Department of English

Unlike any other literary form, plays are rarely complete in and of themselves. Nearly all plays are written to be performed onstage for live audiences. Most often, playwrights write for practitioners—directors, actors, and designers—who use a script as the “blueprint” from which a production can be built. But all readers of plays must use not only critical thought, but also personal intuition and imagination to discover: What might the written page look likeonstage? What could it sound like? And what should it feel like?

Although the word “drama” is often used as a catch-all category for non-musical works written for the stage, this class will consider an array of genres, including comedy, tragicomedy, absurdism, and metatheatre; it will also consider matters such as style, character, and language, as well as use of time, space, and theatrical effects. The material will touch on the historical origins of these forms, but will be drawn largely from the twentieth century to the present. Readings/viewings will likely include selected works by authors such as Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, Susan Glaspell, Sophie Treadwell, Bertolt Brecht, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett, Lorraine Hansberry, Caryl Churchill, August Wilson, Paula Vogel, Suzan-Lori Parks, Taylor Mac, and Lynn Nottage (among others). In Spring 2026, the class will have the opportunity to see Philadelphia productions of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (or an adaptation of his Julius Caesar), as well as newer works in regional premieres.