Mullticultural Theater in the United States

elective courses
proseminars

Interest in American theater, especially multicultural theater, and readiness to follow its development and debates on this topic. Interest in the history and phenomena of media representation in the USA and the issues of the history of ethnic communities and other minorities. Willingness expand knowledge in this field and to search examples illustrating issues discussed.

Classroom

The proseminar addresses the question of cultural diversity in American theater. The course presents selected works by artists from various ethnic, racial and cultural minorities in the USA, such as African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, feminists, LGBT authors and others. At the same time, we examine the changes in the debate on multiculturalism and study authors who do not speak only on behalf of their group (e.g. ethnic), but present a complex and intersectional image of America while their plays become a space for cultural dialogue and confrontation. The material discussed is intended to help students orient themselves in the landscape of American theater and enable them to formulate opinions and conduct their own research in this area.

The proseminar focuses on American theater and performance from a multicultural perspective. On the one hand, taking a traditional approach to multicultural studies, we study selected contributions to the history of American theater by American minorities. Thus, examples are drawn from works by Black, Chicanx/Latinx, Asian American, Native American, Feminist and Queer, and other artists whose voices have often been relegated to the margins of the cannon. We engage the debate about representation and participation of diverse American populations in American spectatorial culture and the role of theater, including the role of theater as an institution in specific places, in pushing this debate forward. Simultaneously, reflecting on the question of multiculturalism itself we discuss those works in American theater which enact a space in between different cultures, become an arena of negotiation of difference, stage America as a diverse, pluriversal, multiethnic nation. Discussions focus on critical language and interpretation of dramatic scripts, generic location of texts, social context of productions, their cultural and intersectional specificity, theater theory and actors’ training methodologies, institutional and geographical location of theaters, cultural debates about access and visibility, and more. The discussed material will help students orient themselves in the broad landscape of American theater. Students will be able to form informed, nuanced opinions about American theater and performance and will acquire tools to conduct their own research in the field.

LEARNING METHODS

Script readings, videos, written assignments, critiques, discussions, quizzes, short presentations, final papers, mid-semester and final projects.

TOOLS: Because theater allows us to enter other people's lives and is a public forum, the course uses the method of group readings of texts. To prepare such readings, the texts must first be interpreted and then practiced with the group before presentations. The aim of these projects, in addition to enabling students to directly experience the world of characters and performances, is also to practice public speaking, as well as build self-confidence, cooperation and mutual trust in the group.

TIME: To get the most out of class time, please allow time outside of class for this course. For every hour spent in class, students should spend at least 2 hours reading and studying.

Banks, Daniel “Introduction: Hip Hop Theater’s Ethic of Inclusion”

Baraka, Amiri. Dutchman (1964)

Brecht Bertold. On Theatre.

Broyles Gonzales, Yolanda. El Teatro Campesino: Theatre in the Chicano Movement. (1993)

Childress, Alice. Trouble in Mind (1955)

Culture Clash. Chavez Ravine. (2006)

_____ . Coast to Coast. (2005)

Davis, Mike. City of Quartz.

DeLyser, Dydia “Ramona Memories, Fiction, Tourist Practices and Placing the Past in Southern California”

Elam, Harry J. “Towards a new territory in multicultural theater” in Roberta Uno and Lusy Mae San Pablo Burns. The Color of Theater: Race, Culture and Contemporary Performance. Continuum, 2002. (91-114).

Finley, Karen. We Keep Our Victims Ready.

Gates, Henry Louis. “Beyond the Culture Wars: Identities in Dialogue” Profession, 1993, 6-11.

Geiogamah, Hanay. 49.

https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/03/20/a-list-of-native-theatres-and-theatremakers/

https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/03/20/raising-native-voices-then-amplifying-them/

Głowacki, Janusz. Antigone in New York and Hunting Cockroaches

Gomez-Pena, Guillermo. “The Multicultural Paradigm”

_____ . BORDERscape 2000. in Roberta Uno and Lusy Mae San Pablo Burns. The Color of Theater: Race, Culture and Contemporary Performance. Continuum, 2002. (347-374)

Gotanda, Philip Kan. The Wash

https://www.americantheatre.org/1996/02/01/choice-and-chance/

Hansberry, Loraine. A Raisin in the Sun (1959)

Harris, Jeremy O. Slave Play

https://www.americantheatre.org/2019/07/01/slave-play-racism-doesnt-have-a-safe-word/

Hinds, Rickerby. Dreamscape (2010)

hooks, bell. “A Revolution of Values: The Promise of Multicultural Change” in Simon During. The Cultural Studies Reader. Routledge. 1999. (233-240)

Hughes, Holly. World Without End.

