This course offers an introduction to a number of significant dramatic works and seminal figures in the theorization of theater and performance. But the course's aspirations go further: we will concentrate on the intersection of interpretation and enactment, asking how these texts appear on stage and why. This is not merely descriptive work, but interpretive and physical work. We will spend a great deal of time and attention working on constructing a “performance analysis.” While theater has many aims—to move, to entertain, to produce meanings—we will be focusing on the latter. You will be challenged to engage theater on a conceptual level and ask: what thoughts does this particular production enable us to think that we wouldn’t have thought otherwise? We will be approaching theatrical texts and performances analytically, rather than from a place of aesthetic judgement (I liked it/didn’t like it) or your personal, emotional connection to the subject matter (I identified with a character’s experience) although both may provide entry points into analysis.
