: A Dream Play, adapted from the play by August Strindberg, Theatre Arts Program, Studio Theatre, Annenberg Center, Sept. 18-21] September 24: Action and Character I Reading: Arthur Schnitzler, La Ronde; Beckerman, Dynamics of Drama, pp. 64-77 (bulkpack). September 26: Action and Character I (cont.) Reading: La Ronde (cont.); Beckerman, Dynamics of Drama, pp. 79-128 (bulkpack). [APPROXIMATE DUE DATE: Take-Home Assignment #1] October 1: Action and Character II Reading: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House. October 3: Action and Character II (cont.) Reading: A Doll House (cont.). October 8: Action and Character II (cont.) Reading: A Doll House (cont.); William Archer, Playmaking: "Dramatic and Undramatic," and "The Obligatory Scene" (bulkpack). October 10: Action and Character III Reading: William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. [fall break] October 17: Action and Character IV Reading: Aristotle, The Poetics. [REQUIRED THEATREGOING: Tartuffe, by Molière, Theatre Arts Program, Studio Theatre, Annenberg Center, October 17-19] October 22: Character, Action, and Place Reading: Ibsen, A Doll House; Roland Barthes, "The Reality Effect" (bulkpack); Bert O. States, "The Scenic Illusion: Shakespeare and Naturalism," from Great Reckonings in Little Rooms: On the Phenomenology of Theater (bulkpack). October 24: Character, Action, and Place Guest Lecturer: Peter Whinnery, Theatre Arts. Reading: Ibsen, A Doll House. [REQUIRED THEATREGOING: Marco Polo Sings a Solo, by John Guare, Theatre Arts Program, Studio Theatre, Annenberg Center, October 24-26] October 29: Representation and Place Reading: Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing; Alan C. Dessen, "Shakespeare and the Theatrical Conventions of his Time" (bulkpack). October 31: Acting Alternatives I: Presentation and Ideology Guest Lecturer: Jim Schlatter, Theatre Arts Reading: Essays by Bertolt Brecht: "The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre," "Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction," "Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting," "The Street Scene," and "A Short Organum for Theatre." (bulkpack). November 5, 7: Presentation and Ideology Reading: Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. November 12: Shakespeare, Language, and the Actor Reading: John Barton, "The Two Traditions" and "Using the Verse," Playing Shakespeare (bulkpack). November 14: Shakespeare in Performance Special Guests: members of the ACTER troupe. [REQUIRED THEATREGOING: Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, ACTER, November 13 and 15] November 19: Shakespeare: Inventing a Convention of Staging (ACTER's Much Ado About Nothing). [APPROXIMATE DUE DATE: Take-Home Assignment #2] November 21: Acting Alternatives II: Representing Others Guest Lecturer: Rose Malague, Theatre Arts Reading: Bert O. States, "The Actor's Presence: Three Phenomenal Modes" (bulkpack); "Anna Deavere Smith: the Word Becomes You," an interview by Carol Martin (bulkpack). Video Screening (to be arranged): Anna Deavere Smith, Fires in the Mirror. [REQUIRED THEATREGOING: The Revenger's Tragedy, by Cyril Tourneur, Theatre Arts Program, Studio Theatre, Annenberg Center, November 21-23.Theatre Arts Program, Studio Theatre, Annenberg Center, November 22-23] November 26: Performance, Ideology, and Gender Guest Lecturer: Rose Malague, Theatre Arts Reading: Gay Gibson Cima, "Strategies for Subverting the Canon," and Rhonda Blair, "`Not...but'/`Not-Not-Me': Musing on Cross-Gender Performance," from Upstaging Big Daddy (bulkpack) [Thanksgiving] December 3, 5: Putting it Together: Script to Performance (an intensive look at a script and/or performance from earlier in the semester, or one in preparation for next semester; readings and guest lecturer to be announced). [REQUIRED THEATREGOING: Downtown Diner, Theatre Arts Program, Studio Theatre, Annenberg Center, December 5-7] In addition to the two take-home essays, there is a choice of EITHER a final examination, at the date scheduled by the registrar, OR a 12-15 page final term paper, on an open topic, due FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13. ALL TERM PAPER TOPICS MUST BE APPROVED BY ME BY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26. Late term papers will not be accepted; if you cannot complete your paper by the deadline, you must take the exam. Books (including La Ronde, Ibsen Plays, V. I, Much Ado About Nothing, Aristotle's Poetics, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle) can be purchased at the Penn Book Center, 37th and Walnut; the Bulkpack can be purchased at the Campus Copy Center, 39th and Walnut. YOU ARE REQUIRED to see (and you will almost certainly be asked to write about) productions and performances around the Philadelphia area over the course of the semester, including productions in the Studio Theatre of the Annenberg Center sponsored by the Theatre Arts Program, as noted on the syllabus. Additional required productions may be added over the course of the semester. I have set up a listserv for this course on e-mail, to which you have been automatically subscribed (if this is not so, contact me via e-mail). You will be sent a copy of every e-mail message posted to the listserv, and any message you send will be distributed to everyone who signs up (including the professor). Important announcements about assignments and due dates, notices about local theatre events, etc., will be posted regularly, so CHECK YOUR E-MAIL EVERY DAY. The listserv can also be used by you and your classmates as a clearing house for thoughts and impressions about the readings and the class discussions. Just send a note to Mazer100@english.upenn.edu, or reply to any message you receive over the listserv. (But remember: everything you post can be read by everyone; if you have any private comments, or any private replies to a query you read on the listserv, you should send a message privately to the individual's own e-mail address, rather than replying through the listserv). If you are not yet on e-mail, GET AN ACCOUNT IMMEDIATELY; you can access your account through your own computer (via a modem or an ethernet connection), or through any computer hooked up to the network (e.g. in the library, in the English Department office, in the Undergraduate English lounge, etc.).