Theater Arts - Winter 1999

Instructor: Mark Franko

We will focus on theories of drama by looking at the actor/dancer/performer as a complex of emotional, physical, and psychic components in different historical and aesthetic moments. Overall, this course is designed to reflect the major theatrical innovations of the twentieth-century, and its purpose is both historical and theoretical. Requirements: 1) keep up with reading, 2) active participation in a lecture/seminar framework 3) a final paper (5-7 pages) on a subject related to the syllabus and decided upon in consultation with the instructor, 4) attendance at lectures (more than 3 absences is considered excessive and will be noted in evaluations).

Books on order:

Aristotle, Poetics

Artaud, The Theater and its Double

Euripedes, The Bacchae

Class Reader (available for purchase at Copy Center)

Course Outline

Jan 7:
Introduction

Jan 9:
Aristotle, Poetics

Jan. 12:
Composite spectacle in the late-Renaissance: Le Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581)
Franko, "Writing Dancing, 1573"

Jan 14:
The King as Dancer
[Jean-Christophe Paré, excerpt from Atys, and Entrée d'Apollon]

Jan 16:
Diderot, The Paradox of Acting

Jan 19:
Holiday

Jan 21:
Kleist, "On the Marionette Theater"
Craig, "The Actor and the UberMarionette"
[clip of Max Reinhardt, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Kazuo Ohno, Suiren (excerpt)]

Jan 23:
Stanislavski, "The Art of the Actor and the Art of the Director"
[Clips of Isadora Duncan and Celia Adler]

Jan 26:
el Gordon, "Meyerhold's Biomechanics"
Eisenstein, "Montage of Attractions" [clips of Meyerhold's biomechanical exercises; Cherkassov in Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible]

Jan 28:
Brecht, "A Short Organum for the Theater"
[clips from Threepenny Opera]

Jan 30:
Benjamin, "What is Epic Theatre?"

Feb 2:
Susan Manning, "An American Perspective on Tanztheater"
[Pina Bausch, Blaubart]

Feb 4:
[Bausch, Blaubart (continued)]

Feb:6:
Tanztheater (continued)

week six:

Feb 9:
Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

Feb. 11 The Birth of Tragedy (continued)

Feb. 13 Euripedes, The Bacchae

Feb 16 Holiday

Feb 17:
Artaud, "The Theater and the Plague," "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scène," in The Theater and its Double (15-47)
[clip of Artaud in The Passion of Joan of Arc]

(exchange day)

Feb 20
No Class (Theater Arts Orals)

Feb 23 Artaud, "The Alchemical Theater," and "On the Balinese Theater," and "Oriental and Occidental Theater," in The Theater and it Double (48-73)

[Margaret Mead, Trance and Dance in Bali; Peter Brook, Marat/Sade (excerpt)]

Feb. 25 Artaud, "No More Masterpieces," "The Theater and Cruelty," "The Theater of Cruelty: First Manifesto," in The Theater and its Double (73-100)

Feb. 27 Grotowski, "Towards a Poor Theatre," "The Theatre's New Testament," and "He Wasn't Entirely Himself"

[Ryszard Cieslak, the "corporels"]

week nine:

Mar 2 [Grotowski, Akropolis]

Mar. 4 J. Ndukaku Amankulor, "Jerzy Grotowski's 'Divination Consultation'"

Mar. 6 Schechner, "Restoration of Behavior" in Between Theater and Anthropology (35-65).

week ten:

Mar 9 Schechner, "Restoration of Behavior" (continued)

Mar. 11 [The Performance Group, Dionysus in '69]

Mar. 13 Schechner, "The Politics of Ecstasy"

week eleven:

Monday, March 16 th : Conclusions -- final papers due today

Bibliography

Early-Modern Performance

Aristotle. Poetics. New York: Hill & Wang, 1961.

Diderot, Denis. The Paradox of Acting. New York: Hill & Wang, 1957.

Euripedes. The Bacchae of Euripedes. Trans. C. K. Williams. New York: Noonday, 1990.

Franko, Mark. Dance as Text: Ideologies of the Baroque Body. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Kleist, Heinrich von. "On the Marionette Theater," in German Romantic Criticism. Ed. Leslie Willson. New York: Continuum, 1982: 175-218.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy and the Case of Wagner. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Random House, 1967.

Roach, Joseph R. The Players Passion. Studies in the Science of Acting. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1985.

Craig

Confino, Erene Eynat. Beyond the Mask. Gordon Craig, Movement, and the Actor. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987.

Craig, Edward Gordon. "The Actor and the Ubermarionette." Gordon Craig on Movement and Dance. Arnold Rood, ed. New York: Dance Horizons, 1977: 37-87.

---. On the Art of the Theatre. Boston: 1911.

Walton, Michael J., editor. Craig on Theatre. London: Methuen, 1983.

Stanislavski

Edwards, Christine. The Stanislavsky Heritage. Its Contribution to the Russian and American Theatre. New York: New York University Press, 1965. PN2728 S78 E3

Stanislavsky, Constantin. "The Art of the Actor and the Art of the Director," in Stanislavski's Legacy. New York: Theatre Arts Books, 1958: 168-82.

