THEATRE 579: Writing Culture (aka Scripting Narratives for ...



THEATRE 579: Writing Culture (aka Scripting Narratives for Community Dialog)

Instructor: Mady Schutzman

Time: Monday 5-8

Room: MCC 107

Phone: (323) 982-0806 home; (323) 356-9855 cell

Email: mschutzm@calarts.edu

Office hrs: by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course borrows from the fields of anthropology, popular and community-based theatre, cultural studies, and literature to provide an array of methodologies and approaches to artistic collaboration across cultures and difference. The focus is on scripting or writing: with what tools can we enter into dialogue with community partners to respectfully, artistically, provocatively, and ethically generate ‘scripts? The course is divided into three sections. First, we will investigate the role and responsibility of the fieldworker or ethnographer. What constitutes “data” and how do we access it? How do we enter a terrain riddled by differences in economic and political privilege? In the second section, we will investigate several literary and theatrical aesthetics that grew from a need to talk back to power, to resist, to educate, or to heal. We will look at testimony, magical realism, humor, trickster theory, dreamscapes, Brecht’s epic theater and Boal’s Joker System. In the third section, attention will turn to performative and experimental writing as ways to inspire non-traditional modes of thinking about and telling the stories that we need to tell. How might the urgency to convey a truth interact with creative and political complexity in ways that do not erase either?

In the effort to both fortify and keep vulnerable our positions in the field, we will practice various ethnographic and artistic approaches in the classroom; we will be our own case studies. Class discussions and exercises will be informed by academic and literary texts and a laboratory environment in which we can forge an honest relationship between theory and practice.

COURSE GOALS

- learn how to work with community partners to co-create performative narratives toward a shared popular theatre event.

- investigate the pitfalls of co-optation or misrepresentation by, in part, rehearsing various techniques within the classroom setting

- enter fieldwork settings with an array of questions, ethical considerations, techniques (collaborative, theatrical, literary, ethnographic, pedagogical), and support systems in place

- become familiar with an array of literary texts informed by cultural criticism, social movements, and historical circumstances

- apply classroom knowledge and experiences toward production of a collaborative environment, a critical process, and a presentable artistic work-in-progress.

SYLLABUS

[Note: readings marked with * are available on Ares as electronic PDFs]

SECTION 1: gathering data (what is data anyway?), subjective bias, cultural bias, first contact, witnessing

August 23

Review of syllabus and introductions. The role of the ‘writer.’ The relevance of Heisenberg and Keats. What is data? Explore subjective bias. Meet the partners.

On our feet: IH Jones, historical and personal timeline

Writing exercise: Margolin

August 30

Using ourselves as case for practice. What are our own ‘risky’ stories? How do we tell them and how do we respond to them? What does it mean to witness?

On our feet: Image theatre; “story of my life”; groups of 4 with text

Read:

Salverson (1996) “Performing Emergency: Witnessing, Popular Theatre, and the

Lie of the Literal”

Salverson (2006) Witnessing Subjects: a fool’s help.

September 6: NO CLASS

September 13

Cultural bias. The problematics of contact and the notion of border watching, border crossing. border culture. Occasions when we experienced cultural disorientation. Write images of these occasions (rather than discursive pieces)

View: The Couple in the Cage

Read:

Taylor (1998) “Border Watching”

Gomez-Pena (1990) "Border culture: The Multicultural paradigm”

September 20th

Cultural bias

View: Cannibal Tours, “Reassemblage”

Read:

*Price (1989) “The Universality Principle” and “Power Plays.”

Clifford(1988) “On Ethnographic Surrealism”

SECTION II: literary responses to power: testimony, public autobiography, trickster, humor, magical realism and the theories that support them

October 4

Read:

Anzaldua (1987) “ La herencia de Coatlicue,” “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.”

*Williams (1991) Chapters 11 and 12

October 11

Revisioning community. Trickster vision of ‘identity.’ What is identity? The advantages and disadvantages of fixity, narrative (re: myth), and definitions.

