Revision and Revival: Stages of Change in Theatrical Performance

The very nature of live theater means that no two performances of the same show will ever be truly identical. But while some alterations are incidental, others represent a deliberate modification of the dramatic work. This course will examine the many types of revision that are deployed as part of theatrical practice. Using works from several genres, media, cultures, and time periods as case studies, we will gain new insights into the creative process by charting the amendments made not only during the various stages of the play's initial production--its composition, its rehearsals, its workshops, and its early performances-but also the more significant modifications adopted by subsequent adaptations and revivals. We will discuss plays that are rewritten in order to reflect new historical contexts and audience sensibilities, paying special attention to revisions that engage with emergent social and political realities. We will also emphasize the repossession that occurs as new productions seek to include a greater diversity of racial and gender identities. We will also consider the revisions enabled by technological innovations as well as those necessitated by translation in global productions. Most important, as a writing intensive course, students will reenact the very process that we are studying by performing acts of revision on their own work. Materials to be discussed include Lysistrata and Lysistrata Jones; The Trojan Women and the graphic novel turned play Trojan Women: A Comic; Iphigenia in Aulis and Iphigenia 2.0; The Taming of the Shrew and Kiss Me Kate; Romeo and Juliet, & Juliet, and West Side Story; Pygmalion and My Fair Lady; and The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked.
Course Attributes: AS HUM; AS WI I; EN H; FA HUM; AR HUM

Revision and Revival: Stages of Change in Theatrical Performance

DRAMA 3310

Section 01