Assignments

English 4440/5440: Modern Drama, Spring 2010

Section 01 (CRN 20242/20243): TR 3:30-4:45PM, Arts & Sciences 366

In Class Activities

1. Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author: From Character and Setting to Representation and Reality

In order to prepare for our large group, philosophical discussion of the relationship between representation and reality, acting and truth, break into five groups to address the one component of the play assigned to your group. Elect a secretary to record your response, and provide at least three quotations to illustrate your reading.

  1. Setting : Where does the story take place in the beginning of the play, and what is the mood? How does the setting change by the very end of the play (page 530), and how does the mood change?
  2. The Father: Do a character sketch of the author listing key traits, core conflict, and the main idea or theme that he brings to the overall play.
  3. The Director: Do a character sketch of the author listing key traits, core conflict, and the main idea or theme that he brings to the overall play.
  4. The Family: Characterize the family dynamic, the group dysfunction. What would the theme of this play be if it was simply about the family and there were no metatheatrical element?
  5. The Theatre Company: Characterize the theatre company. How does it regard the family's lives? How does it act the family's drama?

2. Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire: Character and Setting, Theme and Setting

Day 1: Character and Setting

 

Break into groups of no more than four to discuss your group's assigned character or setting sketches and illustrate your analyses with at least three quotations from the play. Elect a secretary to record your responses.

  1. Stanley Kowalski
  2. Blanche DuBois
  3. Stella and Mitch
  4. setting

Day 2: Theory and Theme

 

Now that we've discussed the main characters, setting, and conflicts, let's look at the play from three different theoretical perspectives by breaking into groups of three or four and answering the assigned questions.

  1. Feminism and Gender Studies
      • "He acts like an animal, has animal's habits!" (715)
      • "You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother." (740)
      • "I saw! I know! You disgust me . . ." (727)
    1. Feminism: How are Blanche and Stella portrayed in the play? Is Blanche raped by Stanley or does she "want it"? Does the play reinforce or undermine the patriarchal ideology of the time period in which it was originally produced? in our time?
    2. Gender Studies: How does the play define masculinity and femininity? How do Stanley and Mitch conform and not conform to their genders?
  2. Psychoanalysis
      • "Can I—uh—kiss you—good night?" (723)
      • "We've had this date with each other from the beginning" (745)
      • "I don't want realism. I want magic!" (738)
    1. How do Blanche's repressions (what can she not consciously face), fantasies (what does she unconsciously desire), and regression (to a childlike psychological state) structure the play and its meaning?
    2. How might the play be read as Blanche's dream—and/or deterioration into delusion?
    3. Given Stanley's rivalry with all the men in the play and his maternal ejaculatory demand "STELLA!" and given Mitch's relationship with his sick mother, are there any oedipal conflicts in the play and what do these issues reveal?
    4. How is sexuality portrayed in the play? In what ways are sexuality in general and Blanche and Stanley's "date" the central meaningful issue of the play?
  3. Marxism and Cultural Studies
      • "Well—if you'll forgive me—he's common!" (715)
      • "Meat! [...] Bowling!" (687)
      • "Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamor stuff and some men are not." (700)
    1. Marxism: What socioeconomic forces are at work in the play? How does Blanche and Stanley's relationship represent class conflict? Does the play reinforce, criticize, or reinforce and criticize capitalist or classist ideologies? If you have time to discuss this, in what ways do gender and sexuality play into class consciousness?
    2. Cultural Studies: What does the play suggest about the nature of New Orleans working class existence in the late 1940s, especially as contrasted to the collective American culture that traditionally misrepresents or underrepresents its lives? Now that the play has been canonized, what does it suggest about the nature and issues of American culture in general?

3. Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey into Night: Diagraming Dysfunction

For this activity designed to help us diagram the dysfunction of the Tyrone family, individuals will spend 10 minutes writing a character sketch of the assigned character and then find 3 quotations from the assigned Act/Scene that illustrate aspects of the character—1 quotation said by the character, 1 quotation said to the character, and 1 quotation said about the character.

 

Characters

  1. Mary
  2. Tyrone
  3. Jamie
  4. Edmund

Acts/Scenes

  1. Act 1
  2. Act 2, Scene 1
  3. Act 2, Scene 2
  4. Act 3
  5. Act 4

Quotations

  1. by the character
  2. to the character
  3. about the character

4. From Modern to Postmodern Drama

Beckett's Waiting for Godot serves as a transitional text between modernist and postmodernist literature. Before we discuss decidedly postmodern Pinter's Old Times, let's look at what we already covered (modernist drama), the definition of postmodern drama, and the two postmodernist plays we have read. Divide into six groups and answer the one question assigned to your group.