Read:

Hyde (1998) “Trickster Arts and Works of Artus”

Ortiz (1986-87) “Buenos Aires (an excerpt)”

October 18

Humor, paradox, jokes, and Brecht.

Presentation of research papers.

Writing exercise: 25 words

Read:

English (1994) “Introduction: Humor, politics, community”

Brecht (1964) "24: Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting" and “31: Short

Description of a New Technique of Acting which Produces an Alienation Effect.”

MID TERM PAPER DUE – 10 pgs. [hard copy no later than Oct. 18]

October 25

Influences on and theory of Boal’s Joker System.

Presentation of research papers, cont. (if necessary)

On our feet: “Draw a straight line and follow it” a la Brecht.

Read:

Benjamin (1969) “What is Epic Theater?”

Mitchell (1973) “Introduction” in Walter Benjamin: Understanding Brecht

November 1

Writing Joker System plays. Purpose of the chorus.

View: Fires in the Mirror, excerpts from UPSET!

Writing exercise: Carnivalesque and choral writing

Read:

*Boal (1979) excerpt on Joker System from Theater of the Oppressed

Schechter (1985) “The Jokers of Augusto Boal”

November 8

Magical realism. Literary theory of MR, value of ekphrasis and recontextualizing as strategy. Working with metaphor. Bring in Simic. Assign etymology exercise.

Read:

Sangari (1987) “The Politics of the Possible” (excerpt)

November 15

Literary examples informed by MR. Working with dreamscapes. Read etymology texts.

View: Maya Deren

Read:

*Cortázar (1967) excerpts from Blow-up and other stories

*Kincaid (1985) “Girl,” “What I Have Been Doing Lately,” and My Mother”

SECTION III: performative writing and experimental nonfiction

November 22:

Bring in examples from Carson (“Glass Essay”) and possibly Griffin

Read:

Pollock (1998) "Performing Writing."

Miller (2001) “A Braided Heart: Shaping the lyric essay.”

November 29

Revisiting the intersections of data collection, border experiences, ethnography and the task of the writer.

Read:

Etchells (1999) “On Performance Writing.”

Tyler (1986) “Post-Modern Ethnography: From document of the occult to occult

document.”

December 6

Assemblage and collage.

Student presentations of final paper

Read:

Sikelianos (2004) The Book of Jon: A Memoir

DUE: FINAL TEXT and Meta-text

Mid-term paper options

Goal: expand exposure to various groups, artists, techniques not included in syllabus by sharing research done by students

1. Research paper on a particular community-based approach to collaboration or a particular technique of a theatre artist or company that you feel could be applied to your ongoing participatory research and collaborative script-making. For the former, possibilities include work of Cornerstone, LAPD, El Teatro Campesino, Suzanne Lacy, Roadside Theatre, Junebug, and Pregones, For the latter, possibilities include Anna Deveare Smith, Wooster Group, Griselda Gambaro, Circus Amok, ACT-UP, Bread and Puppet, Reverend Billy, and Richard Foreman. If there’s a person or company you would like to research (not among these suggestions), please feel free to make a proposal for approval.

2. In-depth research paper on a particular literary or aesthetic approach/genre (e.g., testimony, magical realism, carnivalesque or multivocal texts, parody or political satire, vaudeville, stand-up comedy, dark humor, absurdist plays), discussed in class or not, that you are interested in and believe would enhance your approach to collaborative script-development.

Final paper options, to be accompanied by a metatext

Goal: opportunity to apply theories, approaches, and/or political imperatives toward production of creative texts

1. Write a Joker System Play. You can use a public persona, event, fairy tale, cultural myth or cultural phenomenon as the core of your ‘play.’ Employ the various elements of Boal’s system including reversals, actors playing multiple roles, an mc or joker, a chorus, eclectic styles, etc. to explode the core storyline into a pedagogical investigation and Brechtian exploration of all implicit and explicit dynamics of the story.

