Modern Drama

Overview

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The rapid, tumultuous, continuous change, thematic of the last century, is mirrored in the changes within the twentieth century dramatic genre itself. Playwrights reinvented and re-envisioned theatrical communication as a means for challenging conventions, questioning accepted beliefs about the individual’s role and responsibility in society, and illustrating an individual’s search for meaning in a world of change, a world increasingly stripped of traditional roles and beliefs.

In this block, we will look to place the changes within the genre and within the cultural history into a parallel context. Using representative plays from the European theatre, we will investigate how playwrights have stretched the medium of the theatre to better encompass and articulate a physical world, an emotional outlook, and a spiritual existence greatly affected by scientific, economic, and technological change. We will continually focus on raising questions for class discussion on what does it mean for each of us as individuals to be “modern” – how do we, and how can we, define ourselves, our responsibilities, and our beliefs within the triumphs and tragedies, innovations and degradations of the last century.

Developing the necessary skills of reading and responding to drama as literature (close reading of play texts; creative visualization of individual characters and scenic designs; recognizing the many directing choices necessary for transforming a script to the stage) is the other primary goal of the class and concentration of each student’s Main Lesson assignments. Students will keep a detailed reading journal to help them prepare for “a part” in each class discussion. This journal, and their active participation in the class discussions, will comprise the primary source of their evaluation.

Plays