This course provides an introduction to theater through the study of values and issues fundamental to cultural identity, the comparison of selected cultural groups and their relationship to American society as a whole, and the study of drama as an instrument for understanding and expressing cultural identity. Theater of specific cultural groups to be included will be determined by the availability of live theater productions offered on campus and in the Bay Area.

This course is about performance and its power to reflect and reproduce social systems of race, class, and gender in the United States. The material in this course considers América as contested territory, where multiple Americas are not just written but also performed. We will engage contemporary debates in theater and performance studies, next to media, music, and other forms of popular culture in the making of a people and place. In particular we will examine how performance produces a sense of collective experience, whether identity groups, as neighborhoods, border-crossers, extended families, or as land itself. We will read articles, plays, and poetry, see films and experience live theater in the Bay Area. Among the course requirements are short assignments, a midterm essay, and a final web-based multimedia project. Active participation in section discussions and activities is required.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills