This theater history course surveys the development of theater traditions from Ancient Greece through nineteenth-century melodrama, focusing on European and Asian Classical theater forms. Through representative plays, and historical documents students will explore dramatic conventions, the uses of theater space, the role of audiences, and theater technologies across cultures and eras. The course includes outings to performances in the city to experience theater history as it lives on today. This course fulfills the theater history requirement for Lang Theater majors and minors.

This theater history course surveys the development of performance traditions from pre-history to the 20th Century. Through scripts, criticism, historical documents, video and film, students will explore performance conventions, spaces, audiences, and technologies across cultures and eras throughout the world. This course will include primary sources, student-led discussion, and viewing of contemporary adaptations of historic performance on stage and film. At the end of this course, you will be better equipped to situate a performance in relationship to its geographical and historical context, and to interrogate what the production reveals about this context. This course fulfills the theater history requirement for Lang Theater majors and minors.