Introduction

Discussion Questions for Sizwe Banzi is Dead case study

1. What does Sizwe Banzi is Dead reveal about the relationship between identity and state documentation? How does the play complicate the idea of who a person is?
2. How did the specific political and social conditions of apartheid shape the way the play was created, performed, and received?
3. In what ways does the act of assuming another identity become both a form of survival and a loss in the play?
4. How does this case study help us think about theatre as more than entertainment? Can you think of a contemporary parallel where performance intersects with protest?
5. How might the play’s impact change when performed in South Africa, in London, or on Broadway? Does the meaning of the play change when it is performed today? How does context shape interpretation?

Learning Check for the Introduction

1. What does the introduction identify as the three defining qualities of theatre, and why are these qualities essential to how theatre functions as an art form?
2. What is mimesis? How does this human impulse help explain the origins and ongoing relevance of theatre?
3. Why do contemporary scholars caution against the assumption that theatre “naturally” developed out of ritual? What harmful ideas or historical assumptions does this view risk reinforcing?
4. How does the introduction describe theatre as a global cultural practice? Provide one example of a non-Western performance tradition and explain how it expands or challenges Eurocentric definitions of theatre.
5. According to the introduction, what allows theatre to remain meaningful and relevant in the contemporary world despite competition from digital media and new technologies?

Chapter 1: The Playwright

Discussion Questions for Mary Kathryn Nagle Interview

1. Nagle draws parallels between her legal work and playwriting. How does her approach to storytelling bridge these two professions?
2. In what ways did personal history and family stories shape the creation of Sovereignty?
3. How does Nagle’s process of historical research inform her fictionalized storytelling, and what does this suggest about the role of accuracy in theatre?
4. Nagle talks about accessibility and reaching audiences beyond those already aligned with progressive causes. How might theatre practitioners work toward this goal?
5. Why do so many non-Native women feel that Sarah’s story is their own? What does that say about the theatre’s ability to tell stories that feel simultaneously universal and particular?

Learning Check for Chapter 1:

1. A playwright creates a “blueprint for action.” How does this idea expand or complicate your previous understanding of authorship, and how might your thinking continue to evolve as you encounter more collaborative or collective forms of theatre-making?
2. Several structures are presented. Which dramatic structure—Freytag’s Pyramid, jo-ha-kyū, rasa theory, feminist and postmodern forms—feels most familiar or unfamiliar to you, and what might you gain by experimenting with a structure that challenges your habits of storytelling?
3. The chapter reframes global playwriting history as marked by loss, colonization, and anonymity. How does this perspective shift your understanding of whose stories “count,” and how might you continue to question inherited theatrical canons in your own studies?
4. Conflict and change are central to story. Where do you see these forces at work in your own life or community, and how might developing your awareness of conflict and transformation strengthen your analytical or creative skills?
5. In the case study of Sovereignty, theatre serves as a political and legal intervention, not solely entertainment. How does this challenge your assumptions about what theatre can do, and what steps could you take to more deeply explore theatre’s potential as a tool for cultural memory, critique, or change?

Chapter 1 Assignment: Three-Page Play

Overview:
For this project, you will write an original three-page play that uses the structure and conventions of a morality play—a medieval dramatic form that uses allegorical characters to explore ethical dilemmas. Your task is to bring this form into a contemporary world by combining its recognizable features with themes, conflicts, and social issues that matter to you and your peers right now.

Part 1: Concept and Source Inspiration

Choose a story, myth, parable, or fairytale that resonates with a real issue in your life or community. You may use well-known material (e.g., The Tortoise and the Hare, Little Red Riding Hood, Pandora’s Box) or something from your own cultural background.

As you brainstorm, identify:

• A contemporary issue you wish to highlight (e.g., burnout, social media addiction, climate anxiety, impostor syndrome, housing insecurity, student debt).
• A moral or lesson your play will explore.
• Why does this story matter to you, and why should it matter to your audience at this moment?

Part 2: Adapting the Morality Play Format

Your play should clearly signal its connection to morality play traditions. To keep the form legible, consider including the following classic elements:

• Allegorical characters whose names reflect their functions or traits
  (e.g., Ambition, Doomscrolling, Prudence, Self-Doubt, Joy, Procrastination)
• A central protagonist (Everyperson or a contemporary “Everyman” figure—e.g., Student, Applicant, Roommate, Neighbor)
• A moral journey in which the protagonist encounters forces that pull them toward clarity or confusion, virtue or vice
• A crisis or turning point where the protagonist must choose a path
• A takeaway—not a heavy-handed “moral,” but a clear thematic resolution or open-ended question that leaves the audience thinking

You do not need to imitate archaic language or religious themes. Instead, adapt the structure in ways that feel relevant, surprising, and true to your voice.

