Note: Majors and minors must register under the V30 number for the courses listed below. Fulfillment of the College’s expository writing requirement is a prerequisite to all dramatic literature courses.

SURVEY COURSES DRAMATIC LITERATURE

History of Drama and Theatre I and II

V30.0110, 0111  Identical to V41.0125, 0126. Either term may be taken alone for credit. 4 points per term.

Examines selected plays central to the development of world drama, with critical emphasis on a cultural, historical, and theatrical analysis of these works. The first semester covers the major periods of Greek and Roman drama; Japanese classical theatre; medieval drama; theatre of the English, Italian, and Spanish Renaissance; and French neoclassical drama. The second semester begins with English Restoration and 18th-century comedy and continues through romanticism, naturalism, and realism to an examination of antirealism and the major dramatic currents of the 20th century, including postcolonial theatre in Asia, Africa, and Australia.

ADVANCED ELECTIVES IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE

Theory of Drama

V30.0130  Identical to V41.0130. 4 points.

Explores the relationship between two kinds of theories: theories of meaning and theories of performance. Among the theories of meaning to be studied are semiotics, deconstruction, feminism, psychoanalysis, new historicism, and postmodernism. Theories of practice include naturalism, dadaism, futurism, epic theatre, theatre of cruelty, poor theatre, and environmental theatre. Theories are examined through theoretical essays and representative plays.

Naturalism

V30.0113  Identical to H28.0705. 4 points.

A study of the origins and development of the two most influential dramatic movements of this century. After noting such antecedents as 19th-century melodrama and the “well-made play,” we concentrate on the plays and theories of Gerhart Hauptmann, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, Émile Zola, and others. The social and psychological focus of these playwrights is discussed in terms of philosophical influences (Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Darwin) as well as in relation to important theatrical theorists, models, and institutions (Andre Antoine and the Theatre Libre, Konstantin Stanislavki and theMoscowArtTheatre). The continuing vitality of realism, as well as significant mutations of and modifications to it, are traced throughout the century.

Modern Drama: Expressionism and Beyond

V30.0114  Identical to H28.0602. 4 points.

A study of the various formal movements that developed in reaction to realism. After examining several 19th-century antecedents, including Buchner, we study the most important experimental styles of each successive era: symbolism, expressionism, surrealism, epic theatre, the theatre of the absurd, and postmodernism. Authors covered include Maeterlinck, Kaiser, Pirandello, Lorca, Beckett, Genet, Bond, Handke, Muller, and Benmussa. The philosophical context is explored through reading Freud, Marx, Sartre, and Derrida; and theoretical readings include essays by Artaud and Brecht. While the class focus is on the many styles that have evolved in the 20th-century search for a more expressive form, some attention is given to how this search still very much influences theatre artists today.

Gay and Lesbian Theatre

V30.0137  Identical to H28.0624. 4 points.

A survey of contemporary lesbian and gay plays from The Boys in the Band to Angels inAmerica. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with lesbian and gay plays written since 1968 as a discrete body of work within the field of contemporary theatre. The course focuses on plays and playwrights that have had a significant impact in the representation of homosexual life onstage. In addition, students consider the historical, political, and cultural developments from which gay theatre emerged and, through independent research projects, examine the communities that emerged in the process of creating gay theatre.

Popular Performance

V30.0138  Identical to H28.0621. 4 points.

A reevaluation of a wide variety of European and American forms that, beginning in the 16th century, were separated from “high culture” theatre. These include fairground performance, commedia dell’arte, carnival, puppet and mask theatre, mummers’ plays, circus, pantomime, minstrel shows, and vaudeville. Exploration of what popular performance does differently than “high culture” theatre, how it does so, and to whom it addresses itself. A study of characteristic forms and techniques of popular performance, the connection between Western and non-Western forms, and the central role of popular performance in 20th-century theatre.

Futurism

V30.0173  Identical to V59.0154. 4 points.

Course examines the early 20th-century futurist movement in literature, theatre, architecture, and art. Students present futurist plays and poems in class.

Tragedy

V30.0200  Identical to V41.0720 and V29.0110. 4 points.

Historical and critical study of the idea and practice of tragedy from Greek times to the present.

Comedy

V30.0205  Identical to V41.0725 and V29.0111. 4 points.

Study of comic forms, themes, and traditions from Aristophanes and early classical writing to the present.

