COM 321: WOMEN IN THEATRE AND FILM
SPRING 2015
Dr. Karin Maresh
Class Meetings: MWF, 11:45am – 12:50pm
Office: 014 Burnett
Burnett 003
Phone: 724-503-1001, ext. 3342
Office Hours: 1:00 – 3:00pm, R
Email: kmaresh@washjeff.edu (This is the best way to reach me outside of class.)
The mission of the Department of Communication Arts is to graduate citizens determined
to build productive lives and vibrant communities through skilled communication, artful
performance, and purposeful collaboration. Practice in the ancient disciplines of rhetoric
and theatre, as well as the recent arts of radio and cinema, can develop habits of
perception and expression that guide one toward the rewards of human communication.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Ann E. Kaplan. Feminism & Film. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.
Helen Krich Chinoy and Linda Walsh Jenkins, eds. Women in American Theatre. 3rd ed.
New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2006.
Judith E. Barlow, ed. Plays By American Women, 1900-1930. New York, NY: Applause,
1985.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: A thematic course designed to provide advanced study in
theories and critical materials central to cultural studies in theatre, rhetoric, film, and/or
audio. The focus for spring 2015 is the work of women artists –
playwrights/screenwriters, performers, managers, producers, designers – in theatre and
film since the late 18th century. Students will also engage in an exploration of how
women have been represented on stage and in film as character types such as the femme
fatale, the “sex pot,” and the ingénue.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Throughout this term students will:

develop skills in reading, inquiry and analysis, and critical thinking by
demonstrating a clear understanding of the theories and critical materials
central to the topic of women in theatre and film through class discussions,
written assignments, and examinations.


develop skills in critical thinking, intercultural knowledge, and global learning
by engaging in critical investigations of different cultural perspectives as
expressed through theatre and film.
develop skills in written communication, information literacy, and ethical
reasoning by collating research into a concise document and by citing sources.
CLASS POLICIES:
1. No make-up assignments, quizzes, or exams are allowed without documentation
of an illness or emergency.
2. Papers and assignments are to be turned into me at the beginning of class on the
scheduled due date. I will only accept hard copies (not via email). Late papers
will be penalized by one letter grade for each day (not class period) after the
deadline. Papers which are five or more days late will be given an automatic
zero.
ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Daily Quizzes/Writing Assignments – Students will regularly be asked to
complete a quiz or writing assignment in class based on the assigned reading or
film for that day.
2. Research paper – This 10-12-page paper is due on the final day of class, 4 May.
You may choose to write about one of the following topics:
a. A woman who made a significant impact on the field of film and/or
theatre. This should NOT be a biographical study of the woman, but a
critical examination of her work.
b. A play by a woman that was also made into a film. Both the original play
and the film should be part of the critique.
c. A critical examination of either two plays or two films, at least one of
which we have not read or viewed for this class.
d. Another topic of your choosing.
The parts of your paper will be due on the following dates:




A one-paragraph proposal is due on Feb. 16.
On Mar. 9, a 1-2 page description (in your words) of the films, plays,
people – in short the material – that comprise the focus of your paper.
You should also include a bibliography (in MLA format) listing the
sources you have found and plan to use.
On Mar. 27 you will turn in a 1-page description and analysis of the
specific feminist film or theatre theory you are incorporating into your
paper. This should be written in your own words not cited from the work
of another scholar.
On Apr. 13 the first 3-4 pages of your paper (your rough draft) is due,
along with an outline of the rest of your paper.

On the last day of class you will be expected to give a brief and succinct
presentation of your final paper and research to the rest of the class
before handing it in.
A bibliography of your sources is a required part of this assignment and should be
included with your paper. Your bibliography should include a minimum of 10
sources and follow MLA format (See:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/) . No more than 3 of these
sources may be internet sites (Wikipedia does NOT count as a source). In other
words, at least 7 of your sources should be books or journal articles.
Should other projects be assigned throughout the term, students will be given prior
notice. Specific guidelines for all assignments will be handed out separately.
All written assignments for this class MUST be typed (unless otherwise stated),
double-spaced, formatted in Times New Roman 12 pt. font, and PROOFREAD. I
will take points off for sloppy grammar.
**Grades for these assignments will be based primarily upon your level of work in four
main areas: research, organization, preparation, and creativity (independent thinking).
Work that meets the minimum requirements will earn a “C.” A “B” assignment will
show some depth of thought and good use of materials, while an “A” assignment will
show significant depth of thought and excellent use of materials.
SAKAI: I will use Sakai this term to post readings, assignments, and links to relevant
and useful web sites. I also post grades to our Sakai page. If you happen to miss class,
be sure to check the Sakai site in the event I issue an assignment in your absence.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: You are expected to attend all classes. You
will earn two points for attending class each day and up to three points for
participation in class discussion. If you miss a class, or do not participate in class
discussion you lose the points available for that day. Attendance is taken at the start of
class and tardiness will be noted and can affect your grade. I count five tardies as an
absence.
Participation in this class means active involvement in relevant class discussion and
group activities. The best piece of advice I can give you is this: In order to critically
engage with the material and your classmates, you should take notes and make
observations of the course material. Write down all questions that are raised as you read
and bring them to class for discussion. I expect you to help facilitate discussion rather
than waiting for me to navigate the conversation. This will make the class more
interesting for you as well as for the class as a whole.
GRADING:
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Daily Work
Research Paper
Proposal
Material Desc.
Theory Analysis
Rough Draft
Final Paper
Participation
Attendance
100 pts.
100 pts.
60 pts.
15 pts.
25 pts.
25 pts.
50 pts.
100 pts.
78 pts.
52 pts.
515 pts.
*The total number of available points for the term may change depending on the amount
of daily work that is assigned.
GRADING SCALE:
A= 93-100 (A), 90-92 (A-)
B= 88-89 (B+), 83-87 (B), 80-82 (B-)
C= 78-79 (C+), 73-77 (C), 70-72 (C-)
D= 68-69 (D+), 63-67 (D), 60-62 (D-)
F= 59 and below
ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY: Academic honesty and integrity is expected of all
students. I treat cheating of any sort, electronic or human, very seriously. The
written work you hand in or present in class must be your own, no matter how small the
assignment, and the sources informing both your ideas and prose should be properly
acknowledged. I will avail myself of W&J resources to detect digital plagiarism. If a
student is found guilty of plagiarism, he or she will receive a failing grade in the
course. If you are confused in any way about this, please see me. Information about
W&J regulations concerning plagiarism and academic misconduct can be found online on
the College website and in the College Catalog.
According to the College’s Academic Honesty Policy, “examples of academic
misconduct include, but are not limited to:

