ENGL 203: Reader and Text -02: Contemporary American Drama
Professor Melanie Blood
Class: MWF 1-2:10
Welles 216
Office: Welles 217B
x5840, [email protected]
Office hours: MRF 12-12:50
This course will introduce you to outstanding new voices in the American theatre,
organized around four topics: Personal Identity in Crisis, Identity Politics/Exclusion,
African American Experience, and Sexual Identities. Most of the work we will examine was
written in the last ten years, though in each unit we will look at one groundbreaking older
work that reset the stage for contemporary writers. The majority of plays and musicals that
we will study won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama or were named runners up. At the same
time, we will investigate what it means to study drama as an English major and how to join
the critical conversations about new texts. You will write reviews, creative responses, and
academic essays. Most often, it is the critic that determines the life of new dramas, whether
the critic writes his review in the Times or includes a play text in her anthology.
Learning Outcomes:
Required Texts, to purchase:
Graff/Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. 3rd Ed. 2014.
ISBN 978 0393935844 (paperback)
Akhtar, Ayad. Disgraced. Back Bay Books, 2013. ISBN 978 0316324465
Hudes, Quiara Alegra. Water by the Spoonful. TCG Books, 2012. ISBN 978 1559364386
Kushner, Tony. Angels in America, pt 1: Millennium Approaches. TCG Books, 1993. ISBN 9781559360616
Letts, Tracy. August: Osage County. TCG Books. 2008. ISBN 978-1559363303
Miranda, Lin Manuel (music and lyrics) and Quiara Hudes. In the Heights. Applause, reprint
ed, 2013. ISBN 978-1476874647
Norris, Bruce. Clybourne Park. ISBN 978-0822226970
Parks, Suzan Lori. Topdog/Underdog. TCG Books, 2001. ISBN 978-1559362016
Wilson, August. The Piano Lesson. Plume, 1990. ISBN 0452265347
Wright, Doug. I Am My Own Wife. Faber & Faber, 2004. ISBN 978-0571211746
Yorkey, Brian (book and lyrics) and Tom Kitt (music). Next to Normal. TCG Books, 2010. I
SBN 978 1559363709
Additional Required texts/films, provided for you:
Company. Stephen Sondheim. Script and film of 2011 staging.
Wit. Margaret Edson. Script and film.
M Butterfly. David Henry Hwang. Script and film.
Fires in the Mirror. Anna Deveare Smith. Script and film.
A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry. Script and film.
The Piano Lesson. August Wilson. Film.
Fefu and Her Friends. Maria Irene Fornes. Script.
Angels in America. Tony Kushner. HBO Miniseries.
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Fun Home, the musical. Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. Music and lyrics by
Jeanine Tesori. 2014.
Readings from Lois Tyson’s Using Critical Literary Theory, 2nd edition. Chs 1, 6-8.
Readings from Graff and Birkenstein’s They Say, I Say With Readings, 2nd edition. Ch 18
“What’s up with the American Dream?”
Reviews of plays, as linked on your syllabus, sent in emails, or given in class.
Course Requirements:
1. Quizzes, four total, one at the end of each unit. Quizzes will cover all assigned readings,
all viewing assigned or shown in class, all class discussion. Second half of class, 30-40
minutes. If you are entitled to extra time on quizzes, plan to stay late. 25%.
2. Class participation, including participation in class discussion, bulletin board
assignments, daily reading quizzes. Attendance and preparation are prerequisites for any
grade in this category; more than three unexcused absences will result in a 0 for class
participation for the semester, lowering your total grade 15/100 points. 15%.
3. Reviews of play texts, films, performances. Four are required, each 1-2 pages long,
typed, double-spaced, demonstrating correct grammar and mechanics. More are optional
for extra credit. 2 first reviews are for films of plays, shown in class, later two are for
performances, one on campus and one at Geva. Showings of films and production dates of
plays are indicated in your syllabus. Due dates of required reviews are indicated in the
daily syllabus, and you should expect to share them in class. 20%.
4. Midterm Creative Project. This mid-semester project will involve exploring your own
identity including how you identify as American. It will involve creative writing and a visual
component, and you will present it in class (5 min). Examples of projects include: short
graphic novel, poem with illustration, dramatic monologue performed in class, powerpoint
combining language and images. 20%.
5. Final Academic Essay: analysis of two or more play texts we have read this semester.
Your final essay must have a section in which you review what others have said about these
texts and must argue an original thesis about them. 6-8 pages long, typed, double-spaced,
demonstrating correct grammar and mechanics. Due at the final exam December 15. 20%.
Disability Policy: SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with
documented physical, emotional, or cognitive disabilities. Accommodations will also be
made for medical conditions related to pregnancy or parenting. Students should contact
Dean Buggie-Hunt in the Office of Disability Services ([email protected] or 585-2455112) and their faculty to discuss needed accommodations as early as possible in the
semester.
