Summary:
By studying the contributions of theatre and performance artists, this course addresses
the shared national legacies the United States. We use the theory of intersectionality to
examine how categories such as gender, sexual orientation, race, class, religious
affiliation, and physical ability impact individual and collective identity formations. In
addition to increasing their awareness of major contemporary artists, students learn
critical performance methodologies through projects that explore moments of identity
recognition/formation. These projects integrate theoretical models from
dance/movement/spoken word composition to explore family histories and individual
experiences.
Course Syllabus
Perfa 130: Theatre and American Cultures (Multicultural Performance)
Instructor: Reid Davis, Ph.D.
Office: LeFevre 1
Office Hours: Weds 10-12 and by appointment
Radavis@stmarys-ca.edu
Extension 8623
Course Description
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, American theater has been a valuable site for
the construction, preservation and interrogation of identity categories. In this class, we
will read and screen plays, attend live performances and discuss the impact of theatre
on American society. The main focus of this course will be to explore multicultural
American dramatic art; we will be looking at examples of Asian American, Latino, African
American, Gay and Lesbian, and European American theatrical production. Students will
not only learn methods of reading published plays, but will experience live and recorded
theater from a number of traditions as well.
As a class, we will investigate dramatic art as a cultural and political force; we will
consider theater as a collaborative art form integrating the talents of performers,
directors, playwrights, and designers; and we will explore the relationship between
theater and other cultural art forms including visual art, music, dance, and literature. We
will explore how dramatists have used performance as a tool for political activism, for the
cultivation of cultural pride, and for explorations of social issues too sensitive to be
addressed in other contexts.
Objectives:
To develop the student's ability and willingness to:
1.Develop an awareness of the responsibilities of an artist to society, and the
responsibilities of a society to its artists.
2.Articulate the major themes, arguments, and methodologies of a range of
contemporary artists of color.
3.Engage fellow students in open, honest and thoughtful dialogue about complex
intersections of race and identity
4.Examine how theatre artists have negotiated shared national legacies of contact,
conquest, and resistance
5.Create a learning community grounded in Lasallian values of social justice and
community-based research
6.Study the histories of various traditions of dramatic art and their relationship to
contemporary theater.
7.Cultivate an understanding of the techniques employed by artists of color when
writing of cultural experience.
8.Understand the elements of dramatic art and the roles of the artists who
collaborate to create it.
9.Offer constructive criticism based on a considered engagement with the course
material.
Assignments:
• Performance project//moment of identity recognition/formation
• Integrative dance/movement/spoken word composition exploring family
history
•
Texts:
Course Reader (CR)
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Amiri Baracka, Dutchman
Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit
David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
Robert O’Hara Insurrection: Holding History
Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theatre, The Laramie Project
George C. Wolff, The Colored Museum
Suzan Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog
Attendance and Participation
Students are expected to attend all classes, complete all readings on time, and be
prepared to discuss the major themes, methods and effectiveness of each performance
text. Students are allowed two (2) unexcused absences, after which each absence is
likely to affect your final grade. Because this work often touches on sensitive material,
students will be expected to make every effort to respect the opinions and feelings of
others, and to voice their opinions freely. Students are expected to do their own work in
their own words, in other words, plagiarism will not be tolerated in the class.
Following the college’s mission of “shared inquiry” you are responsible for attending
class on time in order to participate with classmates. In addition, leaving early or coming
late is rude to your fellow students so don’t do it; because of the collaborative nature of
the theater, tardies and absences will also likely affect your class participation grade.
Assignments are due at the start of class period, so do not miss class to finish your
work; I prefer you come and learn what we are covering that day.
Critical Reading Practice
I expect students to read and consider each text carefully outside of class. You can
expect to devote at least 2 hours per class for reading, research and preparation. When
reading and making notes, consider three aspects of the performance text
• THESIS: How does the text attempt to act on the reader? What are its points of
view? What are the various arguments produced by the text?
• METHODS/EVIDENCE: How does the text make its arguments? What evidence
does the text offer for its positions? What are its primary appeals (emotional,
rational, rhetorical, somatic, imagistic)?
• EFFECTIVENESS: How well does the text convince you of its claims? In what
ways did the text succeed or fail to win you over or make you consider its point of
view? In what ways does the text reflect your personal experience/observation?
Grading Breakdown
Attendance and active participation in class discussions:
Quizzes/daily assignments:
Paper #1
Paper #2
Midterm exam
Final exam
Final performance project
15%
10%
10%
10%
15%
20%
20%
Final Project Assignment
For your final project you will create a three-part invention that includes
• creative text
• analytic discussion of your text
• performance of your text
Your creative text should be an autobiographical narrative that describes your
emergence into an ethnicity. While acknowledging that ethnic identity can be a
"contingent" status - that people claim ethnic identities for different reasons at different
moments in time - choose a moment of realization for yourself that holds some
importance to you, and dramatize that. Your text need not be realistic in any way; in fact,
it might be best served as a creative poetic invention.
