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English 2902/Theater 2510 c-ESD, VPA. Performing America: Identities on Stage. Sarah Bay-Cheng. Every Year. Spring 2016

What does it mean to act (or dance) like an American? In 1840, French writer Alexis de Tocqueville argued that the characteristics of this young nation, the United States of America, and its people could be studied in its theaters. He based this on a few key observations. Theater is a social event, where people gather in groups to watch other groups of people interact. Theater is also an immediate art, performed live in front of a specific audience. Takes its start from Tocqueville’s observations by looking at American performances in drama, dance, and theatrical events as reflections of changing American identities. Looks at indigenous and colonial drama, but majority of the course will focus on drama, musical theater, and dance of the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, looks at the ways in which specific performances defined what it meant to be American, as well how individual artists reshaped theater and dance to represent their own diverse identities. As part of the reading, attends to the variety of identities—racial, ethic, gendered, classed, and religious—that emerge from and continue to define the diversity of America on stage.