Theatre
Arts 274
DRAMATURGY
Professor
Mazer
Spring
2014
519
Annenberg Center, 3-2659; cmazer@english.upenn.edu
Office
Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays
1:30-2:30, and by appointment
THERE
IS NO SYLLABUS, PER SE, FOR THIS COURSE; the course is not organized on a tight
schedule of weekly readings and occasional writing assignments. Rather, there will be regular in-class
discussions of ongoing topics through the semester, with some of them cued to
specific readings; and there will be regular assignments of succinct oral
presentations (since much of the dramaturgÕs work in
the theatre involves making succinct and persuasive oral presentations). Some of the presentations will be
individual; other assignments may be team presentations (since virtually
all of the dramaturgÕs work in the theatre involves
collaboration as a team member). At
the end of the semester, there is a final project, which may be team or may be
individual.
I. Discussion Topics and Readings.
Topics
include: What is a dramaturg? What
is the dramaturgÕs function? What is the dramaturgÕs
function in relation to certain institutional structures, special tasks, ways
of organizing rehearsals, etc.?
Readings
will be drawn, for the most part, from Dramaturgy in American Theater: A Source Book, ed. Susan Jonas,
Geoffrey S. Proehl, and Michael Lupu. Essays to be read include:
Anne
Cataneo, ÒDramaturgy: An Overview.Ó
Joel
Schechter, ÒIn the Beginning There Was Lessing ... Then Brecht, MŸller and
Other Dramaturgs.Ó
Martin
Esslin, ÒTowards an American Dramaturgy: Adapting the function of dramaturgy to
U.S. conditions.Ó
Geoffrey
S. Proehl, ÒThe Images Before Us: Metaphors for the Role of the Dramaturg in American Theater.Ó
and other
essays to be announced. There way be additional readings, for other sources,
depending on our other work during the semester.
II. Historical/Social/Contextual Research
(bi-weekly, team).
€_Every
other week, each team will be assigned to research a particular aspect of a
particular period, country, social class and/or activity. The team can divide the assignment and
presentation any way they wish.
BEFORE THE CLASS when the assignment is due, each team will post
information, visual aids, etc. on the Canvas site, along with bibliographical
references (reference book, web site, etc.) for the sources of the information;
in class, each team will make a brief presentation.
III. Dramaturging
the Season.
Over
the course of the semester, we will both select a season of five plays
and begin dramaturgical work on at least one of these plays. The season has a theme: Òcommunities of difference.Ó Our collective task is to decide on the
scale and mission of our hypothetical theatre company; to define what we mean
by Òcommunities of differenceÓ; and to select a full season of plays,
representing a balance of genre, tone, and company size, appropriate to the
theatre companyÕs audience and community.
The
companyÕs Artistic Director has already decided that ONE OF THE PLAYS WILL BE
BY SHAKESPEARE or one of his contemporaries. During the first part of the semester,
we will devise a system for reading, discussing, and selecting the five plays
of the season, to be drawn from a list of appropriate plays we collectively
research and compile. It is likely
that the process will initially involve the groups assigning plays for
individual group members to report on, with a recommendation about whether the
rest of the group, and the entire class, should read the play. (I only ask that, in the initial stages,
individuals report on plays THAT THEY HAVE NOT READ BEFORE; if you know a
script that you think the group and the class should consider, that play should
initially be reported on by someone ELSE in your group.)
As
we select the plays, we will schedule individual and group dramaturgical
projects for some or all of the plays in the season. These might include:
Researching
period contexts, historical and political details, etc.
Preparing
visual materials for the director, designers, and cast.
For
the Shakespeare play: recommending
period settings (historical, Elizabethan, contemporary, some other period,
eclectic), preparing doubling schemes, cutting the text, etc. (We will be assisted by readings from
Andrew James Hartley, The Shakespearean Dramaturg).
If
we choose to cast the season from a resident company of actors, devising cross-casting between the five plays of the season.
IV. New Play Dramaturgy.
Special
guest (date to be announced):
Edward Sobel, former Director of New Play
Development, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, and dramaturg
for the original productions of both August: Osage County and Superior Donuts
at Steppenwolf and on Broadway; currently Assistant Professor of Theatre at
Temple University. Until recently
he was Associate Artistic Director of the Arden Theatre, where he directed Superior
Donuts, Clybourne Park, and Endgame,
and created The WritersÕ Room. (Sobel is a Penn alumnus and Theatre Arts minor, class of
1987).
V. Required Theatregoing: TO
BE DETERMINED.
VI. The final writing assignment.
At
the end of the semester (at a date to be announced) we will, individually or
collectively, prepare a set of written and visual materials for THE ENTIRE
SEASON, including some or all of the following: a) a program note about the playwrights;
b) a program note about the plays and the (hypothetical) productions; c) a
packet of materials for a program insert or a subscriber bulletin; d) a packet
of materials to be sent to the press; e) a packet of materials to be sent to
school groups; f) visual displays for the theatre lobby; on-line blogs,
articles, visual materials, etc.
Materials should be posted on the website for comment, and presented in
the final class.
Attendance
and participation are mandatory.
Persistent unexcused absences, especially an absence on a day of an
individual or team presentation, will be reflected in your semester grade. If your absences of unpreparedness
jeopardize another studentÕs work, you will be asked to drop the class.
The
books for the course (Dramaturgy in American Theater: A Source Book; The Shakespearean Dramaturg: A
Theoretical and Practical Guide; and The Shakespearean Dramturg) are available for purchase in the Penn Book Center
(34th and Sansom). Other readings will be posted to Canvas.