ENGL 244 A: Reading Drama

English 244: Reading/Watching Drama, or, 

What Do We Do When We Watch Theater? 

Course Overview:

The goal of this class is to make you more informed, confident and, especially, active participants in contemporary theater. We will approach this goal in four ways. First, we will be seeing a series theatrical productions during the course of the quarter, and discussing each of those productions both before and after we see them (I hope some could be in actual theaters, but that will depend upon covid-19). Second, we will be reading all or parts of two or more of these plays before or as we actually see the production—thinking ahead about possibilities for dramatic representations of what we have read. Third, you will be writing about what you see. You’ll be keeping an online Theater Portfolio as one part of your contribution to the formal work of the quarter, and I will be reviewing material from that portfolio as you write it. Fourth, we’ll be engaging as best we can in a range of informal dramatic exercises throughout the quarter, introducing you to a few theatrical techniques that will significantly increase your ability to “see” what’s happening on stage. 

This is a W course, and thus you will be writing something for almost every class; I'll use Canvas to make the assignments and I'll ask you to submit the writing you do to Canvas. I won't grade it all; in fact I won't even read it all. At course end I’ll also ask you to do a 2-3 page Self-reflective essay on your learning in the course. That's an assignment I ask from almost every class I teach, and those essays have done a great deal to make me a better teacher than I might otherwise have been. I'll be especially interested in what you will have to say...