Syllabus for ENGL 4913 / ENGL 5643: Study Away: Shakespeare 2010
This syllabus is subject to announced
changes.
TERM: Last week of Summer Intersession 2010 (May 29-June 5, 2010)
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. John Mercer, Professor of English, Department of Languages and Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Northeastern State University
Mailing address: NSU-BA, 3100 E.
Office phone: 918-449-6541 Home phone: 918-745-2363 Cell phone: 918-576-4949
E-mail: mercer25@cox.net or mercer@nsuok.edu
Faculty Web site: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~mercer
Alternative path to Web site: www.nsuok.edu > Current students > Academics > Faculty Web sites > Mercer
COURSE DESCRIPTION: You will immerse yourself in plays by Shakespeare and other playwrights by reading the scripts in advance, seeing the plays in performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), discussing the plays before and after you see them, participating in OSF educational programs, and writing papers that demonstrate what you have learned. The course will emphasize how theatre brings scripts to life on stage.
EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES: In this course you will demonstrate your ability to
(1) understand the scripts of plays you are about to see, including historical background and literary elements (such as plot, character, setting, and theme).
(2) explain how theatrical elements—such as casting, blocking, gestures, facial expressions, the spoken word, theatre architecture, design, set, stage properties, music, sound effects, and lighting—create the experience and meaning of stage productions.
(3) explain and support your own responses to and evaluations of the productions you see.
(4) identify the changes necessary to adapt a narrative (e.g., Pride and Prejudice) into a drama.
(5) write a description of the theatrical elements used in the OSF production of a particular play.
(6) write an essay about the use of one particular theatrical element (or a group of closely related elements) in all of the play productions you see.
(7) (required for graduate credit only): locate and respond to theatre reviews of one (1) of the productions you have seen.
TEXTBOOKS AND ASSIGNED READINGS: Publication information for the seven (7) required texts is posted on the class Web page. Before we leave for Oregon, read these texts, including supplementary chapters, in their entirety, and be prepared to ask questions about what you don’t understand. Bring your textbooks to Oregon. In our class discussions before and after we see the performances, you will need to demonstrate your knowledge of these texts. We will discuss and see the plays in this order:
(1) Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
(2) Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
(3) Shakespeare’s Hamlet
(4) Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I
(5) Lynn Nottage’s Ruined
(6) Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice
(7) Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
AUDIO-VISUALS BEFORE DEPARTURE: Your study of the
plays will be greatly enhanced if you will also listen to audio recordings and/or watch film adaptations of them
before we leave for Oregon. By e-mail
attachment I am sending you a bibliography of the relevant VHS tapes, DVDs, and
CDs on reserve in the NSU-BA library.
Similar items are also available at NSU’s John Vaughan Library in
Tahlequah and in the Tulsa Central Library Media Center.
CLASS SESSIONS: For each of the seven (7) plays included in the course, we will have a pre-performance discussion and a post-performance discussion, each lasting about 75 minutes (including time for announcements and short breaks). Before you leave for Oregon, you will receive by e-mail attachment discussion questions on these plays. Please bring these discussion questions to each class session, and be prepared to discuss the answers to the questions and to ask about the questions you can’t answer.
(1) Pre-performance discussions will focus on discussion of
(a) background information about the plays, including the supplementary readings in the textbooks.
(b) the scripts of the plays themselves, including important passages and/or scenes.
(c) theatrical elements to look for in the OSF production of the plays.
(d) your own questions and/or comments about the plays,
supplementary readings, and/or audio-visuals relating to the plays. So that you will be prepared to participate, bring your own questions and comments to
each pre-performance discussion.
(2) Post-performance
discussions will focus on discussion of
(a) the theatrical choices made in the productions.
(b) how theatrical elements of the productions serve to
construct the experience and meaning of the plays for the audience.
(c) your responses to and evaluations of the productions. So that you will be prepared to participate, bring your own observations, questions,
and/or comments to each post-performance discussion.
OSF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: You will attend the following educational programs presented by actors and/or other members of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival company:
(1) Backstage Tour: A guided tour of the three (3) theatres of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
(2) Prologue: A 30-minute introductory lecture to the play Ruined
(3) Discussions: Two (2) 60-minute question-and-answer sessions, each with an actor or other member of OSF
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES: In a separate document I will send you (and will post on the class Web page) a tentative schedule of our activities in Oregon.