Greek Drama: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

V30.0210  Identical to V27.0143. 4 points.

Of the many gifts of the ancient Greeks to Western culture, one of the most celebrated and influential is the art of drama. This course covers, by way of the best available translations, the masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The place of the plays in the history of the drama and the continuing influence they have had on serious playwrights, including those of the 20th century.

Comedies ofGreece andRome

V30.0211  Identical to V27.0144. 4 points.

Study of early comedy, its form, content, and social and historical background. Covers the Old Comedy of fifth-centuryAthens through the Attic New Comedy and Roman comedy. Authors include Aristophanes (11 comedies are studied, and one is staged); Euripides, whose tragedies revolutionized the form of both comedy and tragedy; Menander, whose plays were only recently discovered; and Plautus and Terence, whose works profoundly influenced comedy inWestern Europe.

Shakespeare I, II

V30.0225, 0226  Identical to V41.0410, 0411. Either term may be taken alone for credit. 4 points per term.

Introduction to the reading of Shakespeare. Examines about 10 plays each term, generally in chronological order. First term: the early comedies, tragedies, and histories up to Hamlet. Second term: the later tragedies, the problem plays, and the romances, concluding with The Tempest.

Colloquium: Shakespeare

V30.0230  Identical to V41.0415. Assumes some familiarity with Shakespeare’s works. Beginning students should take V30.0225, 0226. 4 points.

Explores the richness and variety of Shakespearean drama through an emphasis on the mastery of selected major plays. Six to eight plays are read intensively and thoroughly examined in discussion. Assumes some familiarity with Shakespeare’s works.

Restoration Theatre

V30.0235  Identical to H28.0716. 4 points.

The reopening of theatres after a long hiatus in 1660, the emergence of female actors, and the renewed commitment to writing for the theatre provide the starting point for this course. The plays of Dryden, Aphra Behn (the first commercially successful female playwright ofEngland), Wycherley, Congreve, Etherege, Otway, and Susana Centlivre are studied in the context of Restoration culture. Of special interest are topics such as spectatorship, public culture, censorship, propaganda, and antitheatricality. The survey of 18th-century British drama highlights the difference between “laughing” and sentimental comedy, and includes the works of John Gay, Henry Fielding, Oliver Goldsmith, and R. B. Sheridan, among others. Textual analysis of plays is supplemented by available performance records and actor biographies.

Feminism and Theatre

V30.0240  Identical to H28.0623. 4 points.

A study of plays by female playwrights and feminist theatre from the perspective of contemporary feminist theory. Considerations include: strategies for asserting new images of women on stage, the dramatic devices employed by female playwrights, lesbian aesthetics, race, class, and the rejection of realism. Possible plays and performance texts treated include those of Maria Irene Fornes, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Daniels, Wendy Wasserstein, Ntozake Shange, Adrienne Kennedy, Susan Glaspell, Aphra Behn, Alice Childress, Tina Howe, Holly Hughes, Karen Finley, Darrah Cloud, andSuzan-LoriParks.

Modern British Drama

V30.0245  Identical to V41.0614. 4 points.

Studies in the modern drama ofEngland andIreland, always focusing on a specific period, a specific group of playwrights, a specific dramatic movement of theatre, or a specific topic. Among playwrights covered at different times are Shaw, Synge, O’Casey, Behan, Osborne, Pinter, Stoppard, Bond, Friel, Storey, Hare, Edgar, Brenton, Gems, Churchill, and Daniels.

Modern American Drama

V30.0250  Identical to V41.0650. 4 points.

Study of the drama and theatre of America since 1900, including Eugene O’Neill, Susan Glaspell, the Group Theatre, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Adrienne Kennedy, Amiri Baraka, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, David Rabe, Arthur Kopit, August Wilson, George Wolfe, David Henry Hwang, John Guare, and Maria Irene Fornes.

Theatrical Genres

V30.0251  Identical to H28.0632. 4 points.

The course (different each time) explores one or more distinctive theatrical genres such as tragedy or comedy, melodrama, satire, or farce, or plays of distinctive theatrical types, such as theatre of the absurd, the documentary play, theatre of witness. Since theatrical genres and theatrical types come into being because playwrights respond to historical necessity by visualizing specific worldviews, the course presents a study of the role and function of the theatre within societies, as response to historical, psychological, and spiritual forces.

