THTR 372:
THEATRE HISTORY II:
The Renaissance and Beyond
CSUB, Winter Quarter 2012
MW 3:10-5:15
Instructor: Dr. Maria-Tania Becerra
E-mail: mbecerra6@csub.edu
Office: Faculty Towers 302E
Office Telephone: 661-654-2524
Office Hours: M/W 1:30-3:00 and Thursdays 9-9:30 and 11:00-12:30
Course Description:
This course will cover the fundamentals of the history of world theatre and drama by
examining performance traditions and theatre practices from the Renaissance to the 19th
century. The student will read major dramatic texts representative of these periods.
Although there is an emphasis placed on the western canon, significant class time will be
devoted to non-western theatre as well. Class activities will include lectures, discussions,
audio-visual presentations, reading, and writing assignments.
Goals and Objectives:
This course satisfies your general education requirement for Theme II. The following
goals are a necessary part of this course. By the end of the quarter, the student should be
able to:
 Understand Expressions of Human Experience
o Outcome 1: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements
important to human experience in relation to the history, values, beliefs
and practices, communication styles (verbal and nonverbal), or modes of
artistic expression of one or more cultures.
o Outcome 2: Students will demonstrate how their self-understanding is
expanded by the distinct perspectives on human experience offered by
Arts and Humanities disciplines.
 Analytical Reading and Writing
o Outcome 1: Students will demonstrate comprehension of the meanings
of ideas, cultural practices, literary texts, languages, or works of art in
their context.
o Outcome 2: Students will analyze primary source material to more fully
understand ideas, cultural practices, literary texts, languages, or works of
art.
o Outcome 3: Students will write organized analytic responses
communicating their understanding of ideas, cultural practices, literary
texts, languages, or works of art.
 Arts and Humanities Disciplines’ Content and Method
o Outcome 1: Students will gain and demonstrate knowledge of the core
content of the discipline.
o Outcome 2: Students will demonstrate consistent use of important
methods particular to the discipline.
Required Texts:
Papp Joseph and Kirkland Elizabeth. Shakespeare Alive! Bantam Books 1988
Wise, Jennifer, and Craig S. Walker, Eds. The Broadview Anthology of Drama: Plays
from the Western Theatre, Vol. 1. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2003.
Course Requirements:
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Students are expected to actively participate in class. More than three absences
will lower your attendance/participation grade.
Two, two-four-page (typed, double-spaced) papers are assigned. The paper topics
will be discussed in class. The due dates are noted below, and papers are due at
the beginning of class. Late papers will not be accepted. All class work must be
submitted in hard-copy form (not e-mailed as an attachment).
A midterm exam will be given in class
A 10 minute power point presentation will be given by each student on a
renaissance playwright of any country.
A five-page (typed, double-spaced) research paper will be due in my mailbox by
the official last day of class for the quarter. The topic will be developed in
consultation with the instructor and will be related to the power point
presentation. Late papers will not be accepted. All papers must be submitted in
hard-copy form.
Works cited page is due ONE FULL WEEK BEFORE presentation date
There will be a final exam.
Students must register for My Writing Lab Plus (Humanities 207/407)
Students must sign up for Black Board
Components of the Final Grade:
Quizzes:
Papers:
Midterm exam:
Research paper:
Final exam:
Presentation
Blackboard discussions
Works cited page
My Writing Lab
10%
20%
15%
10%
10%
10%
10%
05%
10%
Grading:
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
95-100
90-94
87-89
84-86
80-83
77-79
74-76
70-73
66-69
64-66
60-63
59 and below
This instructor uses Blackboard. It is the student’s responsibility to look at Blackboard
daily for any last minute homework assignments and news. The student is responsible
for any assignments assigned before 6:00pm the night before class. Anything posted
after 6:00pm will not be due the next day.
Academic Honesty:
Students are expected to do their own work. While some classroom activities necessitate
group collaboration, the bulk of the work required in this course—including quizzes,
exams, and writing assignments—must be completed by each student without assistance.
Academic dishonesty is a serious offense and can take many forms: cheating on an exam,
helping someone else cheat, committing plagiarism, or submitting the same assignment
for two separate courses without prior permission. If a student in found guilty of
academic dishonesty, the instructor is required to assign the student a final grade of “F”
for the course, and notify both the Dean of Students and the Dean of Humanities and
Social Sciences. Multiple incidents of academic dishonesty lead to the student’s dismissal
from CSUB. For further information about what constitutes academic dishonesty, please
consult the CSUB Catalogue or make an appointment to discuss the matter with your
instructor.