Chapter 2: The Director

Discussion Questions for Mikael Burke Interview

1. How did Burke’s early experiences in music and church theatre influence his later work as a director?
2. What role did failure (such as not landing internships) play in shaping Burke’s career path?
3. How does Burke’s “small planet” approach to reading plays change the way a director might interpret a script?
4. Why does Burke emphasize the “why” as the most important question in directing?
5. What are the advantages and challenges of working with a playwright who is also acting in their own play?

Learning Check for Chapter 2

1. How does the chapter define the director’s central responsibility in theatre-making, and how does this role balance both artistic interpretation and leadership within a collaborative production process?
2. What is a director’s concept, and how do dramatic action and a central unifying image work together to guide actors, designers, and other collaborators in shaping a production?
3. Describe one example from the chapter (such as The Magnolia Ballet or Romeo and Juliet) that illustrates how a strong directorial concept can influence staging, design, and audience interpretation. What made the concept effective?
4. How have directing practices varied across global and historical traditions? Choose one example from the chapter (the sūtradhāra, the daoyan, the iemoto, the choregos, Stanislavski, Brecht, etc.) and explain how that figure fulfilled functions similar to—or different from—those of a contemporary director.
5. In what ways does the chapter demonstrate that directing is not a fixed or universal role? How do culture, politics, technology, or collaborative structures shape what a director does and how a director creates meaning on stage?

Chapter 2 Assignment: Director’s Concept

Now that you have written your three-page morality-play adaptation, your next step is to think like a director. For this assignment, you will write a one-page, double-spaced Director’s Concept that articulates your artistic vision for staging your fellow student’s play. Your concept should communicate how you understand the story and how you would bring it to life onstage for a contemporary audience.

What Your Director’s Concept Must Include

1. Dramatic Action (What happens in the play?)

Provide a clear and concise statement of the essential action of the play. This is not a summary of every plot point, but a distilled explanation of what drives the story forward.

• What motivates the characters?
• What central conflict or moral struggle structures the action?
• What changes between the beginning and the end?

2. Central Unifying Image (How do you imagine the play onstage?)

Identify a visual, metaphorical, or conceptual image that captures the heart of your production. This image should unify your staging choices and give the audience a way to understand the play’s world.

• Is your unifying image tied to a symbol from the original parable, myth, or story?
• Does it come from your contemporary setting (a school hallway, a smartphone screen, a corporate office, a protest line, etc.)?
• How does this image illuminate the play’s moral argument?

3. Directorial Approach (How will you direct the play?)

Explain your approach to performance, staging, and actor-audience relationships. Consider:

• Will the style be presentational, poetic, realistic, satirical, or allegorical?
• How will you work with actors to convey moral choice and transformation?
• Will you incorporate conventions of medieval morality plays (asides, allegorical characters, direct address, episodic structure)? How will they be adapted to a modern context?

4. Background and Relevance (Why this play for this audience at this time?)

Connect the moral of the original story and the contemporary issue it’s addressing.

• What is the moral or ethical lesson the adaptation explores?
• What modern problem, challenge, or question does the play respond to?
• Why is this story meaningful right now, and to whom is it speaking?

Your job here is to show that your production is purposeful, not accidental.

5. Technical Elements (What should the audience see, hear, and feel?)

Describe how you imagine the design elements supporting your concept.
You do not need to draw sketches; instead, use vivid language to show the aesthetic world. Consider:

Set

• What environment does the play occur in?
• Is it literal (a bedroom, a street corner) or abstract (a fractured moral landscape)?

Lighting

• What emotions, transitions, or moral turning points should lighting emphasize?
• Bright, stark, shadowed, warm, neon—why?

Costumes

• How do costumes reflect each character’s symbolic or allegorical identity?
• How do they place the play in the contemporary setting?

Sound / Music

• Would sound help establish tone or highlight moral tension?

The goal is to demonstrate how your staging choices reinforce the story’s themes and the morality-play structure.

Chapter 3: The Performer

Discussion Questions for Alys Dickerson Interview:

1. How did Dickerson’s early experiences and initial misconceptions about auditioning shape her growth as a performer?
2. What role did formal training at NIU and the Meisner approach play in her professional development?
3. How did Dickerson navigate challenging a traditional perception of Ophelia, and what impact did that have on her performance?
4. In what ways does her current work in casting and artistic administration inform her acting—and vice versa?
5. How can actors maintain mental health and personal fulfillment while pursuing a long-term theatre career?