Modern U.S. Drama

V30.0253  Identical to H28.0608. 4 points.

A study of the drama and theatre in the United States since 1900, including Eugene O’Neill, Susan Glaspell, Sophie Treadwell, Elmer Rice, Clifford Odets and the Group Theatre, Thorton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Emily Mann, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Maria Irene Fornes, Adrienne Kennedy, August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, David Henry Hwang, David Rabe, Luis Valdez, and Tony Kushner. We explore these writers and their texts as they relate to the page, to the stage, and toU.S. culture at large. We discuss how these writers (and others) represent themselves and notions of “American-ness” in their dramatic works. We include important works from the margins as well as those that represent the mainstream. Does modernU.S. drama lead or followU.S. culture? Does it tend to be a design for living or a reflection of custom? We also explore the role of gender in culture as demonstrated in these works. DoesU.S. drama question the status quo or reinforce it? These and other interrogations inform our readings, discussions, and written assignments.

Major Playwrights

V30.0254  Identical to H28.0618. 4 points.

This course (different each time) focuses on two or three related major playwrights. For example: Brecht and Shaw, Chekhov and Williams, Churchill and Bond, Beckett and Pinter, Strindberg and O’Neill. An in-depth study of their writings, theories, and production histories of their plays in relation to biographical, cultural, political, and aesthetic contexts.

African American Drama

V30.0255  Identical to H28.0605. 4 points.

The study of African American dramatic traditions from early minstrelsy to turn-of-the-century musical extravaganzas; from the Harlem Renaissance folk plays to realistic drama of the 1950s; from the militant protest drama of the 1960s to the historical and experimental works of the present. Issues of race, gender, class; of oppression and empowerment; of marginality and assimilation are explored in the works of such playwrights as Langston Hughes, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Adrienne Kennedy, Charles Fuller, George C. Wolfe, Ntozake Shange, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Anna Deavere Smith. The sociohistorical context of each author is also briefly explored.

Asian American Theatre

V30.0256  Identical to H28.0606. 4 points.

This course acts as both an introduction to the genre of Asian American theatre and an interrogation into how this genre has been constituted. Through a combination of play analysis and historical discussion—starting with Frank Chen’s The Chickencoop Chinaman, the first Asian American play produced in a mainstream venue—the class looks at the ways Asian American drama and performance intersect with a burgeoning Asian American consciousness. We review the construction of Asian American history through such plays as Genny Lim’s Paper Angels and more recent works such as Chay Yew’s A Language of Their Own. We also read theoretical and historical texts that provide the basis for a critical examination of the issues surrounding Asian American theatre. Orientalism, media representation, and theories of genealogy inform our discussion.

Political Theatre

V30.0258  Identical to H28.0622. 4 points.

Major forms, plays, and theories of socially engaged theatre exemplifying performance as a site of resistance, social critique, and utopianism. While the course provides an examination of the historical development of political theatre, focus may vary semester to semester, from an examination of activist forms including agit-prop, pageantry, epic theatre, documentary, street theatre, women’s performance art to major theoretical perspectives and their practical translations since Brecht, including Boal and feminist and queer theory to plays and productions by the Blue Blouse, Clifford Odets, Bertolt Brecht, the Living Theatre, Bread and Puppet, El Teatro Campesino, Heiner Mueller, Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Ngu~g~i   wa Thiong’o, Split Britches, Tony Kushner, Emily Mann, and others.

Modern Central European Drama: From Brecht to Handke

V30.0260  Identical to V51.0081. Conducted in English. No knowledge of German is required. 4 points.

Central European drama from the reaction against expressionism through the epic theatre of Brecht and Piscator to the documentary and contemporary drama. Includes Brecht, Baal, A Man’s a Man, Galileo; Weiss, Marat/Sade; Dürrenmatt, Romulus the Great, The Visit; Frisch, The Firebugs; Kipphard, Oppenheimer; Handke, Kaspar; H. Müller, Cement; Ionesco, The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, The Chairs; E. Bond, Saved; and F. X. Kroetz, Farm Yard.

Theatre in the French Tradition

V30.0265  Identical to V45.0829. Conducted in English. 4 points.

Study of the theatrical genre inFrance including the Golden Age playwrights (Corneille, Racine, and Molière); 18th-century irony and sentiment; and the 19th-century theatrical revolution. Topics: theories of comedy and tragedy, development of stagecraft, romanticism and realism, the theatre as a public genre, its relationship to taste and fashion, and its sociopolitical function.

