[Class Schedule] [Required Texts][Exams/Papers/Grading][Theatre Collections/Research]
EARLY
AMERICAN THEATRE AND DRAMA
Drama 504
J. FRICK
|
"Turning
facts into interpreted symbols, the final stage of the historian's
craft, |
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:
· Through the reading of the 19th century playtexts as social documents, to examine the complex and ever-changing role(s) the theatre played in the 19th century American life and the ways in which the major issues of the century {formation of the middle class, responses to city culture, abolition, temperance, women's rights, etc} were "played out" and, to a degree, "worked out" on the country's stages.
· To examine the evolving role of the performer throughout the 19th century.
· To study the "popular" stage in America as a cultural barometer and one of the first social institutions to reflect social tensions, fissures, ruptures, etc.
· To introduce students to the dramatic literature of the 19th century.
· to create a research methodology that is useful to working theatre professionals.