Studies in American Theatre and Drama (448-0-20)

Topic

State Funded Theatre of the US & Caribbean

Instructors

Danielle Bainbridge

Meeting Info

Wirtz 235 Seminar Room 1: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

This course will explore how state funded theatre and performance in the 20th century was used to form emerging national, racial, and ethnic identities in the postcolonial period. The class will focus on the Anglophone Caribbean and the Southern United States, where state funded performance and theatre were used not only as a means of celebrating independence movements, but also used to influence the shape of emerging state identities and national politics. The course will explore how by staging, funding, and shaping the narratives of theatrical performance, states in the Caribbean and the Southern US were invested in performing and cementing new identities that were influenced by pan-African identities, workers' movements, black nationalism, white supremacist holdovers of the antebellum era, and a rejection of colonial values. These often contradictory impulses mirrored the turmoil of the social climate that gave birth to these works.

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Restrict enrollment to MFA Acting, Directing, Design, MA/IPTD and Performance Studies graduate students.