Theatre 305: Topics in Theatre History:

Gender Identity and Theatre History

Spring 20011 Prof. Melanie Blood

MW 1-2:15 Brodie 121

Brodie 210 X5840, blood@geneseo.edu, IM TheaProfonCall

Office hours: MWF 11:30, TR 10:30

DAILY SYLLABUS:

W 1/19

On Gender Identity

Traditional feminist critiques of women’s roles in literature and on stage; invisibility of homosexuality/queer identities

M 1/24

Judith Butler’s “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” Theatre Journal, 1988. (mycourses)

“Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” by Adrienne Rich, Signs, 1980 (mycourses)

Embodiment in theatrical performance

W 1/26

Ancient Greece:

“Classic Drag: The Greek Creation of Female Parts” by Sue-Ellen Case; Theatre Journal, Oct., 1985, vol. 37, no. 3, p. 317-327 (mycourses)

Recommended production: Vocal Miscellany presents The Fantasticks by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. Directed by John Gasper and Natalie Mack and music directed by Alan Case. Th 1/27-Sat 1/29 at 8 pm. Wadsworth Auditorium. Tickets $6 students (bbo.geneseo.edu x5583)

M 1/31

Antigone by Sophocles, any translation, but Burial at Thebes, tr Seamus Heaney preferred. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005. 0374530076

“Oedipus the Queen” by Kirk Ormand, TJ 2003. (mycourses)

W 2/2

Renaissance/Baroque:

1. Shakespeare

“Much virtue in if: Shakespeare's cross-dressed boy-actresses and the non-illusory stage” in Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theatre and Gender. By Alisa Solomon. Routledge, 1997. (mycourses)

Optional production: Alpha Psi Omega’s 24 hour project. Performance 8 pm, Sturges Auditorium, free. Volunteer to participate as a writer, actor, director, designer.

M 2/7

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (text – online is fine -- and film) finish Acts 1-3 for today

W 2/9

Finish Twelfth Night

“Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night” by Casey Charles, TJ, 49:2, May, 1997. (mycourses)

Required Production: VegSOUP presents The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein. Directed by Dana Giglia. Thurs-Sat 2/10-12 at 8 and Fri at 11. Black Box Theatre. Tickets $5 (x5833, bbo.geneseo.edu)

Required Production: Womyn’s Action Coalition presents The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, directed by Rachel Tamarin. The Knight Spot, 8 pm. Tickets in the union. More details when I get them.

M 2/14

Discuss the weekend’s shows; read online segments of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

W 2/16

2. Baroque Opera

Farinelli film

“White Voices” in “Monstrous Pleasures of the Baroque” pp. 193-6 of The Changing Room: Sex, Drag, and Theatre, by Laurence Senelick. Routledge, 2000.

Selections from: Eunuchs and Castrati, a Cultural History. Piotr O Scholz. 2003 tr from German. IDS requested.

Selections from Singers of Italian Opera : the History of a Profession by John Rosselli. Cambride: 1992. ML1460 .R68 1992

M 2/21

Handel’s Julius Caesar (video, online summary)

Reading Response Paper 1 due

W 2/23

3. Women on stage and writing at Restoration

Stage Beauty Film

"Playhouse Flesh and Blood: Sexual Ideology and the Restoration Actress” by Katharine Eisaman Maus ELH 46: 4, p. 595-617, 1979 (mycourses)

M 2/28

Selections from Broken Boundaries : Women & Feminism in Restoration Drama

Ed. By Katherine M Quinsey 1996 particularly Cynthia Lowenthal’s “Sticks and Rags, Bodies and Brocades” on Barry and Bracegirdle. IDS requested.

Chs. 2 “Colley Cibber’s Butt and the Construction of Masculinity” and 3 “Colley Cibber’s Fops Actors and Homophobia” of Sexual Suspects by Kristina Straub. Princeton, 1992.

W 3/2

The Rehearsal by George Villiers Buckingham, 1671. U Michigan Library B002T45WS0

Required Production: Burial at Thebes: A Translation of Sophocles’ Antigone by Seamus heaney. Directed by Lauren Scheibly. Wed-Sat 3/2-5 at 8, Sun 3/6 at 2. Austin Theatre. Tickets $8 (bbo.geneseo.edu x5583).