Refer to the different analytic and theatrical texts that we have considered in this course
over the semester. For instance, you might make reference to popular culture and
television ads that revealed you to yourself in a particular way (Richard Schechner and
Marlon Riggs); you might make reference to political events that have persuaded you to
"become" a particular ethnicity (Rodney King incident); you might make reference to peer
pressure or class issues that influenced your choices (Laramie Project); you might make
reference to experiences of gender identity that emerged as you matured and started
dating (Diana Son). Ultimately, your text should aspire toward the density offered by the
plays skin and topdog/underdog.
Your analytic discussion of your text should be concise; 1-2 pages in length. This
discussion should articulate and defend your creative choices. The discussion should
also place your text in relationship to plays we've read in this course: how is your text
similar to that of John Leguizamo or Robert O’Hara?
Class Schedule (Subject to Change)
Date
Class Discussion
Assignment
Aug 29
Introduction
Aug 31
Four Forms lecture
9/5
Discuss “White” and “What is Readings: Richard Dyer, “The Matter of
Performance”
Whiteness” in White (CR); Richard Schechner
“What is Performance in Performance Theory
(CR)
UNIT
ONE
AFRICAN AMERICAN
THEATRE TRADITIONS
9/7
“African American Theater
Traditions” lecture
9/12
Discuss A Raisin in the Sun Reading: “Political Radicalism and Artistic
Innovation in the Works of Lorraine
Hansberry,” in African American Performance
and Theatre History, p. 40-55 (CR)
Read: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine
Hansberry (CR)
9/14
Discuss Dutchman
Read Amiri Baraka, Dutchman (CR)
9/19
Ethnic Notions in-class
screening
Read Glenda Dickerson and Breena Clarke:
(Re)membering Aunt Jemima (CR)
9/21
Discuss The Piano Lesson
Read “The Ground on Which I Stand” August
Wilson and subsequent articles/interviews
(CR)! “August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
Personal essay 1-2 pages: Cultural influences
Read: “African-American Theatre: Past,
Present, Future, A Roundtable Discussion
with Senior Scholars” in African-American
Performance and Theatre History p. 331-344
(CR)
Screen: Ethnic Notions Marlon Riggs
UNIT
TWO
LATINO/A, CHICANO
THEATRE TRADITIONS
9/26
“Latina/o Theater Theatre
Traditions” lecture
Jorge Huerta “Introduction” Chicano Drama p.
1-14 (CR), El Teatro Campesino “Actos” (CR)
9/28
Discuss Zoot Suit
Luis Valdez Zoot Suit
10/3
Screen Zoot Suit
Paper # 1 due
10/5
Discuss Roosters
Milcha Sanchez-Scott, Roosters (CR)
UNIT
THREE
ASIAN-AMERICAN
THEATRE TRADITIONS
10/10
“Asian American Theatre
Traditions” lecture
10/12
Discuss Year of the Dragon Read Year of the Dragon by Frank Chin (CR)
by Frank Chin
10/17
Discuss Skin by Naomi
Iizuka
10/19
Midterm Exam
UNIT
FOUR
REMAPPING NATION
RETHINKING GENDER
10/24
Discuss Spiderwoman
Theater
10/26
Discuss Twilight: LA 1992 by Read Twilight, Los Angeles 1992
Anna Deavere Smith
10/27
10/31
Josephine Lee “Critical Strategies for Reading
Asian American Drama” in Performing Asian
American p. 1-26 (CR)
Read Skin by Naomi Iizuka
Read Sun Moon Feather (CR)
**Attend Naomi Iizuka’s Hamlet: Blood in the
Brain**
Discuss M. Butterfly by David Read M. Butterfly
Henry Hwang
11/2
Discuss Insurrection: Holding Read Insurrection: Holding History
History by Robert O’Hara
UNIT
FIVE
SEXUAL POLITICS
11/7
Discuss Diana Son’s Stop
Kiss
Read Stop Kiss
11/9
Discuss Moises Kaufman’s
The Laramie Project
Read The Laramie Project
**Attend Saint Mary’s Production of Marfa
Lights by Octavio Solis Nov. 9-13**
UNIT
FIVE
REVISIONING HISTORY
11/14
Discuss The Colored
Museum
Read The Colored Museum
11/16
Screen The Colored
Museum
Paper #2 due
11/21
Discuss Topdog/Underdog
by Suzan Lori Parks
Read Topdog/Underdog
11/23
Final Projects
11/28
Final Projects
11/30
Final Projects/Final Exam
Review
12/7
Final Exam
11:30-1:30