THD 240-01 - Interdisciplinary Performance Theory and Praxis

4 credits (Fall)

Archives & Cultural Memory. An examination of theoretical topics and perspectives in performance studies, with specific attention to interdisciplinary innovations relevant to analyzing performance. This course introduces research methodologies for interrogating and creating performance, as well as how to critique, reshape, and transform the world through performance. Course topics center on examining, historicizing, and theorizing performance in both the aesthetic and the everyday. Course projects extend performance theory into original scholarly writing and creative work. This semester the topic will center Archives & Cultural Memory in performance, from archival studies theory to artistic engagements in reconciliation movements, to the relationship between technologies of memory and historiographic remediation, to performance studies angles on commemoration, tourism, place, and cultural site visitor experience. Students will apply archival research to the creation of exhibits and performance installations. 

Prerequisite: Any 100-level Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies course with grade S, C, or better.
Instructor: Shook