A consideration of theatre’s prospects in a time of COVID 19, taught by Northwestern Prof. Emerita Sandra L. Richards (African American Studies/Theatre/Performance Studies)
This mini-course, offered to the greater Evanston community as a collaboration between the Northwestern Emeriti Organization (NEO) and Evanston Public Library, will assess theatre’s prospects during--and after--a pandemic.
A first meeting, on December 1, will consist of a viewing, hosted by Prof. Richards, of the play Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau, lasting 90 minutes.
The following evening (December 2) will be the first actual class session, in which we will examine one of theatre’s traditional roles, namely as a space for civic and personal reflection.
Our second session a week later (December 9) will weigh questions of what is lost—or gained—when we cannot gather together to watch live performance. In these instances, is it still theatre? What kinds of theatres—topics, structures, or funding supports—are likely post-pandemic?
Participants will be asked:
· to commit to attend (virtually) all three evening sessions of the mini-course
· to attend (virtually) the screening of the play on December 1
· to read or view one or more other plays we will suggest
· to pick and choose from among other readings on theatre we will provide
· in class, to share informal reflections on their own theatre-going
Northwestern Professor of African American Studies and Theatre Emerita Sandra L. Richards specializes in African American, African, and African Diaspora theatre and drama. She is the author of Ancient Songs Set Ablaze: The Theatre of Femi Osofisan (1996) as well as co-editor, with Sandra Shannon of Howard University, of Approaches to Teaching the Plays of August Wilson (2016). She has also published numerous articles on a range of black dramatists. From 2001 to 2004, she held the Leon Forrest Professorship of African American Studies that supported ongoing research on issues of cultural tourism to slave sites throughout the Black Atlantic.
Note that attendance of the hosted screening of Pipeline on December 1 will be restricted to registered participants of this mini-course. Registering once covers all three sessions.
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