Theatre
Arts 274
DRAMATURGY
Professor
Mazer
Spring
2015
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 (downloadable for the Canvas site) 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
possibly 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.
One
assignment might be aided by an in-class visit from research librarian Samantha
Kirk.
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. Early in the semester we will pick a
theme for the season, relating EITHER to 1) The Great Divide (relating to the
widening gap between the 1% and the 99%), 2) Communities, Police, and Violence
(inspired by Ferguson, Staten Island, etc.), OR 3) Terrorism and Free Speech
(inspired by recent events in Paris).
Unlike in previous years, the seasonÕs theme might NOT be something we
wish to advertise, but might be something the seasonÕs plays reference
indirectly, without the audience necessarily realizing it (e.g. Wicked
being about the vilification of the Other, Into the Woods being about
AIDS, etc.). Our collective task is
to decide on the scale and mission of our hypothetical theatre company; to
define what we mean by our seasonÕs theme; and to select a full season of
plays, representing a balance of genre, tone, and company size, etc.,
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.
Our particular challenge will be to support the theme of the season,
even if we donÕt necessarily want the audience to notice that the season has
that particular theme.
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.