Romanticism:

M 3/7

1. Giselle video, short articles from Royal Ballet on the plot, performance tradition (mycourses)

Dancing Women: Female Bodies Onstage, by Sally Banes, ch 1. “The Romantic Ballet: Les Sylphide, Giselle, Coppelia.” 1998. (mycourses)

W 3/9

“Redeeming Giselle” by Judy Bruner in Rethinking the Sylph ed. Lynn Garafola. Wesleyan UP 1997. (mycourses)

“Burlesque, Breeches, and Blondes” in Actresses and Whores, on Stage and in Society by Kirsten Pullen. U Cambridge Press, 2005 (mycourses)

SPRING BREAK M 3/14, W 3/16

Modernism:

M 3/21

1. “From Hedda Gabler to Votes for Women: Elizabeth Robins Early Feminist Critique of Ibsen” TJ March 1996. (mycourses)

Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. Dover Publications, 1990. 0486264696

W 3/23

Finish Hedda Gabler

Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie; New Directions reprint, 1999. 0811214044 (or in Wadsworth Anthology)

Optional Show: Orchesis Beyond the Studio Mirror dance concert. Austin Theatre. Thurs 3/25 – Sat 3/27. Alice Austin Theatre. Tickets $5. (x5833, bbo.geneseo.edu).

M 3/28

Chris Durang’s “For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls” (mycourses)

“Tennessee Williams: Glass Menagerie and Streetcar Named Desire” by Mark Lilly in Lesbian and Gay Writing, ed Mark Lilly, Temple UP 1990. IDS requested

Reading Response Papers #2 due

Postmodernism:

W 3/30

Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill. Samuel French Acting edition, 2010. 05736187 (or in Wadsworth Anthology)

Optional Production: Musical Theatre Club Revue. Austin Theatre. Thurs 3/31-Sat 4/2. Alice Austin Theatre. Free.

M 4/4,

“(Re) Dressing Desire and Comfortable Subversions in Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine” by James M. Harding. PMLA, March 1998. (mycourses)

The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam, and biography of Ludlam by Samuels, in The Mystery of Irma Vep and Other Plays. TCG, 2001. 1559361735

Topic and Three sources for final paper due

W 4/6

Finish Irma Vep

The Changing Room by Laurence Senelick, pp 423-430 on Ridiculous Theatre and Ludlam. (mycourses)

Recommended production: Veg SOUP presents: Jekyl and Hyde by Leslie Bricusse, directed by Brian Clemente. Black Box Theatre. Thurs-Sat, 4/6-8, 8 pm, Fri at 11. Tickets $6 (bbo.geneseo.edu x5583).

M 4/11

Little Women in Split Britches: Lesbian Practice, Feminist Performance. Routledge, 1996. 0415127661

W 4/13

M Butterfly by David Henry Hwang (in Wadsworth Anthology)

“M Butterfly: Orientalism, Gender, and A Critique of Essentialist Identity” by Dorinne K. Kondo in Cultural Critique, autumn 1990. (mycourses)

M 4/18

My Queer Body by Tim Miller in Body Blows; U Wisconsin Press, 2002. 0299176843

W 4/20

Compare Tim Miller’s piece with Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler

“Worrying about Vaginas: Feminism and Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues” by Christine M. Cooper, in Signs, spring 2007. (mycourses)

Optional production: Dance Concert. Thurs 4/21-Sun 4/24, 8 pm, Sun at 2. Alice Austin Theatre. Tickets $8 (bbo.geneseo.edu x5833).

M 4/25

I am My Own Wife by Doug Wright. Dramatist’s Play Service, 2005. 0822220245

Recommended production: GENseng Asian American Performance Ensemble presents And the Soul Shall Dance by Wakako Yamauchi, directed by Randy Kaplan. 4/28-30 Thurs 7 PM, Fri 4 PM, Sat 2 PM, Robert Sinclair Theatre; Tickets $8 (bbo.geneseo.edu x5833).

Required production: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Theatre 101 Mt Morris Fri 4/29, 8 pm. SUNY Geneseo Black Box. Fri-Sat 5/6-7, 8 pm. Free.

Optional Show: Alpha Psi Omega presents Artists Fighting AIDS, a cabaret and silent auction to support AIDS Rochester. 8 pm, Student Union.

M 5/2

“Doug Wright: We Love to See Power Subverted” TDR Autumn, 2006. (mycourses)

Wrap up

Reading Response Paper #3 due

Final Examination: Monday May 9, 12-3 pm

Present abstracts if final project is academic alone.

Present performance/drawings etc. if final project is a combination academic and performance project.

Final research papers due

Baurle

Clemente

Ellis

Fortune

Geisler

Giglia

Karp

Martini

McArdle

Nardone

Roa

Tamarin

Tortoriello

Royal

Colbert