Metaphors of Modern Theatre

V30.0267  Identical to V45.0822. 2 points.

Close reading of contemporary theatre classics, emphasizing their use of vivid metaphors of the human condition and of the theatre as metaphor and as artistic process. Analyzes the plays in detail, thematically and stylistically. Each is seen as a highlight of nonrealistic theatre—a brilliant example of the sensibilities of European artists and thinkers in the period just after World War I (Pirandello) to World War II (Sartre) and the postwar, post-Hiroshima generation (Beckett).

Contemporary French Theatre

V30.0270  Identical to V45.0821. Conducted in English. 4 points.

Major figures of contemporary French drama: Jarry’s Ubu Roi as a rupture with the past; Claudel as the heir of the symbolists; Cocteau as innovator and poet; the theatre of the imagination, personified by Giraudoux; existentialist theatre in the works of Anouilh, Camus, and Sartre; and the theatre of the absurd in Beckett’s Endgame, Ionesco’s The Chairs, and Genet’s The Balcony. Concludes with new horizons and future perspectives—mime, radio, plays, and scenarios.

Pirandello and the Modern Italian Theatre

V30.0280  Identical to V59.0274. 4 points.

Development of the modern Italian theatre from D’Annunzio to Pirandello, on whom attention is especially focused. Pirandello’s masterpieces are read and discussed, including Right You Are If You Think You Are, Liolà, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Henry the Fourth. The impact of Pirandello’s work and theories on the modern theatre in Europe andAmerica. Representative theatrical works of Ugo Betti, Alberto Moravia, and Diego Fabbri.

Theatre in the Spanish Tradition

V30.0290  Identical to V95.0421. Formerly Spanish Theatre of the Golden Age. The prerequisite for this course is V95.0200 or permission of the director of undergraduate studies. 4 points.

Selected texts from 16th- and 17th-centurySpain (traditionally considered a Golden Age of art and literature), read in the context of Counter-Reformation culture andSpain’s changing place in early-modernEurope. Authors include Garcilaso, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderon de la Barca, Quevedo, and Góngora. The course may be taught with a focus on theatre or poetry or both. Course conducted in Spanish.

Spanish Theatre

V30.0291  Identical to V95.0450 The prerequisite for this course is V95.0200 or permission of the director of undergraduate studies. 4 points.

Study of dramatic texts and productions in modern and contemporarySpain. Emphasis on the structural features of drama: Does a particular play establish or violate the boundary between audience and stage? Does it merge or separate actor and character? Does it expand or destroy language? Texts by Valle-Inclán, García Lorca,Vallejo, Arrabal, and others in a European context. Course conducted in Spanish.

Theatre of LatinAmerica

V30.0293  Identical to H28.0748. 4 points.

An introduction to the history, theories, and practices of Latin American drama, focusing on the 20th century. We pay special attention to the historical reinvention of European-based theatrical forms in theAmericas through their continuous interaction with non-European cultural forms. Through the plays of leading dramatists—including Jorge Díaz, Egon Wolff, Sergio Vodanovic (Chile), José Triana (Cuba), René Marquez and Luis Rafael Sánchez (Puerto Rico), Isaac Chocrón (Venezuela), Emilio Carballido, Luisa Josefina Hernández, Sabina Berman, Elena Garro (Mexico), Osvaldo Dragún, Eduardo Pavlovsky, Roberto Cossa, and Griselda Gambaro (Argentina)—we explore the significance of modernist and postmodernist dramatic forms in cultures where industrial modernity is an insecure social context. We study the wealth of oppositional theatre inLatin America—exemplified by Augusto Boal’s “theatre of the oppressed”—in relation to the historical use (or abuse) of theatrical spectacle as a political means to control peoples, from the early Spanish conquerors to recent authoritarian state leaders. We read postcolonial Latin American theories of culture and art, such as hybridity, transculturation, Brazil’s modernist and anticolonial antropofagía, and the “aesthetics of hunger,” drawing on the work of Fernando Ortiz, Angel Rama, and Néstor García Canclini, among others. We consider “magical realism” in the theatre as a social poetics of scarcity.

Theatre in Asia

V30.0294  Identical to H28.0744. 4 points.