Learning Check for Chapter 3

1. How does Andrew Buckland’s “no rope” demonstration illustrate the relationship between performance, imagination, and audience participation, and what does this suggest about why performance can feel so convincing even when we know it is not “real”?
2.  Choose two performance traditions mentioned in the chapter (for example, Nōh, griot storytelling, Kathakali, Kabuki, Yoruba egúngún). How does each tradition define the purpose of performance, and how do those purposes shape the performer’s training and techniques?
3. The chapter argues that ideas like “realism” or “believability” are culturally specific rather than universal. What examples from the chapter challenge contemporary Western assumptions about what “good acting” looks like, and how do those examples expand your understanding of performance?
4. Stanislavski and his students reshaped modern Western acting by emphasizing psychological realism and the actor’s inner life. How does this tradition differ from performance systems that prioritize codified gestures, ritual functions, or virtuosity, and what does this comparison reveal about cultural values?
5. Across the many examples in this chapter from ancient Egyptian ritual to Mei Lanfang’s xìqǔ virtuosity to contemporary digital self-performance what throughlines do you see in the role performers play in their communities?

Chapter 3 Assignment: Monologue

In this assignment, you will write and perform a one-minute monologue inspired by your original three-page play. This exercise strengthens your understanding of character, conflict, and voice—all foundational tools for actors, playwrights, and directors. You will bring your monologue to class to be performed as a dramatic reading (no memorization required). You will, in turn, perform a reading of a classmate’s monologue.

Part 1: Writing the Monologue (Paper Copy)

Step 1: Choose a Character

Select one character from your three-page morality play. This should be a character whose inner life, desire, or conflict feels compelling enough to support a sustained moment of spoken thought.

Step 2: Define the Situation

Before writing, answer these three essential acting questions:

1. Who is the character speaking to?
   (Another character? The audience? Themselves? A higher power?)
2. What do they want in this moment?
   (Love, justice, forgiveness, escape, clarity, revenge, reassurance, courage, etc.)
3. How do they try to get it?
   (Through persuasion? Threat? Humor? Logic? Storytelling? Confession?)

Your monologue should reveal the character’s objective, tactics, and stakes, just as actors identify them in rehearsal.

Step 3: Choose ONE Writing Prompt

Build the monologue using one of the following prompts. Select whichever most resonates with the character’s experience:

1. “Picture This”
   Choose a work of visual art that speaks to you. Let the monologue respond to or be inspired by that image.
   Suggested approach: What story does the art evoke for the character?
2. “Do you think it's more important to follow your heart or your head?”
   Write a monologue in which the character argues this question to someone important.
3. “Turning Back the Clocks”
   What would the character do if they could return to a specific time? Where do they go, and why?
4. “What I never told my…”
   Fill in the blank (mother, teacher, friend, enemy, partner, etc.). What truth has gone unspoken?
5. “Poetic Justice”
   Choose any poem—silly or serious—and let the monologue respond to, disagree with, extend, or reinvent it.

Step 4: Formatting & Submission

Your monologue must be:

• ½ page, double-spaced (~1 minute spoken)
• Typed and printed
• Written in FIRST PERSON (“I”)
• Brought to class as a physical paper copy

Part 2: Performing the Monologue

Performance Requirements

• You do not have to memorize the monologue.
• You will perform a dramatic reading of one of your fellow student’s monologues, meaning you will hold the script.
• Focus on clearly communicating the character’s desire, relationship, and emotional point of view.
• Consider vocal choices, pacing, and physical presence. Even a seated reading can reveal strong character work.

What I’m Looking For

• A clear sense of who the character is talking to
• A clear sense of what they want
• Specific, active choices in how they pursue that want
• An understanding of subtext (what they are trying NOT to say)

Commitment to delivering the moment truthfully

Chapter 4: The Designers

Discussion Questions for Marcus Doshi Interview

1. How did Marcus Doshi’s early theatre experiences at Wabash College shape his approach to design?
2. In what ways does the “make, look, evaluate, adapt” loop reflect a growth-oriented design process?
3. How did collaboration with Wilson Chin and the creative team influence the lighting design for Pass Over?
4. How does Doshi balance technical precision with instinct in his design choices?
5. What role does spectatorship play in Doshi’s overall design philosophy?

Discussion Questions for Wilson Chin Interview:

1. How did Wilson Chin’s background in architecture shape his approach to set design?
2. What does Chin mean by making a set “full of possibilities” for directors and actors, and how might this affect performance?
3. How did the design of Pass Over evolve over its multiple productions, and what does this suggest about the role of iteration in design?
4. In what ways can set design contribute to metaphor and allegory in a play?
5. How does Chin’s collaborative process with other designers reflect the interconnected nature of theatrical production?

