In this course we will sample the range of mainstream and experimental drama that has been composed during the past century. Half of these plays are now acknowledged to be influential "classics" of modern drama; the other half are prize-winning contemporary plays that have broken new ground. We will study them both as distinguished writing and as scripts for performance. Moreover, all of these plays are historical: some draw their subject matter from past centuries, while others convey a sense of how contemporary events are informed by and located within a larger historical frame. During the first century of film, television, and computers, it seems that writers for the theater have been especially attuned to the relationships between past and present, in their art and in society. Within this multimedia context, we will consider what drama in particular has to offer now and in the future. This is also a HASS Communication-Intensive Course, in which we will work on improving your skills, awareness, and confidence as a writer and speaker; a variety of writing opportunities (including revision of at least one essay), class reports, and group performance work will aid us in realizing these goals.

This site presents a collection of 200 social dance manuals and related materials. Along with dance instruction manuals, this online presentation also includes a significant number of antidance manuals, histories, treatises on etiquette, and items from other conceptual categories. Many of the manuals also provide historical information on theatrical dance.

'Dealin'' with African drummer Babatunde Olatunji. Program consists of numerous segments related to African heritage, the first of which is an excerpt from a filmstrip on the fall of the Songhay Empire in West Africa by the Afro Audiovisual Company of Boston. Additional segments include 'Bookbeat,' a 'Spotlight' stage performance by actress Beah Richards, 'Dealin'' with African drummer Babatunde Olatunji, 'Information' on traveling to Africa, and 'Commentary' by Sarah-Ann Shaw on the lack of African history lessons in the American classroom. Produced by Marita Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

Al Jarreau performs 'You Don't See Me'Program focuses on three different African American theater productions. Host Barbara Barrow introduces the topic of Black theater and stage works Raisin (the Tony-Award-winning musical for 1974), The Black Dyad (about Black male and female relationships) and 'Theatre in Reverse,' a Say Brother theater piece with an in-studio vocal performance by Al Jarreau with dance performances (with the intent of drawing the audience's attention to sound and light, rather than to the performers). Program contains excerpts from each production, and an in-studio discussion with writers/directors Evelyn and Melvin Moore about the excerpt 'The Date' from The Black Dyad, which was the only segment of the three aired on the program. Produced by Marita Muhammad Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

This booklet about teaching through art education integrates topics such as peace, tolerance and interpersonal communication as well the treatment of psychological aspects in a post conflict environment through creativity and artistic language.

SPARK is there as Rafe Chase, Tim Orr and Stephen Kearin hit the stage without a script and turn audience suggestions into narrative stories that amaze and amuse. This Educator Guide addresses improvisation as a technique for developing thinking and language skills.

Employees of the Two O'Clock, a Boston strip joint, talk about their lives and work. George, a bartender, talks about what it takes to be a bartender in a place like the Two O'Clock.

Noh, the oldest surviving Japanese dramatic form, combines elements of dance, drama, music, and poetry into a highly stylized, aesthetic retelling of a well-known story from Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji or The Tale of the Heike.

This lesson provides an introduction to the elements of Noh plays and to the text of two plays, and provides opportunities for students to compare the conventions of the Noh play with other dramatic forms with which they may already be familiar, such as the ancient Greek dramas of Sophocles. By reading classic examples of Noh plays, such as Atsumori, students will learn to identify the structure, characters, style, and stories typical to this form of drama. Students will expand their grasp of these conventions by using them to write the introduction to a Noh play of their own.

Excerpt from 'Black Nativity,' performed by vocalists from the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. This musical production is based on the play 'Black Nativity.' by Langston Hughes.

'Blast from the Past' with vocalist Miriam Makeba. Program is divided into two halves: the first consisting of three segments related to African American theater in Boston, the second of newsmagazine-style segments. Harold Stuart, Director of the Boston Black Repertory Company and company actors Mattye 'Mama' Long and Frederick Tyson discuss the differences between 'theater' and 'Black theater,' how Black theater affects members of the community, how talented individuals find the time to act, problems financially supporting Black theater, and why there is so little Black theater in Boston. Following the discussion is an eleven minute excerpt from the Company's latest production, A Raisin in the Sun, and a short interview with two Emerson students who helped film the production (Stephen Farrier and Jacquie Gales, both members of the Emerson student group EBONI Productions). Additional program segments include 'Access' (about the Sav-Mor government-funded security program), 'Blast from the Past' (with an excerpt from a 1971 interview with vocalist Miriam Makeba on how her marriage to Stokely Carmichael affected her singing career and her opinion on Guinea's response to a recent invasion attempt by the Portuguese), 'Information' (on minority recruitment for the Peace Corps' Vista program), the 'Community Calendar,' 'Commentary' by Marita Rivero (who reads a reworked version of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'), and three 'Philosophy of Life' segments with musician Herbie Hancock. Produced by Marita Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

'Blast from the Past' features an excerpt from the 1969 interview with actor Julian Mayfield who talks about the breadth of artistic creativity and ability in the African American community, and the need to avoid straight jacketing this artistic ability into proscribed narrow disciplines.

