DRM100Y Drama: Form and Style
DRM100Y DRAMA: FORM AND STYLE
Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies
Sidney Smith Hall, Room 2102
Professor A. Ackerman and
Professor T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko
Office: Jackman Humanities Building, Room 911;
University College, Room E101
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3:00–5:00p, or by appointment
Email: alan.ackerman@utoronto.ca; cesare.schotzko@utoronto.ca
TEACHING ASSISTANTS
Jenn Cole, Heather Fitzsimmons Frey (spring), Gabrielle Houle (fall), Matt Jones,
Caroline Reich (fall), Isabel Stowell-Kaplan (spring), Caitlin Thompson, Kelsy Vivash
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores a tradition of dramatic literature, ranging from ancient Greece to
the present, with particular reference to the realization of plays upon the stage. In the
first term, we will examine the defining features of dramatic forms of classical tragedy and
comedy and investigate new modes of representing selfhood in the Renaissance. We will
also study the relation of theatre to ritual, not only in Greek tragedies but also in the
Catholic Mass and in medieval morality plays. In the second semester, we will consider
the rise of dramatic realism in the nineteenth century, before turning to various forms of
experimentation, including expressionism, “theatre of the absurd,” and overtly political
theater, that challenge the limitations imposed by realism and the social conditions that
fostered it. The course will focus on structural features of drama, such as the relationship
between character and plot, the importance of theatrical space, and the theatrical
significance of dialogue. An overriding concern will be the relationship between dramatic
art and historical contexts.
REQUIRED TEXTS
to be found at The Bob Miller Book Room, 180 Bloor Street, 922-3557
The Norton Anthology of Drama
Aristotle’s Poetics
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Two-hour Midyear Exam
Essay (6-7 pages, 12-point Times New Roman font)
Two-hour Final Exam
Class Participation
TOTAL
30%
20%
35%
15%
100%
Note: Essays must be submitted to specified teaching assistants on 20
March, no later than 5.00pm. The penalty for late submission of essays is
5% per day; essays will not be accepted more than five days (including
weekends and holidays) after the due date unless accompanied by a medical
certificate.
alan.ackerman@utoronto.ca; cesare.schotzko@utoronto.ca | 1
DRM100Y Drama: Form and Style
POLICY FOR MISSED TESTS AND OTHER WORK (SEE ACADEMIC CALENDAR:
HTTP://WWW.ARTSANDSCIENCE.UTORONTO.CA/OFR/CALENDAR/RULES.HTM#TERM).
Students with valid excuses for missed tests must contact Professor Ackerman within 48
hours after the scheduled test. One make-up test will be scheduled within that time to
take place no later than one week following the scheduled test. Students who fail to take
the make-up test will receive a zero for the assignment.
EMAIL POLICY
UofT email addresses must be uses for purposes of Blackboard (see below; for UTORmail
email accounts go to www.utorid.utoronto.ca). Emails will occasionally be sent by the
instructor, and students are welcome to ask specific questions about issues arising in class
or make appointments with the instructor via email. More extensive discussions of ideas
and issues arising will take place in meetings during office hours and not on email.
Material covered in class will not be repeated via email. Email correspondence with the
instructor is a formal part of the course and therefore should be addressed to Professor
Ackerman, Professor Cesare Schotzko, or the teaching assistants and signed with the
student’s full name. Emails should be proofread and “spell-checked.”
HOW TO USE BLACKBOARD
Logging in to your Blackboard course website
To access the DRM100Y website, or any other Blackboard-based course website, go to
the U of T portal at https://portal.utoronto.ca and login using your UTORid and
Password. Once you have logged in to the portal using your UTORid and Password,
you’ll find the link to the DRM100Y course website along with the link to all your other
Blackboard-based courses.
Activating your UTORid and Password
If you need information on how to activate your UTORid and set your password for the
first time, please go to www.utorid.utoronto.ca click on “Activate your UTORid” then
follow the instructions. On this page, you will find reference to a “Secret Activation Key”
This was originally issued to you when you picked up your t-card at the library. If you
have lost your “Secret Activation Key” you can call 978-HELP or visit the help desk at
the Information Commons on the ground floor of Robarts library to be issued a new one.
