SYLLABI
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
DRAMATIC
STRUCTURES I
Plays from their Greek beginnings in the Western canon
are the dramaturgical structuring of myths. This course
examines how those structures mutate, together with
the perception and/or deconstruction of those myths
in the course of time, and how plays speak to each other
as well as to their audiences across the ages. The linear
historic sequence of plays from Prometheus to Don Juan
will be intersected by responses to them throughout
the ages, in plays and theory. Since the theatre touches
upon so many disciplines and so many different aspects
of life in a given period, contextual readings will
not be limited to dramatic theory, but include literary
criticism, perfomace theory, philosophical texts and
contemporary approaches to history and culture.
[more]
DR. 607 DRAMATIC STRUCTURES
I
Fall Semester 2002
Monday 1:35 - 4:25
Dr. Naum Panovski 202-319-5362
Office Hours: by appointment
Description:
Plays from their Greek beginnings in the Western canon
are the dramaturgical structuring of myths. This course
examines how those structures mutate, together with
the perception and/or deconstruction of those myths
in the course of time, and how plays speak to each other
as well as to their audiences across the ages. The linear
historic sequence of plays from Prometheus to Don Juan
will be intersected by responses to them throughout
the ages, in plays and theory. Since the theatre touches
upon so many disciplines and so many different aspects
of life in a given period, contextual readings will
not be limited to dramatic theory, but include literary
criticism, perfomace theory, philosophical texts and
contemporary approaches to history and culture.
Note that this course is designed in two parts over
two semesters. The second part will begin with Shakespeare's
Othello and The Merchant of Venice. The range of possible
readings of these texts in a contemporary context will
lead to further explorations of gender, race, class
and performance, and the reexamination of old myths
from the experience of post-modernity. As we move forward
to contemporary writers such as Caryl Churchill and
Susan Lori Parks we will also move back in time to reexamine
the transformations of paradigms.
Requirements:
1. This is a seminar based on intensive class participation.
There will be one or several assignments per class to
lead the discussion. The assignment consists of a 15
to a 20 minute presentation of a play text in conjunction
with theoretical readings that establish the critical
context of the production. All students are required
to read all the texts. The assigned discussion leader
will prepare a 3 page written summary of the material
and at least three questions that are central to its
further exploration. These summaries should be distributed
the day before the class to all students so that everyone
is prepared to offer critical input and further thought.
Usually that day is Sunday 7 p.m.
2. At midterm and by the end of the semester you are
expected to submit the following:
a. One page summary of the central argument of every
theoretical text covered in class
b. A structural analysis of one play or production based
on a play by one of the authors discussed so far but
not a play that has been discussed in the class. [5-7
pages]
3. The end of the semester you are expected to submit
an essay on subject matter relating to the issues [aesthetic,
theoretical, political, sociological, religious. etc]
addressed in the class. Topic must be approved by the
instructor in advance [by November 1] Mid-term submissions
due by October 18, 2002.
Final submissions are due on the day that is scheduled
for final exams.
Grading:
Class participation: 25%
Assignments/Class presentations: 25%
Summary notes: 30%
Essay 20%
Late assignments will receive a reduction in grade
Some dates to remember:
August 26, 2002 Classes begin
September 2, 2002. Labor day - no classes
October 18, 2002 Midterm assignments due
October 14, 2002 Columbus day. Fall break - no classes
November 27, 2002. Thanksgiving recess Begins
December 2 2002 Classes resume - Last class
December 6, 2002 Last week of classes - Last day of
classes
December 10-14 Exams. [Wednesday Dec 11, 02]
Schedule of Work:
1. August 26, 2002. Introduction
Erika Fischer-Lichte: The Show and the Gaze of Theatre;
Introduction & Part 1: Theatre and the Civilizing
Process:
An Approach to the History of Acting
September
2, 2002. Labor Day. No classes
2. September 9, 2002. Introduction to Theory
Dramatic Structures and Literary Theory
Terry Eagleton: Literary Theory
3. September 16, 2002. Sophocles: Oedipus Rex
Sophocles: Oedipus Rex; transl. by Robert Fagles;
in: The Three Theban Plays; Penguin
Aristotle: Poetics:
Aston, Savona: Theatre as a Sign System: Chapter 2.
Dramatic Shape
Chapter 6: Semiotics of Performance.
Augusto Boal: The Theatre of the Oppressed, Chapter
3: Hegel and Brecht
4. September 23, 2002. Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus transl. By Robert Fagles;
in: The Three Theban Plays. Penguin
Apocalypse: Oedipus at Colonus, Chapter 18 in Greek
Tragedy
5. September 30, 2002 Euripides: The Bacchae
Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy; Sections 1-4, 7? &
8, 21;
Ian Kott: The Eating of the Gods; Title essay
6. October 7, 2002. Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound.
Beckett: Happy Days.
Ian Kott: The Eating of the Gods; The Vertical Axis
or the Ambiguities of Prometheus
Prometheia in Greek Tragedy; Chapter 9
October 14, 2002. Columbus Day
Midterm assignments due October 18, 2002.
7. October 21, 2002. Medea
Euripides: Medea in: Euripides 1; Univ. of Chicago Press
The Medea of Euripides, in Greek Tragedy; Ch. 21;
Joan Wallach Scott,ed.: Feminism and History: Introduction
Chapter 5: The Traffic in Women
Chapter 6: A U Category of Historic Analysis. Martha
Nusbaum
8. October 29, 2002.Heiner Muller: Medea Play
Heiner Mtiller: Medea Play and Despoiled Shore; Medea
Material Landscape with Argonauts;
19 answers by Henier Muller
Theatre as Sign System; Semiotics of Performance; in
Chapter 6;
9. November 4, 2002. Aristophanes: The Acharnians,
Plautus: The Haunted House
Aristophanes: The Acharnians with editor's and transl.'s
intro in Aristophanes One; Methuen
Oxford Readings in Aristophanes; ed. E. Segal:
Ch. 5: The Demos and the Comic Competition Ch. 7: Tragedy
and Politics in Aristotle. Acharnaians.
Plautus: The Haunted House transl. by E. Segal in: Plautus:
4 Comedies, World Classics; Oxford; 1996 Introduction
by Erich Segal
10. November 11, 2002. The English Faust Book. Marlowe:
Dr. Faustus
11. November 18, 2002. Goethe: Faust Par I and II.
Mikhail Bakhtin: Reader
12. November 25, 2002. Moliere: Don Juan. Tirso de
Molina: The Trickster of Seville
Kierkegaard: The Immediate Stages of the Erotic; in
Either/Or
Sola-Sole, Josep M Tirso’s Don Juan, the Metamorphosis
Of a Theme PQ6434.B83 157
November 27, 2002. Thanksgiving begins
13. December 2, 2002. Mozart: Don Giovanni: Salzburg:
1954. & Peter Sellars: 1991
Kierkegaard: The Immediate Stages of the Erotic; in
Either/Or
Discussion: Mozart and Kierkegaard
Don Juan
Shaw: Man and Superman (Don Juan in Hell)
14. December 6, 2002. Last Day of Classes
