Theater and Dance 235: Theater: Medieval and Renaissance England and Early Modern Europe

This course is a survey of the literature and history of the theater of Medieval and Renaissance England and Early Modern Europe. Students will become aware of social, political, and religious attitudes and their influence on playwriting and play-going, as well as technological and scientific advancements and their impact on theater architecture, design, and technical practice. Students will work toward imagining play scripts coming to life in production, and they will seek connections and comparisons between texts from this period and contemporary playwriting, performance, and production trends with which we may be familiar. Dramatists to be studied may include Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, the Wakefield Master, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, Calderón, Molière, Racine, Aphra Behn, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Catharine Trotter, and George Farquhar. Students who received credit for Theater and Dance 371 cannot receive credit for this course.