Students with Disabilities:
To request academic accommodations due to disability; please contact the office of
Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) as soon as possible. Their office is located
in SA 140, and they may be reached at 661-654-3360. If you have an accommodations
letter from the SSD office documenting that you have a disability, present that letter to
me during my office hours so we can discuss specific accommodations that you might
need in class.
Course Schedule (Please read assignments BEFORE the scheduled lecture):
Week One:
Mon 1/9
Wed 1/11
Week Two:
Mon 1/16
Wed 1/18
Course introduction; what is Theatre?/Begin The Greeks
DUE: Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles
Introduce the Three Beginnings. Lecture- Greek and Roman
DUE: The Poetics, by Aristotle
Martin Luther King Jr. day NO CLASS
Discuss The Poetics and Lecture on Medieval Theatre: The Second
Beginning
DUE: Print out from Blackboard Everyman by Anonymous
Week Three:
Mon 1/23
Blackboard DO NOT COME TO CLASS AND QUIZ 1 on Blackboard
Wed 1/25
Chinese Theatre/Yuan drama
DUE: The Orphan of Chao (Late 13th century) on Blackboard
Week Four:
Mon 1/30
Italian Renaissance; commedia Dell’Arte; Baroque Opera
Wed 2/1
Week Five:
Mon 2/6
Wed 2/8
Week Six:
Mon 2/13:
Wed 2/15:
Shakespeare and his contemporaries; court masques The English
Renaissance
Reading due: Shakespeare Alive
Shakespeare, Hamlet (1601) Discussion and begin movie
Finish Hamlet, the movie
DUE: Dr. Faustus, Marlowe
PAPER 1
Presentation 1:
MIDTERM
The Spanish Golden Age
DUE: Fuenteovejuna
Presentation 2:
Presentation 3:
Presentation 4:
Week Seven:
Mon 2/ 20
Comedies of character and manners and Neoclassical tragedy and the
French Academy
DUE: Molière, Tartuffe (1669)
DUE: Racine, Phèdre (1677)
Wed 2/12:
Bunraku and Kabuki of Japan
Presetation 5:
Week Eight:
Mon 2/27:
Restoration Theatre
DUE: William Wycherly, The Country Wife (1675)
Presentation 6:
Presentation 7:
Wed 2/29:
Jeremy Collier and the backlash; Sentimental Comedy
DUE: Susannah Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1718)
Paper 2 Due
Presentation 8:
Week Nine:
Mon 3/5:
Laughing Comedy: Sheridan and Goldsmith
Possible film in class: She Stoops to Conquer
Presentation 9:
Wed 3/7:
Week Ten:
Mon 3/12:
Wed 3/14:
Eighteenth century Italian comedy: Gozzi vs. Goldoni - Quiz 2
DUE: Carlo Gozzi, Turandot (1761)
Presentation 10:
Presentation 11:
Presentation 12:
The age of reason: Voltaire and Diderot
Presentation 13:
Presentation 14:
The origins of Romanticism / Melodrama and The Well Made Play
DUE: Friedrich Schiller, The Robbers (1778-82)
Week Eleven:
Mon 3/19:
REVIEW- Last Day of Class
FINAL PAPERS DUE!
Any other presentations
Final Exam:
SUPPLEMENTARY READING LIST
General Theatre History
Brockett, Oscar. History of the Theatre (2 hour closed reserve)
Nicoll, Allardyce. World Drama
Chinese Theatre
Mackerras, Colin (ed.). Chinese Theatre from Its Origins to the Present Day
Commedia dell’arte
Ducharte, Pierre-Louis. The Italian Comedy
Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline Theatre
Brown, J.R. et al (eds.) Elizabethan Theatre
The Revels History of Drama in English, Vols. III and IV.
The Spanish Golden Age
McKendrick, Malveena. Theatre in Spain 1490-1700
Neoclassical France
Turnell, Martin. The Classical Moment
Japanese Theatre
Toita, Yasuji. Kabuki
Arnott, Peter. The Theatres of Japan
Restoration and 18th Century British Theatre
Holland, N.N. The First Modern Comedies
The Revels History of Theatre in English, Vol. V.
18th Century German Theatre
Bruford, N.H. Theatre, Drama and Audience in Goethe’s Germany.