NOTEBOOK: Take notes for the course in a notebook (or notebooks) of your choice. A pocket-sized notebook would be convenient to take to plays. If you’re bringing a notebook computer to Oregon, you could use it instead of a paper notebook. Before the trip, during and after performances, and during pre- and post-performance discussions and OSF educational programs, write the following in your notebook:
(1) responses to discussion questions that will enhance your participation in pre-and post-performance discussions
(2) other observations, questions, comments, and/or issues you want to bring up in pre-and post-performance discussions
(3) details and ideas that will help you later write the papers required for the course
The purpose of the notebook is to help you do well in class discussions and on class papers. The instructor will not read your notebook.
PAPERS: As soon as possible after you return to Oklahoma, while your memories, notes, and enthusiasm are fresh, write the following short papers, and submit them by e-mail attachment no later than midnight on the dates indicated below. For all papers, follow the instructions in the document “Computer Format and Manuscript Form,” accessible from the home page of my faculty Web site.
Paper 1: Description
of theatrical elements in a single performance:
To provide a record of the production for yourself, your classmates, and your instructor, write a detailed description of how the OSF production of one (1) particular play uses theatrical elements to bring the script to life on stage. (See “Theatrical Elements in Play Productions” at the end of this syllabus.) Explain the choices that have been made for this production and how these choices affect the audience. Include a description of the portrayal of memorable scenes.
· Choice of play
o No more than two (2) students will write about the same play.
o
As soon
as you know which play production you would like to describe (beginning as soon
as you read this syllabus), send me an e-mail message with your first and
second choices.
o I will reply by e-mail to verify the play you are to use for this assignment.
o If you are among the last to choose, I will let you know what choices are still open to you.
Paper 2: Essay on the
use of one (1) theatrical element in all the plays:
Choose one (1) particular theatrical element (or a group of closely related elements) that especially catches your interest in the OSF productions you see, and write an essay supporting a thesis about how the all the productions we have seen (or at least five [5] of the seven [7]) use this element. In your essay, integrate your discussion of the plays; do NOT write about the plays one by one in separate paragraphs. (In class the instructor will provide further explanation about how to choose a theatrical element and organize this paper.)
· Minimum length: (3) pages
Paper 3 (required for graduate credit only): Locate, read, and write a response to at least three (3) professional theatre reviews of one (1) of the OSF Shakespearean productions you saw. Your response might include some of the following kinds of information:
Include a bibliographical citation in MLA form and the URL of each of the reviews to which you are responding.
· Minimum length: three (3) pages
· Due date
o for original submission: Sunday, June 27
o for second submission, if I ask you to rewrite: Sunday, July 4
DISABILITIES: If you have a disability and need special accommodations in this class, please let me know before we leave on the trip.
COURSE GRADE: Each of the following three (3) criteria counts for one-third of the final course grade:
(1) Attendance: Because this class is based on experience and discussion, attendance is required at all performances, educational programs, and class sessions. Absence from any of these activities will be reflected in your course grade.
(2) Participation in class discussion: Active participation in class discussion is required. Demonstrate your fulfillment of the EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES (see first page of syllabus) by the quality and quantity of your oral contributions in class.
(3) Papers: (See above.)
Grade scale:
A = 90-100% Excellent, superior
B = 80-89% Good, above average
C = 70-79% Average, satisfactory
D = 60-69% Below average, minimum pass
F = 0-59% Unsatisfactory, failure
THEATRICAL ELEMENTS IN PLAY PRODUCTIONS
Please bring this page, along with the rest of the class syllabus, to
every class session. In post-performance
sessions, we will discuss how the productions’ manipulation of these elements
helps to create the experience and meaning of the plays for the audience.
Structure/design of the theatre
Structure/design of the stage
Physical relationship between actors and audience
Sets/scenery
Transitions between scenes; changes of scenery
Stage properties/props
Casting (including gender, race/skin color, age, facial appearance, height, build, etc.)
Costumes (including hair)
Makeup
Blocking (positions and movements of actors on stage)
Gestures
Physical humor
Facial expressions
Other kinds of “stage business”
Alteration of script (including additions, deletions, and rearrangements)
Delivery of lines (volume, speed, emotion, etc.)
Delivery of different kinds of language (prose, blank verse, rhyming couplets, etc.)
Delivery of soliloquies and asides
Lighting; darkness
Use of scrim (curtain that is transparent when lit from behind, opaque when lit only in front)
Music
Sound effects
Silence