This course (different each time) examines different traditions, innovations, representations, and locations of Asian theatre. The influence of major aesthetic texts such as the Natyasastra and the Kadensho is studied in relationship to specific forms of theatre such as Kagura, Bugaku, Noh, Bunraku, Kabuki, Shingeki, Jingxi, Geju, Zaju, Kathakali, Kathak, Odissi, Chau, Manipuri, Krishnattam, Kutiyattam, Raslila, and P’ansori. The dramatization of religious beliefs, myths, and legends is examined in a contemporary context. Different focuses include Middle Eastern performance, Japanese theatre, traditional Asian performances on contemporary stages, religion and drama in Southeast Asia, and traditions ofIndia.

The Avant-Garde

V30.0295  Identical to H28.0731. 4 points.

An in-depth study of the origins, characteristics, and practical application of techniques of nonliterary/multimedia theatre, performance, and dance-theatre. Emphasis is placed on theatrical forms that have been influenced by the theories of Artaud and the European avant-garde; John Cage and visual aesthetics related to American acting, painting, collage, and environmental and conceptual art. Types of performance studied include dadaist, surrealist, and futurist plays; multimedia Happenings of Karpov, Oldenberg, Whitman; conceptual self-works and solos of performers such as Vito Acconci, Karen Finley, Spalding Gray, and Diamanda Galas; as well as the work of avant-gardists like Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, Meredith Monk, Ping Chong, Mabou Mines, LeCompte’s Wooster Group, and Pina Bausch.Readings supplemented by slides, videotape, and attendance at suggested performance events.

Topics in Performance Studies

V30.0301  Identical to H28.0650. 4 points.

This course (different each time) uses key theoretical concepts of the field of performance studies to examine a diverse range of performance practices. Topics include ritual studies, interculturalism, tourist performances, discourses of stardom, theatre anthropology, and documentary performances.

Interartistic Genres

V30.0508  Identical to H28.0634. 4 points.

This course (different each time) explores the history and semiotics of one of several hybrid genres, such as opera, dance drama, film adaptations of plays, or multimedia works.

Irish Dramatists

V30.0700  Identical to H28.0603, V30.0700, and V41.0700. 4 points.

A study of the rich dramatic tradition ofIreland since the days of William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, and the fledgling Abbey Theatre. Playwrights covered include John Millington Synge, Sean O’Casey, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Frank McGuinness, and Anne Devlin. Issues of Irish identity, history, and postcoloniality are engaged alongside an appreciation of the emotional texture, poetic achievements, and theatrical innovations that characterize this body of dramatic work.

Gender and Performance in Italian Theatre

V30.0720  Identical to V59.0720. 4 points.

If, as some contemporary critics maintain, gender is largely a performance, how was gender “performed” in the early modern period (1350-1700)? And how did its performance onstage differ from its performance offstage during a period that witnessed a rebirth of theatre? In this course we read a number of plays that explicitly highlight and question the status and performance of gender, as well as selections from political treatises, books of manners, and histioriography. Topics such as cross-dressing, the emergence of the actress and commedia dell’arte troupes, the dynamics of spectatorship, the development of perspective in painting and theatre, and court power relations are considered, as well the “revisions” that women playwrights and writers make to a largely male-dominated canon.

ELECTIVES IN PRACTICAL THEATRE

Drama in Performance inNew York

V30.0300  Identical to V41.0132. 4 points.

Combines the study of drama as literary text with the study of theatre as its three-dimensional translation both theoretically and practically. Drawing on the rich theatrical resources ofNew York City, about 12 plays are seen covering classical to contemporary and traditional to experimental theatre.Readings include plays and essays in theory and criticism.

Stagecraft

V30.0635, 0636  Identical to E17.0009, 0010. Either term may be taken alone for credit. 4 points per term.

Comprehensive, practical course in the various technical aspects of theatrical production. First term explores the planning, construction, and painting of scenery and the architecture of the stage. Second term deals with stage electrics, lighting, crafts, sound technology, and special effects.

Acting I

V30.0637, 0638  Identical to E17.0027, 0028. Either term may be taken alone for credit. 4 points per term.

Class hours are spent in the practice of improvisation, pantomime, and theatre games as well as brief scenes. Additional hours for rehearsal and performance of scenes.

Acting II

V30.0639, 0640  Identical to E17.0037, 0038. Either term may be taken alone for credit. 4 points per term.

