Mar 29, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Bulletin 
    
2022-2023 Undergraduate Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]

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DRAM 110 A-Z - Special Topics in Drama

Semester Hours: 1-4


Seminars on selected aspects of theater: study of movements, ideas, individual artists and playwrights or exploration of significant performance or production techniques such as mime, Commedia dell’arte, constructivism, touring theater.

Current Special Topics

DRAM 110C Dangerous Ideas

Each week a faculty member from a different department will explore a concept that has shaped human experience across time and space. The course is available only on a pass/D+/D/fail basis.

Ideas matter. Concepts such as cultural identity, the meaning of food, democracy, faith, race, freedom, gender, have inspired social movements, shaped ways of life and political systems, and dramatically influenced the lives of individuals. Scientific ideas (such as evolution, species extinction, climate science) and skepticism about science also have power to shape our lives. Powerful ideas can be dangerous, generating turmoil and destabilizing the status quo, or supporting the status quo when change is needed, or creating unanticipated consequences.

No prerequisites. There is no required reading for the course, but attendance is required.

A student may register for any of the cross-listed sections (they are all one and the same course): ANTH 188K, DRAM 110C, PHI 051D, PSC 154B, RELI 141F, RHET 187F.

DRAM 110D (01), CRN 93593: To Life! Jewish Experience and Identity on Stage

The transcendent Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof closed in New York in January 2020, after a successful two-year run, 56 years after the path-breaking musical first opened on Broadway. This show’s striking, sustained popularity and acclaim is but one example of the powerful impact of Jewish lives, history, experience and identities on mainstream and experimental performance of the 20th and 21st centuries in the US. In this course, we will first trace the history of Jews in the US and explore how different genres of theatre and performance reflect the idea of “Jewishness” and evolving, multiple Jewish identities. By spotlighting the work of Jewish American theatre artists – performers, playwrights, composers, designers, and directors – and analyzing a variety of plays, we will gain an understanding of how theater resists and/or creates cultural stereotypes, and how, through performance, alliances can be forged with other shifting identity categories – including race, class, gender and sexuality.
Cross-listed with JWST 090B (93882).

Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
May be repeated for credit when topics vary. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule. (Formerly 110.)





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