Plagiarism, which is representing the fruits of another’s intellectual labor as one’s
own, whether this is done with the intention to deceive or is the result of
incompetence. Examples include using someone else’s ideas, research results,
sentence structure, or phrasing without properly crediting the author, thus leading
the reader to assume that they are the student’s own creation.

Fabricating material and representing it as genuine. This includes falsifying research
results for a laboratory report or falsifying information for a written essay.

Submitting papers or other academic work in two different classes or other academic
settings without full knowledge of the instructors involved and written permission from
both instructors. When an assignment asks for original work, the presumption is that the
work has not been submitted in a different class or another academic setting.

Knowingly giving or receiving unauthorized aid on a piece of academic work (including
tests, papers, research, artwork, etc.). For example, a person knowingly giving answers to
another person during a test is as guilty of academic misconduct as the person receiving
the answers.

Misconduct in a testing situation, including copying answers from another student’s test,
using electronic devices or other unauthorized sources of information during a test, or
illicitly collaborating on tests taken outside of the classroom” (Academic Status
Committee. “Academic Honesty Policy.” Spring 2005. 12 August 2005 <
http://www1.washjeff.edu/users/committees/coas/>.).
CALENDAR:
Week 1
W 28 Jan.
Introduction to the Course
F 30 Jan.
Overview of women’s movements, theatre, and film history since 1800
Readings Due: Helen Krich Chinoy, “Interrogating the Past, or Women in
Theatre – Then and Now” and “Art Versus Business: The Role of
Women in American Theatre”(WAT)
Week 2
M 2 Feb.
W 4 Feb.
F 6 Feb.
Week 3
M 9 Feb.
Theory
Feminist Film and Theatre Theory
Readings Due: Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
and Mary Ann Doane, “Film and the Masquerade”; Sue Ellen
Case, “Semiotics and the Gaze: Toward a New Poetics”
(WAT); Jill Dolan, “The Discourse of Feminisms: The Spectator
and Representation” (WAT)
Continue discussion of theory
The People
The Actress
Readings Due: Helen Krich Chinoy, “The Actress” (WAT); Gresdna
Doty, “Anne Brunton Merry: First Star” (WAT); Claudia D.
Johnson, “Enter the Harlot” (WAT); Faye E. Dudden,
“Introduction: Acting Female”
The Actress
Readings Due: Lois Adler, “Adah Isaacs Menken in Mazeppa” (WAT);
Marlie Moses, “Lydia Thompson and the ‘British Blondes’”
(WAT); Robert C. Allen, “Horrible Prettiness: A Cultural Analysis
of ‘British Blondes’” (WAT); Yvonne Shafer, “Women in Male
Roles: Charlotte Cushman and Others” (WAT)
W 11 Feb.
F 13 Feb.
Week 4
M 16 Feb.
W 18 Feb.
F 20 Feb.
Week 5
M 23 Feb.
W 25 Feb.
F 27 Feb.
Week 6
M 2 Mar.
W 4 Mar.
F 6 Mar.
Early Women Directors
Readings Due: Vera Mowry Roberts, “‘Lady-managers’ in nineteenthcentury American theatre”*; Helen Krich Chinoy, “If Not an
Actress, What . . .?” (WAT); Mary Julia Curtis, “Women Open
Augusta’s First Theatre” (WAT); J. Dennis Rich, “Art Theatre in
Hull-House” (WAT)
Readings Due: Shirlee Hennigan, “Women Directors – The Early Years”
(WAT); Pauline Hahn, “Hallie Flanagan: Practical Visionary”
(WAT)
The Playwright
Readings Due: Helen Krich Chinoy, “Here Are the Women Playwrights”
(WAT); Alice McDonnell Robinson, “Mercy Warren, Satirist of
the Revolution” (WAT)
DUE: Paper Proposals
Readings Due: Rachel Crothers, A Man’s World (in Plays by American
Women); Lois Gottlieb, “Looking to Women: Rachel Crothers and
the Feminist Heroine” (WAT); Susan Glaspell, Trifles (in Plays by