Emphasis on scene study and the analysis and performance of characters. Students may be cast and rehearsed by members of the directing classes in brief scenes performed on Friday afternoons and in evenings of one-act performances, as well as staff-directed or -supervised, full-length productions.

Stage Lighting

V30.0641  Identical to E17.1143. 4 points.

Theories of light and lighting. The practice of lighting the stage. Experiments with light as design.

Costume Design

V30.0642  Identical to E17.1175. 4 points.

Costume design for the modern stage; the history of fashion.

Directing

V30.0643, 0644  Identical to E17.1081, 1082. Prerequisites: satisfactory work in V30.0639, 0640, or equivalent, and permission of adviser. V30.0643 is a prerequisite for V30.0644. 4 points per term.

Elements of play scripts are analyzed and dramatized. Students may cast and rehearse brief scenes performed on Friday afternoons.

Design for the Stage

V30.0645  Identical to E17.1017. 4 points.

Design for today’s stage in period and modern styles. Methods of originating and presenting a design conception. Practice in scene sketching.

Styles of Acting and Directing

V30.0646, 0647  Identical to E17.1099, 1100. 4 points.

Scenes from period plays (Greek, Roman, Elizabethan, neoclassical French, Restoration, and 18th- and 19th-century European) are studied and performed. A course in performance styles and techniques for those interested in acting, directing, design, theatre history, and criticism as well as for teachers of acting and directing.

Silent Theatre

V30.0648  Identical to E17.1113. 2 points.

Techniques for performing and teaching pantomime. Training in body control, gesture, and facial expressiveness. While basically a performance course, the history of mime as a theatre art is examined, and significant examples of Eastern and Western styles are studied.

Fundamentals of Acting I

V30.0649  Identical to H28.0850. 4 points.

An introduction to the central tools and skills that make up the actor’s art and craft. Through theatre games, structured improvisation, and beginning scene work, students exercise their imaginations, learn how to work as an ensemble, and develop a sense of their bodies as expressive instruments. All techniques covered have been developed by the most celebrated 20th-century theorists, such as Stanislavski, Grotowski, and Bogart, and are the same theories that underlie the training of the Tisch undergraduate acting conservatory. No prior experience necessary.

Fundamentals of Acting II

V30.0650  Identical to H28.0851. Prerequisites: Acting I and II, Fundamentals of Acting I, or permission of the instructor. 4 points.

A continuation of Fundamentals of Acting I, focusing on more advanced scene work. Students prepare a series of scenes, and a variety of advanced topics are covered, including text analysis, spontaneity, and character development.

Advanced Workshop in Playwriting

V30.0840  Identical to V41.0840. Enrollment requires permission of the instructor and is based on submission of writing samples. Applications and deadline information are available on the department Web site. 4 points.

Principles and practice of writing for theatre. Students are expected to write and rewrite their own plays and to present them for reading and criticism.

ELECTIVES IN CINEMA

Film as Literature

V30.0501  Identical to V41.0170. 4 points.

The development of the film as a major art form and its relationship to other art forms. Particular attention to the language of cinema, the director and screenwriter as authors, and the problems of translating literature into film, with extensive discussion of the potentials and limitations of each art form. Milestone films are viewed and analyzed.

Italian Films, Italian Histories I

V30.0503  Identical to V59.0174. 4 points.

Studies representation of Italian history through the medium of film from ancientRome through the Risorgimento. Issues to be covered throughout include the use of filmic history as a means of forging national identity.

Cinema and Literature

V30.0504  Identical to V45.0883. 4 points.

Exposes the student to various modes, such as expressionism, social realism, and the projection of the hero. One film is viewed per week and analyzed with reading assignments that include novels, plays, and poems. The objective is to exploit the potentiality of different media and to make vivid and intellectual the climate ofEurope on which these media so often focus.

Italian Literature and Cinema

V30.0505  Identical to V59.0282. 4 points.

Studies the relationship between Italian literature and post-World War II cinema. Among the authors and directors examined are Lampedusa, Bassani, Sciascia, Visconti, DeSica, and Rosi.

Italian Films, Italian Histories II

V30.0506  Identical to V59.0175. 4 points.

Studies representations of Italian history through the medium of film from the unification ofItaly to the present. Fascism, the resistance, 1968, and other events are covered, as are questions of how film functions with respect to canonical national narratives and dominant systems of power.

