ENGL 2207 - Drama

1. Read, discuss, analyze, interpret, and evaluate a variety of plays which will be selected from diverse cultures and time periods, and may be organized around a specific topic or theme (e.g., plays of Shakespeare, gothic plays, plays to film, lands and lives of a specific ethnic group or world area, etc.).
2. Understand how these plays reflect the characteristics and values of the people and times in which they are written.
3. Select and apply a critical approach (such as feminist, historical, biographical, reader-response, psychoanalytical, etc.) to analyze, interpret, and evaluate selected plays.
4. Read drama and present, through activities such as group discussion, journals, response papers, critical essays, and reviews, her/his personal interpretation and evaluation of selected plays.
5. Use literary terminology to describe technical elements of drama, including terms such as: character, plot, setting, theme, style, point of view, symbol, and metaphor.
6. Understand the significance of drama as a literary form - a form of literature that presents its subject matter in a very different way from novels, short stories, and poetry; a form meant to be read and/or experienced in a theater - and understand why an author might choose to present the subject matter in this form.
7. Recognize how differences such as race, ethnic group, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability, or age both inform and are illustrated by literature, and how literature can be used to discuss, understand, and appreciate these differences.
8. Recognize how writers who have been considered “minority” or “diverse” contribute to the literary canon and how these writers are similar to and different from other writers.
9. Appreciate how literature helps us better understand ourselves, other people, and the world around us.

1. The study of drama in its varying forms - e.g., full-length plays, one-act plays, screenplays, and adaptations from other works of literature
2. Literary elements and devices as they are used in drama
3. Critical and/or affective writing in response to drama
4. Critical approaches to literature (may include, but not be limited to, reader-response, feminist, biographical, historical, psychological, deconstruction, archetypal, and new criticism)
5. Support for Interpretations and evaluations of drama
6. The role of drama as a cultural, historical, political, and personal artifact
7. Basic principles of the production of a dramatic performance - e.g., staging, directing, acting, and technical elements (lights, sound, etc.)
8. Race, ethnic group, gender, class, and other conflicts in literature
9. Contributions of diverse writers to the literary canon