Script Analysis for Theater
Welcome to Script Analysis for Theater. In this course we’re going to work backwards from your love of theater to closely examine how the plays you fell in love with were made. We’ll look at the movements in theater that spawned important genres and aesthetic devices that writers have used to engage audiences across time. Each week, we’ll discuss specific terminology and tools from within specific traditions, while considering how these movements speak to each other, and we’ll apply those ideas to selected readings. Our lens will be global, from ancient Japan and India to twenty-first century Broadway and Boston Conservatory. After deepening our understanding of the roots of theater-making, we’ll end the semester with our eyes focused on the present and the future, by together considering contemporary issues (including racism in American theater), and as students work in groups to present their prognosis for the longevity of specific plays.
This course will not only make you more fluent in some of the most important theater traditions in the world, but enhance your understanding of the texts with which you will engage as theater artists.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- recognize the genre of a work and the way that genre varies by time and culture
- identify modes of presentation and how they signal meaning beyond the text of a work
- analyze the intended effect on the audience of a playwright’s choice to defy genre or established modes
- articulate the role of race and culture in how theater is received, promoted, and sustained
- make a critical case for the longevity of a text, based on its artistic merits, cultural context, and your understanding of theater history
Syllabus
Lesson 1 What Makes Theater Distinct
Lesson 2 Tragedy
Lesson 3 Comedy
Lesson 4 ‘Well-Made’ Plays and Beyond
Lesson 5 Beyond Genre
Lesson 6 Naturalism and Realism
Lesson 7 Beyond Naturalism
Lesson 8 Musicals and Their Conventions
Lesson 9 Contemporary Theater Part One: Theater as Protest and Movement
Lesson 10 Contemporary Theater Part Two: Racism and Bias in American Theater
Lesson 11 The Lifespan of a Play
Lesson 12 Central Inquiry: Making a Case for a Play
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
- This course does not have any prerequisites.
Required Textbook(s)
Most of this course’s required readings are included in the Reading Anthology compiled by course author, David Valdes. You’ll be able to access the Anthology upon registration.
In addition to the Anthology, the following plays are required (purchase links included below).
- Bootycandy by Robert O’Hara (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
- Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, and 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
- The Band’s Visit by Itamar Moses (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
- Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
Instructors
Author & Instructor
David Valdes is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed across the US and abroad. He has worked with Actor’s Theater of Charlotte, Milagro, Borderline, Mixed Blood, Boulder Ensemble Studio Theater, The Humana Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Portland Stage, Stage Left, Fresh Ink, the Boston Center for the Arts, Company One, and others. His plays have twice been featured in the National Showcase of New Plays, and he has received fellowships from Company One, IATI, and the Boston Foundation. As a columnist, he has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and Medium.
What’s Next?
When taken for credit, Script Analysis for Theater can be applied towards these associated programs:
Associated Certificate Programs
- General Music Studies Professional Certificate
- General Music Studies Advanced Professional Certificate
Associated Degree Majors
- Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Music Studies (Create Your Own Major)
- Bachelor’s Degree in Music Production
- Bachelor’s Degree in Guitar
- Bachelor’s Degree in Music Business
- Bachelor’s Degree in Songwriting
- Bachelor’s Degree in Songwriting and Producing Music
- Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Music Production and Sound Design
- Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games
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