The course instructor will not be able to help you with this. 978-HELP and the
help desk at the information commons can also answer any other questions you may have
about your UTORid and Password.
EMAIL COMMUNICATION WITH THE COURSE INSTRUCTOR
At times, the course Instructor may decide to send out important course information via
email. To that end, all UofT students are required to have a valid UofT email address.
You are responsible for ensuring that your UofT email address is set up AND properly
entered in the ROSI system. You can do that by using the following instructions:
To submit the information to activate your UTORid and Password (see above), you will
need to click the “Validate” button. Follow the instructions on the subsequent screens to
receive your utoronto.ca address. Once you have your UofT email address go to the
alan.ackerman@utoronto.ca; cesare.schotzko@utoronto.ca | 2
DRM100Y Drama: Form and Style
ROSI system, (www.rosi.utoronto.ca) log in and update the system with your new
institutional email address.
You can check your UofT email account from either (1.) The UofT home page
http://www.utoronto.ca/ (Choose “quick links” - choose “myutoronto.ca” - enter your
UTORid and Password – choose “webmail”
or (2.) Via Outlook, Mozilla etc. Visit the helpdesk at the information commons for help
with the set up.
Forwarding your utoronto.ca email to a hotmail, g-mail, yahoo mail or other types of
accounts is not advisable. In many cases, hotmail automatically filters email from any
utoronto.ca address into the junk mail folder. Therefore emails from your course
instructor will end up in your junk mail folder. You are responsible for:
1) Ensuring you have a valid UofT email address that is properly entered in the
ROSI system
2) Checking your UofT email account on a regular basis.
alan.ackerman@utoronto.ca; cesare.schotzko@utoronto.ca | 3
DRM100Y Drama: Form and Style
FALL TERM
Week 1 (10 September):
(17 September):
Introduction
Class cancelled due to Rosh Hashanah
Week 2 (24, 26 September):
Sophocles, Oedipus Rex; Aristotle’s Poetics
Sept. 26: First tutorial
Week 3 (1, 3 October):
Euripides, Bacchae
Week 4 (8 October: Thanksgiving)
(10 October):
tutorial on Greek tragedy
Week 5 (15, 17 October):
Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Week 6 (22, 24 October):
New Comedy, Plautus, Pseudolus (Blackboard),
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Media
Commons)
Week 7 (29, 31 October):
Everyman, introduction to Renaissance
Week 8 (5, 7 November):
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
Week 9 (12 November: Fall break)
(14 November):
Tutorial on Marlowe
Week 10 (19, 21 November):
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Week 11 (26, 28 November):
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Week 12 (3 December):
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
(5 December [Makeup Monday]): Molière, Tartuffe
Mid-year Exam (TBA)
SPRING TERM
Week 13 (7, 9 January):
Week 14 (14, 16 January):
Introduction to nineteenth century: Selections from
Scribe, Wagner, Nietzsche, Zola (Blackboard)
Ibsen, Hedda Gabler
Week 15 (21, 23 January):
Strindberg, Miss Julie and Preface; Ghost Sonata
(Blackboard)
Guest Lecturer, Director Stephen Johnson
Week 16 (28, 30 January):
Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
alan.ackerman@utoronto.ca; cesare.schotzko@utoronto.ca | 4
DRM100Y Drama: Form and Style
Week 17 (4, 6 February):
Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard
Week 18 (11, 13 February):
Shaw, Pygmalion
Guest Lecturer, Professor Lawrence Switzky
—Reading Week—
Week 19 (25, 27 February):
Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author
Week 20 (4, 6 March):
Brecht, Good Person of Szechuan
Week 21 (11, 13 March):
Avant-garde theatre: Selections from Marinetti,
Russolo, Cage, Schechner (Blackboard)
Week 22: (18, 20 March):
Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Essays due in tutorial, March 20
Week 23 (March 25, 27):
Soyinka, Death and the King’s Horseman
Guest Lecturer, Ato Quayson
Week 24 (April 1, 3):
Churchill, A Number
FINAL EXAMINATION (TBA)
alan.ackerman@utoronto.ca; cesare.schotzko@utoronto.ca | 5