9/19 - Announcement & Questions

Subject: Announcement and Suggestions

I talked about our reading assignments on Thursday, but I need to make a clarification regarding the the working schedule on the syllabus. Since I introduced the Levine article, we'll hold off on reading Chapter 6 of The Theatrical Imagination (on producers) until a later date. If you've already read it - great! Don't worry, we'll slip it into our schedule before long. Read Chapter 7 - on directors and directing - for Thursday's class, when we'll use Trouble in Mind as an opportunity to talk about the directors' craft.

So, to recap: for Tuesday, read Lawrence Levine on Shakespeare and Alice Childress' Trouble in Mind (both on-line as electronic reserves). For Thursday, read Chapter 7 of the textbook.

Consider the following questions as possible subjects for this week's meditation. You are not required to address these questions - they are suggested topics only.

What role does an audience's expectations - and cultural background - play in the theatre? Can a production appeal to popular tastes and also challenge, educate, or "uplift" an audience? How does a culturally or racially diverse audience affect this process?

The production team depicted in Trouble in Mind clearly wants to provide a politically charged experience. What are the challenges that artists face when embarking upon such a mission? What traps can they fall into? (For that matter, what does the title - "trouble in mind" - mean?)

Is it possible to encounter difference safely in theatre? Childress depicts deep and disturbing pitfalls faced by artists who hope - in an unequal world - to work as equals. Her play may (or may not) provide lessons we might derive from this fictional experience. Does it provide any hope?

For all of these questions, Levine's comments about the hierarchization of theatre - from a microcosm of democratic American society (with less cultural diversity) to a highly segregated spacial landscape reflecting cultural and economic differences - could clearly apply. Consider how to integrate him into our discussion of the play.