  1. What do the five plays by Strindberg, Pirandello, Brecht, Williams, and O'Neill have in common? Taking a bird's eye view of the plays, what (modernist) traits do they all share? Provide at least six characteristics, one per group member.
  2. Compare Beckett and Pinter's plays. What (postmodernist) traits do they both share? Provide at least six characteristics, one per group member.
  3. How does Schmidt define postmodernism and postmodern theatre? Provide at least six significant passages, one per group member.

5. Sam Shepard, Buried Child: Contemporary Realism

Last week, we distinguished modern and postmodern drama by using Schmidt's definition of postmodern theatre and looking at the plays themselves. Today, as an introduction to Buried Child, we're going to compare and contrast Shepard's contemporary brand of realism with the realism that came before it. Break into 4 groups to discuss the question assigned to your group.

  1. Character: How are Shepard's characters developed, portrayed, and conflicted in ways similar to O'Neill's? How are they different?
  2. Character: How are Shepard's characters developed, portrayed, and conflicted in ways similar to Pinter's? How are they different?
  3. Setting: In what ways are Shepard's place, tone, and style similar to O'Neill's? Different?
  4. Setting: In what ways are Shepard's place, tone, and style timilar to Pinter's? Different?

6. David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross: Influences and Ideas

At this point in the semester, we're all very comfortable analyzing characters and core conflicts, so let's skip to the key ideas. To get us started on Mamet, we're going to combine past in class activity hits: comparing playwrights' characters and style as we did with Shepard and asking theoretically informed questions as we did with Williams. With Williams, I provided the quotes. This time, groups should back up their discussions with 2-3 significant passages. Divide into 4 groups and discuss the assigned issue.

  1. Influences
    • The headnote explains that Beckett and Pinter are both influences of Mamet. Compare (not contrast, just compare) how Beckett and Pinter render characters and reality with how Mamet's conceives of characters and reality.
  2. Language
    • There is a lot of cursing in this play. What are the curse words, what do they mean, how are they used by the characters, and how might the cursing point to the overarching thematic idea of the play? If you have time to discuss, in what ways does language use play into gender and capitalism roles.
  3. Feminism and Gender Studies
    • Feminism: How are women discussed and referred to by the all male cast? Is it appropriate to call the ideology of this play patriarchal? Why or why not?
    • Gender Studies: How does the play define masculinity? How is masculinity affected by age? What kind of a man is Levene? Roma? If you have time to discuss this, in what ways is gender anxiety affected by the capitalistic language use in the play?
  4. Marxism and Cultural Studies
    • Marxism: What socioeconomic forces are at work in the play? How do each of the three scenes in the first act, i.e., the scenes between two men of different power positions, exemplify a class conflict and/or power struggle? Does the play reinforce, criticize, or reinforce and criticize capitalist ideologies? If you have time to discuss this, in what ways do language and gender play into the capitalistic unconsciousness?
    • Cultural Studies: If you have time to discuss this, what does the play suggest about the nature of capitalism in the Roaring Reaganomics and Wall Street's Gordon Gecko's "Greed is good" Eighties? In what ways do these sales and salesman constitute a subculture both cast out by but also reifying the dominant capitalistic culture?

Undergraduate Assignments

Close Reading or Film Adaptation

For the first paper, either perform a close reading of a scene in one of the plays we've read, or analyze the adaptation of one of the optional films we've screened. The close reading paper should demonstrate how a nuanced and rigorous reading of the dialogue not only broaches the key issues and core conflicts of the play but also points to the play's overall thematic meaning. The film adaptation paper should compare and contrast the significant changes made in adapting stage to screen and analyze and evaluate how those changes affect the meaning of the work.

In-Class Midterm Exam

You will write two thesis-driven comparison/contrast essays of your choice from a selection of four questions.

 

The broad topics that you will be tested on, generated from class discussion Tuesday, February 17, are:

Preparations for this exam include:

Annotated Bibliography

To prepare for the final research paper, you will use find and annotate at least 10 scholarly articles interpreting the play on which you plan to write your essay.

