| Course Name |
(中) 戲劇導讀(二)(2041) |
| (Eng.) Introduction to Drama (II) |
| Offering Dept |
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures |
| Course Type |
Elective |
Credits |
3 |
Teacher |
HSIEH,HSIN-YI |
| Department |
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures/Undergraduate |
Language |
English |
Semester |
2025-SPRING |
| Course Description |
"Introduction to Drama (II)" is a one-semester course, open to second-year (and above) undergraduates who are interested in both the historical and literary development of Western drama, theatre, and play in the twentieth century. In addition to Harold Pinter as one of the most influential and contemporary British dramatists who ever caught up with the European trend of ‘the theatre of the absurd’ fashionable in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, this course mainly focuses on the modern American playwrights, including female and black writers, from World War I to the last two decades of the twentieth century. Contemporary issues such as warfare, economic depression, domestic conflicts, personal and social disappointment, racial discrimination, gender problems, and the lost of social status and cultural identity prevailed in the theatrical world of the period. Susan Glaspell, Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Lorraine Hansberry, David Rabe, Marsha Norman, and August Wilson, writing in relation to realism, naturalism, expressionism, impressionism, and absurdism, all contributed to the development of modern American drama, theatre, and play. |
| Prerequisites |
|
self-directed learning in the course |
Y |
| Relevance of Course Objectives and Core Learning Outcomes(%) |
Teaching and Assessment Methods for Course Objectives |
| Course Objectives |
Competency Indicators |
Ratio(%) |
Teaching Methods |
Assessment Methods |
| With reference to some fundamental knowledge of genres, theories, and social issues, this course will guide the students to act as an audience as well as a reader to approach the assigned tragedies, comedies, or something in between by discussing their characters and languages, themes and plots, forms and structures, types and styles, settings and contexts, and other dramaturgy and theatrical elements. Besides the textbook, some selected articles, together with relevant videos and DVDs of certain films, TV dramas, and theatrical productions, may serve as supplementary teaching materials. Although this weekly course will be conducted in a series of topical discussions that have been allocated to each of the selected plays before the first lecture, students are all welcome to provide any comments, feedbacks, and suggestions regarding the discussed works in other directions. |
| 1.Foreign language skills |
| 2.Professional expertise |
|
|
| topic Discussion/Production |
| Exercises |
| Discussion |
| Lecturing |
|
| Written Presentation |
| Attendance |
| Oral Presentation |
| Assignment |
| Study Outcome |
|
| Course Content and Homework/Schedule/Tests Schedule |
| Week |
Course Content |
| Week 1 |
A. General Introduction & Course Orientation
B. Grouping
(Ps. A more detailed version of syllabus will be introduced in class and uploaded to iLearning when the new semester commences.) |
| Week 2 |
A. The history of early American drama, theatre, and plays
B. Trifles (1917)—Susan Glaspell
C. Discussion: significant trifles vs. trifle significance |
| Week 3 |
A. Desire under the Elms (1924))—Eugene O’Nell
B. Discussion: Greek tragedy vs. modern naturalistic tragedy |
| Week 4 |
A. Desire under the Elms (1924))—Eugene O’Nell
B. Discussion: Greek tragedy vs. modern naturalistic tragedy |
| Week 5 |
A. The Glass Menagerie (1944)—Tennessee Williams
B. Discussion: a mixture of the past and the present without the future |
| Week 6 |
A. The Glass Menagerie (1944)—Tennessee Williams
B. Discussion: a mixture of the past and the present without the future |
| Week 7 |
Holiday |
| Week 8 |
Midterm Project Presentation |
| Week 9 |
A. Death of a Salesman (1949)—Arthur Miller
B. Discussion: the father-son relationship vs. a social and family misfit |
| Week 10 |
A. Death of a Salesman (1949)—Arthur Miller
B. Discussion: the father-son relationship vs. a social and family misfit |
| Week 11 |
A. A Raisin in the Sun (1959)—Lorraine Hansberry
B. Discussion: “black drama” |
| Week 12 |
A. A Raisin in the Sun (1959)—Lorraine Hansberry
B. Discussion: “black drama” |
| Week 13 |
A. Sticks and Bones (1971)—David Rabe
B. Discussion: warfare and domesticity |
| Week 14 |
A. Sticks and Bones (1971)—David Rabe
B. Discussion: warfare and domesticity |
| Week 15 |
A. Marsha Norman’s ’Night, Mother (1983)
B. Discussion: female characters, the mother-daughter relationship, and the meaning of life
C. Final Project Preparation |
| Week 16 |
Final Project Presentation |
| Week 17 |
A. Final Result (Online)
B. Self-directed Learning: Fences (Script)
|
| Week 18 |
Self-directed Learning: Fences (Video) |
|
| Evaluation |
I. Attendance, Class Participation, and Pop Tasks 40%
II. Midterm Project 30%
III. Final Project and Progress Review 30%
|
| Textbook & other References |
1. Jordan Y. Miller, The Heath Introduction to Drama, 5th ed., (Lexinton: Heath, 1996).(or, any online editions of selected plays, ex. Amazon Kindle or Google Books).
2. Some supplementary materials will be available on iLearning. |
| Teaching Aids & Teacher's Website |
| NCHU iLearning (https://lms2020.nchu.edu.tw/) |
| Office Hours |
15:00-17:00, Tuesday
|
| Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs |
| 01.No Poverty 03.Good Health and Well-Being 04.Quality Education 05.Gender Equality 08.Decent Work and Economic Growth 16.Peace and Justice | include experience courses：N |
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