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No textbook; copies of all plays are on 2-hour reserve. You will need to make photocopies, as necessary for your own purposes, including class work.
This course is a survey of selected, representative "early" American plays studied in a larger historical and cultural context. It is designed for students to study in some depth the variety and richness of the American theatre before O'Neill (i.e., before the 1920s).
Each student will prepare two projects for the course, one an in-class presentation of "visuals" associated with one of the plays that the whole class has read and discussed (this "visuals" project is discussed in more detail below), and the other an oral presentation (with supplemental handouts) of 30-35 minutes summarizing and highlighting the results of independent research on a topic related to early American theatre. The full presentation of the results of the work on this project will be in the form of an extended paper, on the order of 20 pages. The topics for this research should be discussed ahead of time with the instructor. Some topics that represent the range of topics that would be appropriate for this project: ethnicity on stage (especially the Irish, in Harrigan and Hart "slam bangs"), or race or gender in the theatre (minstrel shows); vaudeville the beginnings of the American musical (The Black Crook); socio-economic class and the theatre--plays, actors, theatres; prominent dramatic forms in the "early" American stage: melodrama, for one; Scribe and the well-made play: effect on American playwriting (on melodrama, in particular); prominent figures associated with the stage--playwrights, players, managers: Aldridge, Belasco, Hamblin, Keene, Boker, Payne, Sinclair, Gillette, Cushman, Forrest, any of the four Booths, Jefferson, Daly, or any who are already represented in the course; costuming or set design; adaptations: from fiction to stage or from the French or English stage to the American stage (Dumas, Tom Taylor, Boucicault); Shakespeare in America; the theatre syndicate (Frohman, Shubert); the question of morality and the theatre: the prejudice against the theatre (in the north, especially), and the response by the theatre (theatre as moral force--temperance plays, for example); theatres--the history of a specific theatre, or history of several theatres in one city; technology and the theatre, especially stage machinery, and its effect on productions and dramaturgy; economic forces affecting the theatre; industrialization: the effect of urbanization or railroading on the theatre (touring); influential critics: Winter, Clapp, "Nym Crinkle"; relationship of prominent non-dramatic literary figures with the theatre: Twain, James, Howells, Poe, Longfellow, Irving; contemporary literary movements in fiction and drama; contemporaneous historians of the theatre: Dunlap, Ludlow; the Civil War and the theatre. And others too numerous to name. The deadline for declaring topics is February 15; on that day, in class we will allocate time slots during the second half of the semester for the presentations.
About the "visuals": typically the first period of each week will be devoted to a study of a play as verbal text and the second will be given over to a presentation (by pairs of students--one from English and one from Theatre) of the same play as visual text, highlighting "visuals" associated closely with the play: for example, a portfolio of photographs of the actors or playwrights or sets or theatres which are connected with the play, or a combination of these, and including a "performance" of at least one important scene or part of a scene from the play. (On occasion, as a scene might require it, another student or two might be "borrowed" for additional roles in a scene.) An explantion of the connection between the play and the visuals will be a must, here. The rest of the class will serve as audience and critics for these visuals, especially the performances. This is not an acting class, so an interpretive rendering is what we're after here, not a polished performance. Assignments of these plays will be made the first day of class. By the end of the first period of the week, the students doing the visuals during the second period of the week will announce the scene(s) they will perform, by way of preparing the rest of us. These visuals will require some research and analytical thinking. Use your imagination: think how you can make the verbal text come alive, be more "physically" (visually, audio-ly) realized for the class.
Certainly, the two projects--the visuals and the independent research effort--might be related, but they should not be identical. The idea is for students to gain significant depth in two elements of the early American theatre--an important play and some other aspect. For both these two projects, and for our class discussions, students will want to be familiar with some of the standard histories of American theatre--such as those by Moody, Meserve, Hornblow, Hewitt, Hughes, Mayorga, Richardson, Sprague, Dunn, Wilson--and standard reference works--such as those by Odell, Bordman (Oxford Companion to American Theatre and American Theatre: A Chronicle..., 1869-1914, Wilmeth and Miller, eds. (Cambridge Guide to American Theatre), IBT, Wearing, DAB, AmLS.
The primary special feature of the course is that Dr. James Parker of the Theatre department will be joining us as a second instructor. He will bring with him his considerable expertise in the dramatic literature and of the acting styles of the period. His presence will enhance our study immeasurably. Take advantage of him.
Another special feature of the course will be a joint project with Laura Browder's playwriting class. She will have her students rewrite a nineteenth-century melodrama, one of the most representative modes of drama in the period, for a modern audience. Since the two classes do not meet at the same time, we will meet at a neutral time--on a Saturday, 9-12am--when our class will take up Black Ey'd Susan, dividing the period in two 1 1/2 hour segments as a typical week. Her class will observe our presentation and will feel free to ask questions. At the end of the semester we will have another special meeting of both classes when we will be audience and critics for a performance by her students of the work they have done with the melodrama form.
A third special feature is our study of Gillette's resilient Secret Service in the context of a revival production jointly by Richmond's Theatre IV and the University of Richmond, from February 29 to March 10 at the Empire Theatre. Our discussion of the play will begin on the 5th of March, so please make arrangements to see the production sometime between opening night (Thursday, the 29th) and March 4th (Monday, the night before our discussion) and after you have read the play. (Empire Theatre is at 114 W. Broad. VCU students get a discount--$5.00 for a ticket.)
Finally, it hardly need be said that class attendance is required or that the quality of work will suffer if classes are missed. Participation in class discussions is likewise expected. Missed classes must be explained (beforehand when possible).