  1. number and type of sources
    • 10 sources total
      • at least 4 scholarly journal articles
      • at least 4 books or book chapters
      • do not use encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, primary texts, fan sites, or critical articles already used in class
      • Literary Research Methods at GCSU
  2. annotations: summarize and evaluate each source in 75-100 words by
    1. identifying the issue or question that the source is investigating,
    2. defining the source’s thesis or main idea relevant to your work of literature, and
    3. explaining how the source helps your understanding of the work
  3. summary of findings: After you have cited and annotated the 10 sources, compose a 250 summary of the various ways critics are interpreting the play. For instance, point out where scholars fall into different camps of interpretation on certain issues of the play.
  4. format: arrange citations alphabetically by the last name of the author
    • format citations according to MLA citation standards
    • cite the source first and then place your annotation directly underneath the citation
  5. due date: Tuesday, April 20 in TurnItIn.com > Annotated Bibliography

Research Paper

While the short paper asked you to analyze a scene or film adaptation and the exam tested your ability to make connections and distinctions among the themes and style of modern drama, the research paper will afford you the time and space to perform a sustained and sourced discussion of a significant issue in a modern or contemporary play. You will write a 9-10 page research paper, incorporporating at least 5 scholarly articles, on a play read in class (but not one written on previously) or another play by one of the playwrights studied in class. Your thesis-driven paper should employ textual analysis and support its interpretation of the issue with scholarly criticism.

Take-Home Final Exam

Write two different essays on four different plays by answering two of the following four essay questions. Do not use a play in more than one essay. Here are important guidelines for essays:

Here are the plays:

  1. From Modernism to Postmodernism: Compare and contrast the worldviews and dramatic forms of one modernist (Strindberg, Pirandello, Brecht, Williams, or O'Neill; NOT Beckett) and one postmodernist (Pinter, Shepard, Mamet, Hwang, Kushner, Parks, Albee, or Churchill) playwright. In other words, compare and contrast the plays in terms of the themes and style of their respective periods.
  2. Memory and/or History: Compare and contrast how personal memory and/or collective history are conceived and rendered in two postmodern plays.
  3. Ambiguous Gendered and/or Sexual Identity: All of the postmodern plays we've read portray characters with ambiguous identities. Write a comparative essay that discusses how traditional gender roles and/or conventional sexuality are fractured and/or subverted in two postmodern plays.
  4. Family Dysfunction: Compare and contrast family dynamics in the work of two postmodernist plays. What drives these families into dysfunction? How do issues of individualism and/or the American dream play into family discord?

Graduate Assignments

Take-Home Midterm Exam

You will write two thesis-driven comparison/contrast essays of your choice from a selection of four questions. Each essay will be 4-6 pages long and include supporting quotations. The exam will be posted here on Thursday, February 26 and will be due Tuesday, March 2 in TurnItIn > Exam 1 by the start of class.

 

The broad topics that you will be tested on, generated from class discussion Tuesday, February 17, are:

The Exam

Write two different essays on four different plays by answering two of the following four essay questions. Do not use a play in more than one essay. Here are important guidelines for essays:

Here are the plays:

Here are the questions:

Presentation

You will research/find and present/teach an article that advances class discussion of a contemporary play.

Book Review

You will write a 4-6 page book review like those published in scholarly journals. Choose a book written on one of our primary texts or a book written on modern/contemporary drama. Here are example book reviews from Textual Practice. Due date: Tuesday, April 13 in TurnItIn.com > Book Review.

Annotated Bibliography

You will research and annotate 15 sources to help you write your seminar paper. At least 10 of the sources should be criticism of the primary text and some sources may be theoretical articles you will apply to your interpretation of the primary text. Each 75-100 word annotation should provide the source's interpretive thesis and methodology and also tell how the source could be helpful for your seminar paper.

  1. number and type of sources
    • 15 sources total
      • at least 5 scholarly journal articles on the primary text
      • at least 5 books or book chapters on the primary text
      • do not use encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, primary texts, fan sites, or critical articles already used in class
  2. annotations: summarize and evaluate each source in 75-100 words by
    1. identifying the issue or question that the source is investigating,
    2. defining the source’s thesis or main idea relevant to your work of literature, and
    3. explaining how the source helps your understanding of the work
  3. summary of findings: After you have cited and annotated the 15 sources, compose a 250 summary of the various ways critics are interpreting the play. For instance, point out where scholars fall into different camps of interpretation on certain issues of the play.
  4. format: arrange citations alphabetically by the last name of the author
    • format citations according to MLA citation standards
    • cite the source first and then place your annotation directly underneath the citation
  5. due date: Tuesday, April 20 in TurnItIn.com > Annotated Bibliography

Research Paper

You will write a 15-20 page research paper entering, engaging, and advancing the scholarly discourse of a modern or contemporary play either discussed in class or selected by you and approved by the professor. Your essay should be worthy of being presented at a conference, integrate at least 7 secondary sources, and apply at least 2 theoretical articles.

 

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