Learning Check for Chapter 4

1. The chapter argues that theatre cannot exist without design, even when no one is formally labeled a “designer.” Do you agree with this claim? Can you think of a performance you’ve seen where design choices were minimal but still impactful? What made them work?
2. Marcus Doshi describes design as both intuitive and structured through his “make, look, evaluate, adapt” loop. How does this process challenge common ideas about artistic inspiration as sudden or purely emotional? Where do you see room for intuition within a disciplined process?
3. Designers work closely with directors, playwrights, and performers, yet the director “unifies but does not dictate” design decisions. How should power and authority be shared in a collaborative production? What tensions might arise, and how can they be productive?
4. The chapter distinguishes between practical research (what a world looks like) and emotional research (how it feels). Which do you think has a greater impact on an audience’s experience? Can you imagine a production where these two types of research might be in conflict?
5. Looking at the global histories of theatrical design discussed in the chapter, how do design systems reflect the cultural, spiritual, or political values of their societies? How might contemporary designers responsibly draw inspiration from these traditions today?

Chapter 4 Assignment: Design Portfolio

Overview: Having developed a director’s concept for your peer’s three-page play, you will produce a design portfolio for one of the following production aspects of that play: lighting, costumes, sound, or set. Conduct emotional research (find images that evoke the feeling that you would like to convey through your design) and practical research (find images from the place and time during which your play is set). Collect that research (at least three emotional images and three practical images). Then, provide renderings of your design. If you choose costume design, draw what the costumes would look like on the characters. If you choose lighting, draw the positions of the lights for certain scenes. If you choose sound, provide links where I can hear aspects of your sound design. If you choose set design, draw a ground plan, or a drawing of the set from above. Finally, provide a one paragraph explanation of your choices.

Your portfolio must contain the following components:

1. Research — Emotional & Practical

• Emotional Research: Collect at least three images (photographs, paintings, digital art, color swatches, etc.) that evoke the emotional tone, atmosphere, or mood you want your chosen design element to convey.
• Practical/Contextual Research: Collect at least three images representing the time, place, culture, or environment of the play setting—appropriate to where/when your play is set.
• For each image, include a caption (or short annotation) explaining what it contributes to your design thinking (e.g., “This image’s soft, golden light suggests intimacy and nostalgia—useful for Scene 2’s memory flashback”).

2. Design Renderings (Sketches, Drawings, or Other Media)

Depending on your chosen design element:

• Costume design: Provide drawings/sketches (hand-drawn or digital) of each main character’s costume—ideally from multiple views (front, side, back) and/or different states (e.g., everyday wear vs. dramatic moment).
• Lighting design: Provide a diagram (plan or perspective view) showing lighting positions (e.g., overhead, sidelights, footlights) for key scenes (at least 2–3 scenes). Indicate light types, angles, color/gels, intensity—as needed.
• Sound design: Provide a sound “mood board”—e.g., links (or embedded audio) to at least 2–4 sound clips or musical pieces that reflect ambient noise, thematic motifs, or transitions. Optionally provide a short script or cue-sheet showing when sounds will enter/exit.
• Set design: Provide a ground plan and/or a perspective drawing (or both)—enough to show where walls, doors/windows, furniture, entrances/exits, levels (if any), and scenic elements exist. If helpful, include approximate dimensions or scale.

3. Design rationale—one paragraph explanation

Write a concise paragraph explaining why you made the design choices you did. For example: how your emotional research informed the look/feel; how your practical research grounds the design historically or contextually; how design choices support character, theme, mood; how design supports dramatic action, transitions, or pacing.

Syllabus

THEA 203 - INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE (3)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

We are mimetic creatures. Before spoken language or writing, we communicated through imitation. One of the reasons we were able to claw our way to the top of the food chain was through symbolic interaction, through performance. Theatre is a vestige of this vital communication technology. It is a memory machine. The art form is simultaneously ancient and new. It constantly reinvents itself. In an age of AI, social media, blockbuster special effects movies, and on-demand entertainment, theatre remains relevant. Why? Theatre involves role-playing, storytelling, politics, religion, and ritual. Using theatre, we can articulate and investigate social issues and the human experience. This course investigates the role of theatre as a vehicle for exploring meanings and cultural values throughout history. We will consider the contributions of storyteller, playwright, actor, director, designer, and audience to the theatrical event. We will also engage in practical theatrical production exercises.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of this course, students will:

• Describe the collaborative roles of playwrights, performers, directors, designers, and audiences in the creation of theatre.
• Analyze how live theatre reflects and responds to cultural, political, and historical contexts across global traditions.
• Interpret and evaluate dramatic texts and performances using key concepts from theatre studies.
• Create original theatrical work through playwriting, performance, directing, and design.
• Reflect on the role of theatre in shaping identity, community, and social change.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

ASSIGNMENTS:

GRADES:                                                             

CLASSROOM POLICIES:

COURSE SCHEDULE:

(This schedule is subject to change.)