Daily Syllabus:
M 8/25
Course Introduction
Dramatic text as blueprint by Akhtar
Unit 1: Personal Identity in Crisis
W 8/27
Read: August: Osage County Act 1
Discuss dramatic structure, well made play and alternatives
F 8/29
Read: August: Osage County Act 2
Viewing: Company starring Neil Patrick Harris
2
M 9/1
W 9/3
F 9/5
Labor Day – No class
Read: August: Osage County Act 3
Viewing: Company starring Neil Patrick Harris
Read: Company (mycourses)
M 9/8
Finish viewing and discuss Company, dramatic structures
Read: They Say, I Say pp. 19-51. Part 1 “They Say”
Read: Wit Act 1 (mycourses)
Read: Wit Act 2, reviews of play and film (mycourses)
View parts of film
W 9/10
F 9/12
M 9/15
W 9/17
F 9/19
M 9/22
W 9/24
F 9/26
Review #1 due: review of Company film
Read: Next to Normal, Act 1; listen/watch online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-0ldE2Ubcs
Read: Next to Normal, Act 2; listen/watch online
Review #2 due: review of August, Wit or Normal
Read: They Say, I Say pp. 55-101. Part 2 “I Say”
Read: Water by the Spoonful through scene 6, p 44
Read: Water by the Spoonful (finish)
Discuss and compare plays in the unit
Quiz on Unit 1
Unit 2: Identity Politics/Exclusion in America
M 9/29
Read: M Butterfly Act 1
View film in class
W 10/1
Read: M Butterfly Act 2
Finish film
F 10/3
Read: Fires in the Mirror (mycourses)
Required Production: Black Box musical, Putting it Together, Oct 1-5. Review # 3 is on
this performance
M 10/6
View parts of Fires in the Mirror
Review #3 due: Putting it Together
W 10/8
Read In the Heights, Act 1
View: PBS Great Performances documentary on In the Heights
F 10/10
No class
Optional: Stratford Shakespeare Festival Trip F 10/10-Sun 10/12. Write 1 page reviews of
up to 2 plays for extra credit. One must be contemporary.
M 10/13
W 10/15
F 10/17
Fall Break -- No class
Read: In the Heights, Act 2 and
Selections from ch 18 “What’s Up with the American Dream?” mycourses
Library Instruction Day
3
M 10/20
Finish library instruction
Read: Disgraced
W 10/22
Discuss and compare plays from unit 2
Quiz on Unit 2
F 10/24
Midterm Project Presentations
All midterm projects due
Required play at Geva: Good People by David Lindsay Abaire. Runs 10/21-11/16. We will
plan a group trip but you can also go on your own. We will get a group rate, but you can
also go for student rush.
M 10/27
Midterm Project Presentations
*Spring registration begins for seniors
Unit 3: African American Experience
W 10/29
Read: A Raisin in the Sun, Act 1 (mycourses) and
Tyson Using Critical Theory ch 1
View film of Raisin
F 10/31
Read: A Raisin in the Sun, Acts 2-3 (mycourses)
Finish film
M 11/3
Read: Clybourne Park, Act 1
Due
W 11/5
Read: Clybourse Park (finish)
*Last day to withdraw with a “W” from fall classes
F 11/7
Read: The Piano Lesson, Act 1
M 11/10
Read: The Piano Lesson, Act 2 and
Tyson Using Critical Theory ch 8 “African American theory”
W 11/12
Read: Topdog/Underdog
F 11/14
Discuss and compare plays in Unit 3
Quiz on Unit 3
*Spring registration closes
Unit 4: Sexual Identity
M 11/17
Read: Fefu and Her Friends, Acts 1-2 (mycourses)
Review #4 due: Good People by David Lindsay Abaire, production at Geva
W 11/19
Read: Fefu and Her Friends, Act 3 (mycourses)
Tyson Using Critical Theory ch 6 “Feminist theory”
F 11/21
Read: Angels in America, pt 1, Act 1
M 11/24
W 11/26
F 11/28
Read: Angels in America, pt 1 Acts 2-3
Thanksgiving Break – No class
Thanksgiving Break – No class
M 12/1
View film clips: Broadway and HBO Angels in America
Read: Tyson Using Critical Theory ch 7 “Queer theory”
Read: I Am My Own Wife, Act 1
W 12/3
4
F 12/5
Read: I Am My Own Wife, Act 2
M 12/8
View online clips of Fun Home, by Jeanine Tesori, adaptation of Bechdel’s
graphic novel
Discuss and compare plays in Unit 4
M 12/15
12-3:20 pm Final Examination, Welles 216
Noon: Quiz on Unit 4
1 class lunch
1:30 Final Academic Essays due; present thesis in class
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