THEATRE 340 Syllabus, (COMM 340, ENGL 340)

Section: A TR 1:00-2:15 Professor: Vaughn Schütz

Room: Sigmon Office: Theatre Studio in LP Basement

Book: The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama (and various other documents.) Phone: 6375

Office Hours: MWF 11:00, TR, 11:00

Purpose: This class will provide students knowledge of major texts, production practices, and theories of drama and performance through history of western theatre. We will examine co-dependency of social customs and dramatic texts. This includes an examination of economic and gender practices and assumptions in the times and places of study. We will use primary source material, albeit, some is translated.

Assignments: 3 tests covering theories and how they relate to the plays from the times. You will debate the morality of plays. You will write 4 short 3-4 page papers. You will write a scene in the style of Pinter (if that is possible.) You will give 2 presentations on two of the theory papers we read. There will be a final.

Grading:

2 Presentations 40
Debate 20
3 tests 30
Scene 20
4 papers 40

Term Paper 50
Final 50
Total 250

Other: If you miss class when an assignment is due you will not receive points for that assignment. There will be no make-up work!!! Do not cheat or you will flunk this class.

Schedule

8/21	T	What to Read	Assignments/Tests
8/23	Th	Aristotle Poetics
8/28	T	Aristotle Poetics
8/30	Th	Medea
9/4	T	Medea	Outline Comparing Medea to the Poetics
9/6	Th	Lysistrata
9/11	T	Lysistrata	Test
9/13	Th	Julius Caesar Scaliger, Poetics Lodovico Castelvetro, On Aristotle’s Poetics
9/18	T	John Northbrook, A Treatise against Dicing, Dancing, Plays, and Interludes Stephen Gosson, The School of Abuse Thomas Lodge, A Defence of Poetry, Music, and Stage Plays Sir Phillip Sydney, The Defense of Poesy	Debate
9/20	Th	Tempest
9/25	T	Tempest	Test
9/27	Th	Georges de Scudery, Observations on The Cid Pierre Corneille, Apologetic Letter
10/2	T	The Opinions of the French Academy	2-3 page paper
10/4	Th	Break
10/9	T	Moliere, Critique of School for Wives, The improvisation at Versailles, Preface to Tartuff
10/11	Th	Tartuff
10/16	T	Tartuff	Test
10/18	Th	School For Wives
10/23	T	School For Wives
10/25	Th	Dinner Theatre
10/30	T	John Dryden, An Essay of Dramatic Poesy	Proposal due for term Paper
11/1	Th	Jeremy Collier, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage William Congreve, Amendments of Mr. Collier’s False and Imperfect Citations, etc.
11/6	T	The Rover
11/8	Th	The Rover	2-3 page paper
11/13	T	Bertolt Brecht, The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre, Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction
11/15	Th	Mother Courage
11/20	T	Mother Courage	2-3 page paper
11/22	Th	Thanksgiving
11/27	T	Hayden, TheViolence of Language in Harold Pinter Plays
11/29	Th	Dumb Waitor	Term Paper Due
12/4	T	The Homecoming
12/6	Th	The Homecoming	One act
12/13	Th	Final 8:00	Test

Term papers:

The proposal
The proposal must include your topic and a stab at a thesis as well as a preliminary (very preliminary) working bibliography. In other words, you must go to the library before you write a proposal. The proposal should be suitable for a 5-10 page paper. Sometimes topics are too big for this format, although they are great ideas. You need to do some narrowing and focusing before you submit your proposal. Trying out a title can be useful even at the proposal stage. (It can always change later.) A topic is a general area of research. A thesis is a focused idea about or take on the topic. Theoretically everyone in the class could write on the same topic but come up with all different theses.
Using the library: Use EBSCO,

The Paper

Specific weighting for grading term papers:

Here is the breakdown of what you need to earn the full 50 points for your paper:

1. A proposal, which must be approved before you do the paper. (2 points).

2. A title on your final paper that reflects your thesis. (2 points).

3. An identifiable thesis. (4 points).

4. An argument with evidence/examples. (20 points) (A list of examples is not an argument).

5. Pagination. (2 points).

6. A conclusion. (5 points).

7. Five sources (at least), of which at least one must be from the 1980s or 1990s and at least one from before the 1950s. (5 points).

8. Accurate grammar, spelling, and punctuation. (5 points) (You will lose one point for each error up to a maximum of 5 points; this includes repetition of the same error, e.g., the same misused apostrophe, even if its the only mistake you make, will cost you 5 points if you misuse it the same way 5 times).

9. MLA style.(5 points) (footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical notes are fine).

Timely delivery of both your proposal and your final paper is important. You will lose 5 points if either the proposal or the paper is a day late. After that, you will lose 2 points a day for each day that either item is late. So, it is possible to earn maximum points in all other areas but then lose those points if your work is late.

You may use illustrations in your paper. Pages with illustrations do not count as part of the total page count for length. A page means a double-spaced, typed, page on 8 1/2x 11 paper. It should run about 250 words.

You get 10 extra points if you turn in a first draft three weeks before the paper is due and if you then make revisions beyond the level of copyediting. So, you could conceivably get 60 points for a 50 point project. If you hand in your first draft later than three weeks before the final draft is due, I will comment on it but you won't get the extra credit.

Guidelines for Presentations:

The point of the presentations is to generate a cohesive look at a topic in theatre. As well as discussing the essay, you will need to provide some background and factual information, as this is not addressed in the assigned reading. The presentation must go beyond being a talking encyclopedia entry.

Things you must have:

1. A goal, purpose, theme, thrust, argument, throughline (whatever you want to call it)

2. Clearly-presented factual info. In order to do this, you will need to get started early. From these findings you'll make your choices. Suggestion: charts or timelines on the blackboard and/or as handouts.

3. A variety of sources and areas of expertise that you weave together. You need to see what and how your findings can be combined to give an interesting, unique, possibly performative look at your topic.

4. Five questions (typed and photocopied) that you want your classmates to be able to answer after experiencing your presentation and that would be suitable for inclusion on an exam. (You will distribute these to the class.)

5. A descriptive statement (100-200 words) telling basically the topic, theme, and purpose of your presentation. Think of this as a blurb for the dustjacket of a book or the packaging of a video. It can be creative and fun (and should be!) as long as it gives us the accurate basics of your group masterpiece! (You will distribute these to the class.)

6. A bibliography.(You will distribute these to the class.)

Basically, numbers 1-3 will comprise 75% of what Ill consider in grading you and numbers 4-6 will comprise the other 25%. If you can nail 1,3, and 6, then 2,4, and 5 will probably already be in place or will, at any rate, be easy to plug in.