Instructor: J. Robinson-Appels
The seminar focuses on the ways that bodily essences are directed, depicted, and performed on stage, with a special emphasis on current productions in NYC. We will consider how contemporary playwrights employ bodies in relation to questions concerning the cultural constitution of gender, sexuality, and race. In order to understand theatrical physicality we pay close attention to how the stage directions of a text intersect with the gestures of the actors themselves. Readings cover a broad range of 20th century playwrights, including Stein, Baldwin, Albee, Churchill, Cixous, Vogel, Grotowski, Boal, Artaud, as well as playwrights of the first twelve years of this century.
The course will also examine how the Occupy Wall Street movement has used street theatre and theatrical elements, as well as visceral notions of embodiment, to bring social awareness to those essential values of the theatre: sensation, immediacy, reflection, exchange commerce, and critical action. In order to define embodiment in relation to language, and therefore to define the nature of what it is to occupy the stage, we will work primarily with Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein, yoga sutras, and Qi Gong texts. When feasible we will see live performances.
Application instructions: E-mail Professor Robinson-Appels (jr2168@columbia.edu with the subject heading “Contemporary Theatre seminar.” In your message, include basic information: your name, school, major, year of study, and relevant courses taken, along with a brief statement about why you are interested in taking the course.