American Women); Karen F. Stein, “The Women’s World of
Glaspell’s Trifles” (WAT)
Readings Due: Sophie Treadwell, Machinal (in Plays by American
Women)
View Stella Dallas (1937) – 106 min.
Readings Due: E. Ann Kaplan, “The Case of the Missing Mother:
Maternal Issues in Vidor’s Stella Dallas”; Linda Williams,
“‘Something Else Besides a Mother’: Stella Dallas and the
Maternal Melodrama”; *Jeanine Basinger, “Motherhoood”
Finish viewing Stella Dallas and discuss the film
Readings Due: *Kaplan, “Is the Gaze Male?”; Michelle Citron, et.al.,
“Women and Film: A Discussion of Feminist Aesthetics”
Continue Discussion
Overview of women’s involvement in early Hollywood
View Kitty Foyle (1940) – 108 min.
Readings Due: Molly Haskell, “The Woman’s Film”’; Annette
Kuhn, “Women’s Genres: Melodrama, Soap Opera and Theory”
Finish viewing Kitty Foyle and discuss the film
TBA
Week 6
M 9 Mar.
W 11 Mar.
F 13 Mar.
View Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) – 91 min.
Readings Due: *Lucie Arbuthnot and Gail Seneca,“Pre-text and Text in
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” Readings Due: *Richard Dyer,
“Monroe and Sexuality”; *Maureen Turim, “Gentlemen Consume
Blondes”’
DUE: Description of Material for Paper
Finish viewing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and discuss the film
MIDTERM EXAM
Week 7
M 16-20 Mar. NO CLASS – Spring Break
Week 8
M 23 Mar.
W 25 Mar.
F 27 Mar.
Week 9
M 30 Mar.
W 1 Apr.
F 3 Apr.
Week 10
M 6 Apr.
W 8 Apr.
F 10 Apr.
Dorothy B. Magnus, “Matriarchs of the Regional Theatre” (WAT)
Arthur Bartow, Interview with Zelda Fichandler*
Adrienne Kennedy, A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White*
“‘Lesson I Bleed’: Adrienne Kennedy’s Blood Rites” (WAT) and
Jeanne-Marie A. Miller, “Black Women in Plays by Black Playwrights”
(WAT)
Margaret Wilkerson, “Lorraine Hansberry: Artist, Activist, Feminist”
(WAT); view scenes from A Raisin in the Sun
DUE: Theory Description
Linda Walsh Jenkins, “Feminist Theatre” (WAT)
Patti P. Gillespie, “Feminist Theatre: A Rhetorical Phenomenon”
(WAT)
Charlotte Canning, “Staging Women’s Experience: Feminist Theatres in
the USA” (WAT)
Linda Walsh Jenkins, “Changes and Legacies” (WAT)
Readings Due: “Gender in American Film Since the 1960s”
Discuss Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) – 112 min.
Readings Due: *Jacinda Read, “Popular Film/Popular Feminism: The
Critical Reception of the Rape-Revenge Film”
Discuss Thelma and Louise (1991) – 129 min.
Readings Due: *Carmen Indurain Eraso, “Thelma and Louise: ‘Easy
Riders’ in a Male Genre”; *James F. Maxfield, “’We Don’t Live in
That Kind of World, Thelma’: Triumph and Tragedy in Thelma & Louise”
Reading Due: Jane Gaines, “White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race
and Gender in Feminist Film Theory”; bell hooks, “The
Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators”
Week 11
M 13 Apr.
Cherríe Moraga, Shadow of a Man*
“Finding Place and Voice as a Chicana Lesbian” (WAT)
DUE: Rough Draft
W 15 Apr.
F 17 Apr.
View Eve’s Bayou (1997) – 109 min.
Discuss Eve’s Bayou
Week 12
M 20 Apr.
W 22 Apr.
F 24 Apr.
Directing and Managing, pp. 446-462 (WAT)
Sarah Ruhl, In the Next Room
TBA
Week 13
M 27 Apr.
W 29 Apr.
F 1 May
Week 14
M 4 May
The Third Wave
Readings Due: *Suzanne Ferris, “Marie Antoinette: Fashion, Third-Wave
Feminism, and Chick Culture”; *Amy Woodworth, “A Feminist
Theorization of Sofia Coppola’s Postfeminist Trilogy”
Discuss Marie Antoinette (2006) – 123 min.
Report on the Status of Women*
Julia Miles, “1998: Year of the Woman?” (WAT)
Gay Gibson Cima, “Strategies for Subverting the Canon” (WAT)
Summarize and Review
DUE: Final Papers
Final Exam: Monday, 11 May, 9:00am – 12:00pm