Wiles, Timothy. "Stanislavski's Theater of Affective Memory," in The Theater Event. Modern Theory of Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980: 13-36.

Worrall, Nick. The Moscow Art Theatre. London: Routledge, 1996.

Meyerhold

Braun, Edward. Meyerhold. A Revolution in Theatre. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1995.

Law, Alma & Gordon, Mel. Meyerhold, Eisenstein and Biomechanics. Actor Training in Revolutionary Russia. North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1996.

Kleberg, Lars. Theatre as Action. Soviet Russian Avant-Garde Aesthetics. Trans.Charles Rougle. London: Macmillan, 1993. PN2193E86K591993

Meyerhold, Vsevolod. Meyerhold on Theater. Ed. & Trans. E. Braun. New York: 1969.

Rudnitsky, Konstantin. Meyerhold. The Director. Trans. George Petrov. Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1981. PN2728M4R813

Artaud

Artaud, Antonin. The Theater and its Double. New York: Grove Press, 1958.

---. Collected Works. PQ2601 R677 A23. Volume 2 (plays).

Goodall, Jane. Artaud and the Gnostic Drama. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.

Growtowski, Jerzy. "He Wasn't Entirely Himself." Towards a Poor Theatre. Holstebro: Odin Theatrets, 1968: 117-125.

Brecht

Benjamin, Walter. Understanding Brecht. London: Verso, 1983.

Brecht, Bertolt. Seven Plays by Bertolt Brecht. Eric Bentley, ed. New York: Grove Press, 1961.

---. Brecht on Theatre. The Development of an Aesthetic. Ed. and trans. John Willett. New York: Hill & Wang, 1964.

Diamond, Elin. "Brechtian Theory/Feminist Theory: Toward a Gestic Feminist Criticism." The Drama Review 32/1 (Spring 1988): 82-94.

Esslin, Martin. Brecht. A Choice of Evils. A Critical Study of the Man, his Work and his Opinions. London: Methuen, 1959.

Fuegi, John. Bertolt Brecht: Chaos, According to Plan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Willet, John. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht. A Study from Eight Aspects. London: Methuen, 1959.

Grotowski

Brook, Peter. "Grotowski, Art as a Vehicle." The Drama Review 35/1 (Spring 1991): 92-94.

Grotowski, Jerzy. Towards a Poor Theatre. Denmark: Odin Thearets Forlag, 1968.

Kumiega, Jennifer. The Theatre of Grotowski. London: Methuen, 1985.

Osinski, Zbigniew. Grotowski and His Laboratory. New York: PAJ Publications, 1986.

---. "Grotowski Blazes the Trails. From Objective Drama to Ritual Arts." The Drama Review 35/1 (Spring 1991): 95-112.

Richards, Thomas. At Work With Grotowski on Physical Actions. London: Routledge, 1995.

Schechner and Wolford, eds. The Grotowski Sourcebook. London: Routledge, 1997.

Wolford, Lisa. Grotowski's Objective Drama Research. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1996.

Schechner

The Performance Group. Dionysus in 69. New York: Farar, Straus & Giroux, 1970.

Schechner, Richard. "In Warm Blood: The Bacchae (1967)" and "The Politics of Ecstasy (1968)." Public Domain. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1969: 93-107; 209-228.

---. "Restoration of Behavior," in Between Theater and Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985: 35-116.

---. Environmental Theater. New York: Applause, 1973.

---. Performance Theory. London: Routledge, 1988.

---. The Future of Ritual. Writings on Culture and Performance. London: Routledge, 1993.

Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process. Structure and Anti-Structure. New York: de Gruyter, 1969.

---. From Ritual to Theatre. The Human Seriousness of Play. New York: PAJ, 1982.

Bausch

Birringer, Johannes. "Pina Bausch. Dancing Across Borders." The Drama Review: 85-97.

Daly, Ann, ed. "Tanztheater. The Thrill of the Lynch Mob or the Rage of a Woman?" The Drama Review (Summer 1986)

Hoghe, Raimund. "The Theatre of Pina Bausch." The Drama Review 24/1 (March 1980): 63-74.

Manning, Susan & Benson, Melissa. "Interrupted Continuities. Modern Dance in Germany." The Drama Review 30/2 (Summer 1986): 30-45.

Manning, Susan. "An American Perspective on Tanztheater." The Drama Review (Summer 1986): 57-79.

"What the Critics Say About Tanztheater." The Drama Review (1985): 80-84.

Price, David W. "The Politics of the Body: Pina Bausch's Tanztheater," in Theatre Journal 42 (1990): 322-31.

Further Critical Theory

Barba, Eugenio and Savarese, Nicola, eds. A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology. The Secret Art of the Performer. London: Routledge, 1991.

Carlson, Marvin. Theories of the Theatre. A Historical and Critical Survey, from the Greeks to the Present. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

Innes, Christopher. Avant-Garde Theatre, 1892-1992. London: Routledge, 1993.

Zarilli, Phillip B., ed. Acting (Re)Considered. Theories and Practices. London: Routledge, 1995.

Revised 7/28/04.