Search Results
Your search for courses · tagged with THEA Lit Critical History · returned 16 results
-
CLAS 116 Greek Drama in Performance 6 credits
What is drama? When and where were the first systematic theatrical performances put on? What can Athenian tragedies and comedies teach us about the classical world and today’s societies? This course will explore the always-relevant world of Ancient Greek theater, its history and development, through the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. We will decode the structure and content of Greek tragedies and comedies, ponder their place in the Athenian society and the modern world, and investigate the role of both ancient and contemporary productions in addressing critical questions on the construction and performance of individual and communal identities.
- Fall 2024
- LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
-
ENGL 116 The Art of Drama: Passion, Politics, and Culture 6 credits
An exploration of drama approached as literature and in performance. New digital resources enable us to take world-class productions from the National Theatre and elsewhere as our texts. Drawing examples both globally and across time, we will consider plays and recent productions in their historical and cultural contexts. Students will develop critical vocabularies, debate interpretations, and hone their interpretive and rhetorical skills in writing reviews and essays.
Not offered in 2024-25
-
ENGL 144 Shakespeare I 6 credits
A chronological survey of the whole of Shakespeare's career, covering all genres and periods, this course explores the nature of Shakespeare's genius and the scope of his art. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between literature and stagecraft ("page to stage"). By tackling the complexities of prosody, of textual transmission, and of Shakespeare's highly figurative and metaphorical language, the course will help you further develop your ability to think critically about literature. Declared or prospective English majors should register for ENGL 244.
Declared or prospective English majors should register for English 244.
- Winter 2025
- LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
-
ENGL 205 “Passing Strange”: Shakespeare’s Othello and its Modern Afterlives 3 credits
One of the most intimate and devastating plays in all dramatic literature has also continuously been at the center of societal debates around race, representation, and civil rights. Moving from Shakespeare’s Renaissance to important historical and civil rights figures like Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson to reimaginings by contemporary artists, we will explore how Othello has served as a vehicle for social change. The class will be taught in conjunction with the campus visit of writer, actor, and anti-apartheid activist Bonisile John Kani, OIS, OBE, the first Black actor to play Othello in South Africa.
1st 5 weeks
Not offered in 2024-25
-
ENGL 206 William Shakespeare: The Henriad 3 credits
Shakespeare’s account of the Wars of the Roses combines history, tragedy, comedy, romance, and bildungsroman as it explores themes of power, identity, duty, family, love, and friendship on an epic scale. We will read and discuss Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and Henry V, and attend the Guthrie Theater’s three-play repertory event.
Second five weeks. Extra Time for trip to Guthrie theater
Not offered in 2024-25
-
ENGL 209 Project Course 6 credits
This interdisciplinary course, taught in conjunction with a full-scale Carleton Players production, will explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most complex works, Twelfth Night. We will investigate the play’s historical, social, and theatrical contexts as we try to understand not only the world that produced the play, but the world that came out of it. How should what we learn of the past inform a modern production? How can performance offer interpretive arguments about the play’s meanings? Mixing embodied and experiential learning, individual and group projects may involve dramaturgy, stagecraft, literary analysis, music, and research in Special Collections.
- Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
-
ENGL 214 Revenge Tragedy 3 credits
Madness, murder, conspiracy, poison, incest, rape, ghosts, and lots of blood: the fashion for revenge tragedy in Elizabethan and Jacobean England led to the creation of some of the most brilliant, violent, funny, and deeply strange plays in the history of the language. Authors may include Cary, Chapman, Ford, Marston, Middleton, Kyd, Tourneur, and Webster.
Not offered in 2024-25
-
ENGL 219 Global Shakespeare 3 credits
Shakespeare’s plays have been reimagined and repurposed all over the world, performed on seven continents, and translated into over 100 languages. The course explores how issues of globalization, nationalism, translation (both cultural and linguistic), and (de)colonization inform our understanding of these wonderfully varied adaptations and appropriations. We will examine the social, political, and aesthetic implications of a range of international stage, film, and literary versions as we consider how other cultures respond to the hegemonic original. No prior experience with Shakespeare is necessary.