Hwang, Henry David. M. Butterfly

https://www.americantheatre.org/2008/04/01/fun-with-race-and-the-media/

Juarez, Luis Xago. IYA: The Esselen Remember (2015)

Kondo, Dorinne. “(Re)Visions of Race: Contemporary Race Theory and the Cultural Politics of Racial Crossover in Documentary Theatre”

Tony Kushner Angels in America

Lucas, Ashley E. “Chavez Ravine: Culture Clash and the Political Project of Rewriting History”

Martyna Majok Ironbound

https://www.americantheatre.org/2016/12/20/martyna-majok-shines-a-light-on-the-invisible-in-ironbound/

Miranda, Lin Manuel. Hamilton.

Morton, Carlos. Los Dorados. (1978)

Nottage, Lynn. Sweat (2015)

Perry, Tyler. For Colored Girls (2010)

Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuff (1978)

Sibbles Drury, Jackie. Fairview (2019)

Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight. (1992),

_____ . Fires in the Mirror. (1993)

Smith, Roger Guenveur. Rodney King.

______ . Blood and Brains.

_____ . A Huey P. Newton Story. L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection

Parks, Susan Lori. 365 Days / 365 Plays (2006)

______ . Father Comes Home from the War

_____ . The Equation for Black People on Stage

Reed, Ishamel. The Haunting of Lin Manuel Miranda.

Shohat, Ella and Robert Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism Multiculturalism and the Media (46-49)

El Teatro Campesino Actos

Valdez, Luis. Zoot Suit. (1978)

Valdez, Luis with Michael M. Chemers. Theatre of the Sphere_ The Vibrant Being. Routledge, 2021.

Wilson, August Fences.

_____ . Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom .

_____ . “The Ground on which I Stand.” American Theatre, Sep96, Vol. 13, Issue 7.

Wilson, Edwin. The Theatre Experience. McGraw-Hill. 2015

Wolfe, George C. The Colored Museum. 1987.

Worthen, W.B. “African American Theater” in “The American Theater” (939-942)

Zangwill, Israel. The Melting Pot.

and others.

Knowledge:

*The graduate has knowledge of theater studies and cultural studies and their interconnections in relation to interdisciplinary studies of American multiculturalism

* The graduate knows and understands selected works of art and facts related to the development of American theater and is able to define their relationship to cultural life in the Americas in the historical, social, political, economic contexts, etc.

* The graduate knows the terminology, methods, tools and techniques of data acquisition, selected traditions, research schools and directions of their development necessary for research on American theater and multiculturalism.

*The graduate knows the theoretical and methodological approaches in the study of American theater necessary for research, advanced analysis, and interpretation of the phenomenon of multiculturalism in the USA.

Skills:

* The graduate knows how to use appropriate research methods and tools, as well as adapt existing ones and develop new ones for interdisciplinary studies of American theater, in particular the multicultural theater in the USA.

*The graduate knows how to interpret works of theater in the USA in their various contexts (social, cultural, political, etc.) using theoretical and methodological tools of cultural studies and theater studies.

*The graduate knows how to identify and describe phenomena in the field of multicultural theater and audiovisual representation in the USA using advanced theoretical and methodological tools in the field of cultural and religious sciences and art sciences, as well as formulates and solves research problems in this area

*The graduate knows how to communicate with diverse audiences and conduct debates on specialized American studies topics relating to theatrical phenomena in the USA using specialized terminology in English.

* The graduate is able to further expand and supplement the acquired knowledge about theater in the USA through an independently planned and implemented lifelong learning process

Social competences:

*The graduate is ready to use the acquired interdisciplinary knowledge in the field of American theater and cultural studies in order to conduct research and formulate their own opinions

*The graduate is ready to recognize the importance of knowledge in the field of theater studies in the USA to solve problems and to seek opinions of experts in case of difficulties in solving them independently.

*The graduate is ready to continue learning and developing the achievements of American studies in American theater, in particular theater and performances dealing with aspects of multiculturalism or originating from American minorities

Attendance = 5%

Class participation = 10%

Short presentation = 10%

proposal of the research paper = 10%

annotated bibliography for the research paper = 15%

in-class project presentation = 20%

15-page research paper = 30%