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The sample syllabi in this section are based on three one-hour class sessions per week or two one-and-one-half-hour class sessions per week for introductory courses (which have become the norm on college and university campuses in the United States). Types of Drama might be a required text for a wide variety of coursework, such as surveys of world drama in English or comparative literature departments, development of the dramatic art courses in departments of theater or performance studies, supplemental reading in courses on theater history or dramaturgy, or reading in courses on specific periods of dramatic literature from literary or performance perspectives.
These sample syllabi are examples of the most general courses in dramatic literature that might use Types of Drama. The quarter-length world drama syllabus is arranged by time period and regional or national culture; the semester-length syllabus is arranged by stylistic or thematic groupings. (See also the section Thematic Groupings.)
Select a syllabus from the list below:
Quarter Course (10 Weeks) |
| Week 1 |
What is Drama? |
Quem Quaeritis(anon.)
My Brazil (Rosenthal)
Trifles (Glaspell) |
| Week 2 |
Classical |
Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
Lysistrata (Aristophanes)
|
| Week 3 |
Medieval |
The Second Shepherd's Play (The Wakefield Master)
Everyman (anon.)
Dojoji (anon.)
|
| Week 4 |
Ren./17th c. tragedy |
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
Fuente Ovejuna (de Vega)
|
| Week 5 |
Ren./17th c. comedy |
"The Insane Asylum" (anon.)
Tartuffe (Molière)
The Rover (Behn) |
| Week 6 |
Modern European |
A Doll's House (Ibsen)
The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov)
Purgatory (Yeats) and Miss Julie (Strindberg)
|
| Week 7 |
Modern American |
The Emperor Jones (O'Neill)
Machinal (Treadwell)
The Mother of Us All (Stein) |
| Week 8 |
Mid-century |
Death of a Salesman (Miller)
The Good Woman of Setzuan (Brecht)
Krapp's Last Tape (Beckett) |
| Week 9 |
Contemporary |
Funnyhouse of a Negro (Kennedy)
True West (Shepard)
Top Girls (Churchill) |
| Week 10 |
Contemporary |
Angels in America, I (Kushner)
Fires in the Mirror (Deavere Smith) |
Note: The Medieval unit could very well be compressed into two class meetings (one for the English plays, the other for the Japanese play), particularly if the class has explored Quem Quaeritis in the first week. The instructor could use the remainder of that week to introduce or begin the Renaissance and seventeenth-century unit; this unit could demand a good deal of attention and effort, particularly among introductory students. Also, be mindful of the plays in Types of Drama that are considerably shorter than contemporary "full-length" plays.
Semester Course (14 Weeks) |
| Week 1 |
What is Drama? |
Whom Do You Seek? (anon.)
Trifles (Glaspell)
My Brazil (Rosenthal)
|
| Week 2 |
Tragedy |
Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
|
| Week 3 |
Comedy |
"The Insane Asylum" (anon.)
Tartuffe (Molière)
The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde)
The Real Thing (Stoppard)
|
| Week 4 |
Presentational Theater |
Everyman (anon.)
The Good Woman of Setzuan (Brecht)
Krapp’s Last Tape (Beckett)
|
| Week 5 |
Representational Theater |
The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov)
Suddenly Last Summer (Williams)
Glengarry Glen Ross (Mamet)
|
| Week 6 |
Theater and Gender |
A Doll’s House (Ibsen)
Top Girls (Churchill)
The Conduct of Life (Fornes)
|
| Week 7 |
Theater and Culture |
Funnyhouse of A Negro (Kennedy)
Los Vendidos (Valdez)
The Dance and the Railroad (Hwang)
|
| Week 8 |
Theater and Class |
Major Barbara (Shaw)
Miss Julie (Strindberg)
Machinal (Treadwell)
|
| Week 9 |
Theater and Community |
Lysistrata (Aristophanes)
Fuente Ovejuna (de Vega)
|
| Week 10 |
Performing Ritual |
The Second Shepherd’s Play (The Wakefield Master)
Dojoji (anon.) and Purgatory (Yeats)
The Bacchae of Euripides (Soyinka)
|
| Week 11 |
The Political Theater |
Votes for Women (Robins)
Waiting for Lefty (Odets)
We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay! (Fo)
|
| Week 12 |
Americanisms |
Death of a Salesman (Miller)
True West (Shepard)
Angels in America, Part I (Kushner)
|
| Week 13 |
The African Diaspora |
Fences (Wilson)
Pantomime (Walcott)
In the Blood (Parks)
|
| Week 14 |
Multiple Voices |
Terminal (Yankowitz/Chaikin)
Fires in the Mirror (Deavere Smith)
|
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