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Theatre History I

THEA 2890

This course examines the development of Western theatre and drama from the Ancient Greeks to the 19th-Century, concentrating on the intellectual, social and artistic foundations of theatre and drama. The course is designed to engage theatre from its theatrical, social, cultural, and historical contexts. The lecture-discussion format of this course is intended to foster an active engagement among the students with the theatre and drama of the past. Through in-class readings, discussions of the readings, written assignments, and presentations, students are encouraged to consider the material under investigation from sociohistorical and theatrical perspectives, as well as from the material's relation and relevance to the present. The focus is on theatre and drama representative of the major styles, authors, and genres from Fifth-Century B.C.E. into the early 19th-Century. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.