DTH 3325 Performance Seminar: Politics & Performance
Can art change lives? This course will explore the work of theatre artists, choreographers, and collectives who believe that the role of the performance is not only to challenge accepted political and social structures but to motivate audiences to public action. We will read theory and study traditionally scripted plays (Brecht, Hansbury, Fo), as well as collectively evolved performance pieces (such as San Francisco Mime Troupe, Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed, Joseph Chaikin and the Open Theater, Teatro Campesino, Tectonic Theater's Laramie Project) and the work of choreographers such as Kurt Jooss and Bill T. Jones. A studio component will allow students o explore whether theory holds up to the test of performance. Preq: Creative Process. (NOTE: Two Performance Seminars are required of all majors, one for minors. This course is one of a series of specialty enrichment seminars which include: Non-Western Performance, NY Performance Now, Playback Theatre, Voice of Chekhov and others.)