CLAS 103(S) Greek and Roman Drama: Renewal and Transformation (Same as Comparative Literature 109 and Theatre 311)
The reading list for this course includes many of the major tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, several comedies of Aristophanes, a representative sampling of Greek and Roman New Comedy (Menander, Plautus, Terence), and a play of Seneca. One focus of the course will be on themes of renewal and transformation, whether with reference to the plays themselves or to the ongoing process by which drama, whether ancient or modern, undergoes constant metamorphosis as it is performed and reworked in different times and places. In keeping with this latter emphasis we shall read several twentieth-century plays based on ancient myth or ancient models (Anouilh's Antigone, Sartre's The Flies, Fugard's The Island, Kane's Phaedra's Love), and students will be encouraged to create their own transformations of ancient myth and ancient models in media of their own choosing.
Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on contributions to class discussion, submission of weekly one-page response papers, a 5- to 10-page paper, a creative project, and mid-term and final exams. Students taking the course as Theater 311 will be expected to undertake an additional project, to be determined in consultation with the instructor.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 15-20).
Hour: PORTER