The reading list for this course includes many of the major tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, at least two comedies of Aristophanes, and probably an example or two of New Comedy (Menander, Plautus, or Terence). But it includes also a number of contemporary plays based on ancient myth or ancient models (Anouilh's Eurydice and Antigone; Cocteau's Orphee, Sartre's The Flies, Williams' Orpheus Descending, Eliot's Family Reunion, etc.) as well as Homer's Odyssey and a few other readings, both ancient and modern, from outside drama. Though we shall read the ancient plays closely, our specific focus will be less on drama per se than on themes of transformation and renewal as they occur in myth, cult, drama, and other literature of all periods. In keeping with this theme, students will be encouraged not only to develop critical and analytic sophistication in dealing with these various materials but also to create their own transformations of ancient myth and ancient models, in whatever medium they choose. Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on contributions to class discussion, a 5- to 10-page paper, a creative project, and a mid-term and final exam. Students taking the course as Theater 311 will be expected to undertake an additional project, to be determined in consultation with the instructor. In the past, students have frequently chosen to prepare some sort of dramatic performance for the class (e.g., one of the works we have read, or an original work by the students themselves, etc.). No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 15-20). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores; and to Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theatre majors.