Film Aesthetics

V30.0517  Identical to H72.0120, 0316. 4 points.

A historical and critical survey of a particular film aesthetic and its impact on film language, production, and culture. Topics include cinematography, camera movement, sound, color, studio art design, editing.

The Silent Screen: 1895-1928

V30.0520  Identical to H56.0005. 4 points.

Demonstrates the strength and vitality of the developing language of cinema. Traces the basic filmic structures from the earliest work of Lumière and Méliès to the first masterpieces of cinema, including Soviet film development; the beginnings of documentary; European expressionism; the masters of the American cinema; and selected short films by Chaplin, Léger, Claire, and Buñuel. Film screening each week, followed by a lecture and an analysis of the film’s structural elements.

Hollywood and Its Alternatives: 1929-1949

V30.0521  Identical to H56.0006. 4 points.

Examines the growth of film form after the coming of sound on a broad international basis and gives a firsthand familiarity with classics of the period. The innovations of the sound film are studied. Examines filmmakers for their contribution to film style and form: Hawks, Ford, Renoir, Welles, Sternberg, Lang,Vigo, Rossellini, and Hitchcock. Weekly small-group discussion sections provide for an exchange of ideas and a deeper examination into the perceptual and historical aspects of each film.

Film Now: 1950 to the Present

V30.0530  Identical to H56.0007. 4 points.

Survey of film between 1950 and 1980, tracing the roots of current cinema through the complex development of styles that moved film toward a more personal statement, breaking the old conventions of storytelling and seeking to lay bare the social realities of the time. Directors include Godard, Truffaut, Hitchcock, Scorsese, and Altman. Each week, a small-group discussion probes the films’ perceptual and historical aspects.

Film Theory

V30.0531  Identical to H56.0011. 4 points.

Second-level course to introduce the main schools of film theory focusing on the question “What is cinema?” Overview of the basic theories developed by filmmakers (e.g., Eisenstein, Pudovkin) and theoreticians (e.g., Arnheim, Bazin,Metz). Refines the student’s understanding of the theoretical concerns of cinema studies in its relation to the practice of filmmaking and film criticism.

INTERNSHIP

Internship

V30.0980, 0981  Prerequisite: permission of the director of undergraduate studies. Open to qualified upper-class dramatic literature majors or minors, but may not be used to fulfill the minimum requirement of either the major or the minor. 2 or 4 points per term.

Requires a commitment of eight to 12 hours of work per week in an unpaid position to be approved by the director of undergraduate studies. The intern’s duties on site should involve some substantive aspect of work in drama. The student is expected to fulfill the obligation of the internship itself, and a written evaluation is solicited from the outside sponsor at the end. The grade for the course is based on a final project submitted to a faculty director with whom the student has been meeting regularly over the semester to discuss the progress of the internship.

HONORS SEMINAR

The subject of the Honors Seminar changes each year and is decided on by the faculty member teaching the seminar. The seminar is a small class (limited to 12) that ideally prepares students for the senior thesis; the primary focus is on research and the application of critical methodologies. Each year, one of the Department of English Junior Honors Seminars will also be designated as the drama studies Honors Seminar, with at least a partial focus on drama. Drama studies majors will normally take this seminar to complete the seminar requirement. (English majors in honors may also take this designated seminar if they choose to, subject to the 12-student limit.) Drama studies majors in honors may also satisfy the seminar requirement by taking, with the instructor’s permission, the Honors Seminar in the Department of Drama, Undergraduate atTischSchool of the Arts.

            Admission to the drama studies honors program is competitive. The honors seminars are limited to 12 students. The minimal grade point average for admission to any CAS honors program is 3.2 or better. In addition, you must have completed the two core courses by the end of the semester in which you apply. 

INDEPENDENT STUDY

Independent Study

V30.0997, 0998  Prerequisite: permission of the director of undergraduate studies. May not duplicate the content of a regularly offered course. Intended for qualified upper-class majors or minors in this department, but may not be used to fulfill the minimum requirements of either the major or the minor. 2 or 4 points.

A paper of considerable length that should embody the results of a semester’s reading, thinking, and frequent conferences with the student’s director. It should show the student’s ability to investigate, collect, and evaluate his or her material, finally drawing conclusions that are discussed in a sound and well-written argument. In the 2-point course, the student is held to the same high standard as is the student who is working for 4 points, but the investigation and the paper are of proportionate length.