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Theater has oftentimes served as a way of exploring cultural and ethnic identity and as an art form that critically engages with political changes and nationality. Early American drama is a genre that is closely linked to the political climate of the young American Republic that it is a part of. Just as the newly founded U.S. American nation, drama as a genre evolved in a specifically “American” way, trying to stand in the tradition of its European antecedents but also establishing a new field that underlines its distinctiveness. Understanding the “American” aspects of early American drama is one of the goals of this course.
In this class, we will explore various dramas which were produced between the 1780s and the 1850s, in order to not only span nearly a century of theatrical advancement and improvement but even more to show how drama and political development influence each other. Additionally, this course provides an insight into discourses of gender, race/ethnicity, and class in early American drama. We will cover works by authors such as Royall Tylers, James Nelson Baker, and William Henry Smith as well as theoretical texts on drama theory, reception theory, and on early American drama development.
Please purchase the following book and start reading the first play (which is called The Contrast) before the first session:
- Early American Drama. Ed. Jeffrey H. Richards. Penguin Classics (ISBN-10: 0140435883). It is available at the Heinrich-Heine book store at the Viehofer Platz. If you wish, you can also buy a different version of this book.
Additional material will be compiled in a reader that will be available in the Copy Shop Schug & Real at Reckhammer Weg 4 at the beginning of the semester. |
