Course Information

Learning Outcomes

  • Critical and Historical Literacy: students will analyze the global development of theatre and performance from the early seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century with a critical focus on issues of gender, race, class, and coloniality.
  • Students will identify the gaps in theatre and performance historiography and problematize the theoretical assumptions and analytical biases in the writing of history. 
  • Students will enact their historical knowledge in the form of creative writing/performance so as to participate in the writing of history and the production of knowledge.

Required Texts

All the texts of this class can be found on this site under “Course Schedule”. Before every class, you are expected to complete the reading for the day and come to class prepared with your own thoughts and questions and participate in the class discussion. Ideally you would be able to access the texts on a digital device (a tablet is preferred, but a phone will work too) during the class. If you cannot use a digital reader, you can print the texts out and bring the physical copies with you.

Technology

In the first week, you should take some time to familiarize yourself with the main online tools that we use for the class—CUNY Academic Commons, Hypothesis, and Discord: 

  • You can access reading materials on our course site on CUNY Academic Commons: https://theahistory2.commons.gc.cuny.edu.You will also post your catalogue entries, your response paper, and your fictional theatre review and reflective rationale on the CUNYCommons Site
  • We will use Discord as the main platform for announcement and information outside the classroom, and as the platform for office hours and remote sessions if needed. Our Discord server is: https://discord.gg/QaHfTrPkwq.
  • We will use Hypothesis to create annotations. You can create your free account on Hypothesis: https://web.hypothes.is. Our Hypothesis group is: https://hypothes.is/groups/rEaBimiQ/theahistoryii-spring-2023. 
  • Getting comfortable with technology is the key to strategizing learning and enhancing efficiency. It will be most convenient if you can bring your tablets or laptops with you, but they are not required as long as you have access to the reading materials on an electronic device or in paper form.