This course will explore plays by women written on both sides of the Atlantic in the second half of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries. We will ask what we learn if we study women dramatists as a group or if the differences among women, the instability of the very category of “women,” and the discernible influence of male dramatists on women playwrights mean that there is nothing distinctive, in subject matter or dramaturgy, about plays by women. Keeping these broad questions in mind, we will look at a range of plays and performance pieces with an eye to their themes, stagecraft, performance potential, and relationship to the historical moment when they were first written, as well as their possible links to one another. Are some of these plays influenced by others on the syllabus? How do race, class, and sexuality complicate the idea of a women’s theatrical tradition? Are some of these playwrights affiliated along lines other than gender? Do British and American women playwrights show different preoccupations or styles? We will also investigate the number of women playwrights who have had a play produced on Broadway or West End London and consider barriers to women’s access to certain venues and funding sources.
In addition to our classes, we will see three shows together. These will include Lynn Nottage’s
Meet Vera Stark
at the Signature Theater, a new play by Suzan-Lori Parks at the Public Theater, and if possible a new play by Anna Deavere Smith at New York Theatre Workshop in late spring.