Second 5 weeks
Not offered in 2024-25
-
ENGL 244 Shakespeare I 6 credits
A chronological survey of the whole of Shakespeare's career, covering all genres and periods, this course explores the nature of Shakespeare's genius and the scope of his art. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between literature and stagecraft ("page to stage"). By tackling the complexities of prosody, of textual transmission, and of Shakespeare's highly figurative and metaphorical language, the course will help you further develop your ability to think critically about literature. Non English majors should register for English 144.
Non English majors should register for English 144.
-
ENGL 258 Playwrights of Color: Taking the Stage 6 credits
This course examines work by U.S. playwrights of color from the 1950s to the present, focusing on questions of race, performance, and self-representation. We will consider opportunities and limitations of the commercial theater, Off-Off Broadway, ethnic theaters, and non-traditional performance spaces. Playwrights may include Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, Luis Valdez, Cherrie Moraga, August Wilson, David Henry Hwang, Philip Gotanda, Maria Irene Fornes, Anna Deavere Smith, and Chay Yew. We will watch selected film adaptations and attend a live performance when possible.
Not offered in 2024-25
-
ENGL 281.07 Reading Multicultural London 6 credits
A wide range of British writers have depicted London as a site of displacement, diaspora, community, and belonging. From the “Windrush Generation” in the 1950s to the present context of Brexit, this course will examine the depiction of multicultural London in fiction, film, and essay. Selected texts will reveal how diverse writers have been shaped by London and in turn shaped its narratives. Readings may include Samuel Selvon, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, Kamala Shamsie, and Xiaolu Guo; and we will incorporate relevant museum exhibits and cultural events.
Requires participation in Carleton OCS London Program. For 2025 Winter Term offering, course completes IS not IDS.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2 LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
-
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
-
ENGL 282 Living London Program: London Theater 6 credits
Students will attend productions (at least two per week) of classic and contemporary plays in a range of London venues both on and off the West End, and will do related reading. We will also travel to Stratford-upon-Avon for a three-day theater trip. Class discussions will focus on dramatic genres and themes, dramaturgy, acting styles, and design. Guest speakers may include actors, critics, and directors. Students will keep a theater journal and write several full reviews of plays.
Open only to participants in OCS Program: Living London
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
-
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
-
ENGL 381.07 Reading Multicultural London 6 credits
A wide range of British writers have depicted London as a site of displacement, diaspora, community, and belonging. From the “Windrush Generation” in the 1950s to the present context of Brexit, this course will examine the depiction of multicultural London in fiction, film, and essay. Selected texts will reveal how diverse writers have been shaped by London and in turn shaped its narratives. Readings may include Samuel Selvon, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, Kamala Shamsie, and Xiaolu Guo; and we will incorporate relevant museum exhibits and cultural events.
Open only to students participating in OCS London Program
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2 LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
-
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
-
THEA 209 Project Course 6 credits
This interdisciplinary course, taught in conjunction with a full-scale Carleton Players production, will explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most complex works, Twelfth Night. We will investigate the play’s historical, social, and theatrical contexts as we try to understand not only the world that produced the play, but the world that came out of it. How should what we learn of the past inform a modern production? How can performance offer interpretive arguments about the play’s meanings? Mixing embodied and experiential learning, individual and group projects may involve dramaturgy, stagecraft, literary analysis, music, and research in Special Collections.
- Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
-
THEA 228 Performing Women 6 credits
Through a performance studies lens, this course analyzes performances of gender and race in American theatre, focusing on female-identified artists of color. Our starting questions are: How do we read “woman” on stage and how have artists disrupted or supported dominant understandings of “woman” through theatrical performances? Additionally, how have artists intentionally challenged this gender binary in performance? Among other artists, we examine the work of Angelina Weld Grimké, Kristina Rae Colón. Larissa FastHorse, Teatro Luna, Young Jean Lee, and Aditi Brennan Kapil. At the end of the course students move from an analysis of performance to creation of their own performance pieces.
Not offered in 2024-25
-
THEA 255 August Wilson: History and the Blues 6 credits
This course will explore the ten plays that comprise August Wilson’s “Century Cycle.” Wilson wrote one play for each decade of the twentieth century, exploring the movement of African-Americans, in critic John Lahr’s words, “from property to personhood.” Wilson’s work, inspired by the Black Arts movement of the 1960’s-70’s is rooted musically in the Blues, the African American musical form at the root of modern American popular music. We will read these plays, informed by the Blues, against the major historical events in African-American life during each of the decades they represent.
Not offered in 2024-25