Blast from the Past' features an excerpt from a 1970 interview with actor Raymond St. Jacques on Hollywood's prescribed roles for African American actors. He talks about his role in the John Wayne film, The Green Berets, and the continual struggle to get African American actors chosen and represented properly on film.

Through a close reading of King Lear 3.2, students will explore both Lear's language and the effect of subsequent editorial intervention. Focusing specifically on punctuation within the King's famous "Blow winds" speech, students will learn to what degree punctuation affects one's understanding of the language and performance choices.

A Living History Day turns students into teachers and challenges them to think historically.

The relationship between the Black and White Americans has often been tense and strained, often based upon available socioeconomic resources of race, income, and education. Many times, these interactions have worsened before becoming better. In this light, the focus of this document is to demonstrate the usage and blending of bibliotherapy, Readers Theater, and PowerPoint presentation via on-line technology, as an engaging teaching and learning tool that hones cultural literacy in students. It is within this context that the authors seek to provide a strategy to hone cultural literacy utilizing the bibliotherapy and Readers Theater; thus influencing students’ knowledge about race and themselves.

'A contemporary interpretation of the Bizet opera, this late twentieth century story of ill-fated romance set on New York's Lower East Side features Carmen as a rock-and-roll singer and Don Jose as a record producer. The drama is interrupted and examined through a series of audiovisual asides that serve as commentary, with images of fire and ice poetically illuminating the romantic and tragic elements. Carmen is played by New York musician Emily XYZ...." In this piece written, directed, and produced by Ann-Sargent Wooster, a man and a woman reflect on their roles in an obsessive relationship. The work assumes a mock documentary style, as the story unfolds through interviews and confessions juxtaposed with the events depicted. Music includes 'Cloud' and 'Fire and Water' by Brook Williams and Ann-Sargent Wooster, excerpts of Andrew Nadelman's 'Tapestry' and 'Rhapsody,' clarinet solo by Michael Isenberg, and opera singing by Janeal Sugars, Meth Genies, and Clay Steward. The work was broadcast as a segment of episode 612 (1990) of 'New Television.'

'Black Nativity.'A Say Brother special presentation, 'Christmas in Color', features the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts' musical adaptation of Langston Hughes' 'Black Nativity,' which was performed in-studio. Additional segments include a mime performance by Halim Adbur Rashid (Fred Johnson) and a 'Christmas Cabaret' featuring four songs by vocalist Chip Garnett with back-up vocalists Cheryl Freeman and Sheryl Shell. Produced by Barbara Barrow-Murray.

'City Archives' was written and directed by Richard Foreman, founder and director of the Ontological Hysteric Theater. He serves as the narrator for this work, discussing the power of 'the foreign' and images, talking directly into a microphone in a purposely stilted manner and addressing questions to the viewer. A sort of classroom overpopulated by adults sets the stage for the work. Phrases are written and erased on a blackboard, and women gaze out a window, physically supporting planks of wood. The cast gathers around the makeshift bedside of a woman and wanders through what appears to be a library. The performers appear in a small garden and at a movie theater, speaking only to occasionally echo Foreman's remarks and with elaborately choreographed movements and stillnesses. Foreman's text questions strategies for documenting experience, the notion of place and a city, and the process of writing. Produced by the Minnesota Public Programming Corporation. Directed by Richard Foreman. Originally created with the support of the Walker Arts Center, 'City Archives' was broadcast as an episode of the WNET Television Laboratory's series 'Video/Film Review,' ca. 1979. At WGBH, it was broadcast as part of 'Artist's Showcase.''Artist's Showcase' was a series designed to showcase video art and experimental work from WGBH. The program ran on Sunday evenings at 11 P.M., from the fall of 1976 through 1982. In the early 1970's, 'Artist's Showcase' was the only consistent broadcast outlet for many of the Workshop productions. Most materials of broadcast quality created at WGBH in the mid-1970's were shown as part of this series. Additionally, earlier video art experiments and segments of related shows, such as 'Mixed Bag' or 'What's Happening Mr. Silver' were broadcast under these auspices. This series was also a broadcast outlet for a handful of works by video artists that were not created at WGBH but only acquired for this purpose. Some compilation reels showing highlights of Workshop activity were also broadcast.

'Collisions' was written by Jane Wagner and is an unusual comedy/drama. It stars Lily Tomlin and other well known performers, such as Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner. The work attempts to integrate short video works by Stephen Beck, Ed Emshwiller, Louis Falco, Ron Hays, Stan Vanderbeek, and William Wegman. 'Collisions' tells the story of Eartha, a creature from the planet of Zymus, who agrees to take a human form and to observe the planet earth. Eartha inhabits Beth Barber (Lily Tomlin), a news reporter. At one point, Beth visits her family in Kentucky, who are played by Tomlin's actual family. Meanwhile, a panel of experts on a television program on Zymus monitor Eartha's impressions and contemplate whether or not to blow up the earth. Eventually, Eartha, who has come to respect the humans' vulnerability and depth of feeling, has a falling out with the panel. The fate of earth remains uncertain. Produced by Fred Barzyk and David Loxton. A coproduction of the WNET Television Laboratory and the WGBH New Television Workshop. This work was considered a 'failure' by Fred Barzyk and was never broadcast.