This seminar is an introduction to the work of performers and playwrights who have made a major impact on the shape and understanding of theater studies in the past three decades. Some of the performers whose work we will study include: Karen Finely, Anna Deavere Smith, Holly Hughes, Deb Margolin, Lois Weaver, Annie Sprinkle, Peggy Shaw and Adrian Piper. Students in this seminar will also have the opportunity to script and perform their own performance pieces. In class participation constitutes a large segment of the course material. Much of the course material has been caught up in the censorship/pornography debates of in our recent history. Join the seminar with an open mind and a willingness to view and discuss material that is sexually explicit.