2. A creative text that tells one story in at least two different styles or aesthetic genres. Select a story from your notes, a meaningful personal experience, or an historical event at write it up in at least two of the following modes: testimony, border text, trickster text, reassemblage, public autobiography, Brechtian text, braided essay, comedy. Accompany your multiple renderings with a meta-text of at least two pages that explains your process, how you were approaching this assignment, what did and didn’t work fo you, and what you learned from the experiment

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

Participation: 20 pts (discussion and participation in exercises)

Prompts: 20 pts (5 prompts of your choice)

Mid-term paper: 25 pts (15 for paper and 10 for presentation)

Final text : 25 pts

Final meta-text: 15 pts

Grading scale:

A = 96-100 points

A- = 91-95 points

B+ = 88-90 points

B = 85-87 points

B- - 81-84 points

C+ = 78-80 points

C = 75-77 points

C- = 71-74 points

D+ = 67-70 points

D- = 61-63 points

F = 60 or below

ATTENDANCE

Classes begin at 5pm. More than 15 minutes late will be considered an absence. Due to the nature of the course and the importance of class discussions and participation in exercises, more than 3 absences will result in no credit for the seminar. Prior notice of absence is appreciated at (323) 356-9855. Please discuss with me any conflicts you see arising re: attendance asap.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Dishonesty in any form harms the individual, other students, and the School of Theatre. Therefore, USC policies on academic integrity will be enforced in this course. Papers suspected of containing plagiarized material (the unacknowledged or inappropriate use of another’s ideas, wording, or images) will be verified for authenticity by the School of Theatre through internet services. I expect you to familiarize yourself with the academic integrity guidelines found in the current SCampus

(usc.edu/dept/publications/scampus).

DISABILITY SERVICES

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 am to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is 213-740-0776.

READING PACKET [Note: some texts are available on Ares reserve only]

Anzaldua, Gloria (1987) “ La herencia de Coatlicue” and “How to Tame a Wild

Tongue.” In Borderlands/La Frontera: the New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute

Books. pp. 41-64. (ISBN: 1879960125)

Benjamin, Walter (1969) “What is Epic Theater?” in Illuminations: Essays and

Reflections. New York: Schocken. Pp. 147-154. (ISBN: 0-8052-0241-2)

Boal, Augusto (1979) excerpt from Theater of the Oppressed, New York: Urizen Books,

pp. 167-194 (ISBN: 0-916354-59-8) [on Ares reserve]*

Brecht, Bertolt (1964) "24: Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting" and “31: Short

Description of a New Technique of Acting which Produces and Alienation Effect.”

In Brecht on Theatre. Willett, trans. Hill and Wang. pp. 91-99, pp.136-140 (ISBN:

0809005425)

Clifford, James (1988) “On Ethnographic Surrealism” in The Predicament of Culture:

Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge: Harvard University

Press. pp. 117-151. (ISBN: 0-674-69842-8)

Cortázar, Julio (1967) excerpts from Blow-up and other stories. New York: Pantheon

Books. pp. 3-9, 39-50, 63-65, 66-76. ( ISBN: 0394728815) [on Ares reserve]*

English, J.F. (1994) “Introduction: Humor, politics, community,” in Comic Transactions:

Literature, humor, and the politics of community in twentieth-century Britain. Ithaca

and London: Cornell University Press. pp, 1-29. (ISBN: 0-8014-2953-6)

Etchells, Tim (1999) “On Performance Writing.” In Certain Fragments: Contemporary

Performance and Forced Entertainment. London: Routledge. pp. 98-108

(ISBN: 0415173833)

Gomez-Pena, Guillermo (1990) "Border culture: The Multicultural paradigm" In The

Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s, NYC: New Museum of

Contemporary Art, pp. 93-103 (ISBN: 0915557681)

Hyde, Lewis (1998) “Trickster Arts and Works of Artus.” In Trickster Makes this

World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. New York: North Point Press. pp. 252-280

(ISBN: 0-86547-536-9)

Kincaid, Jamaica (1985) “Girl,” “What I Have Been Doing Lately,” “Blackness,” and

My Mother” in At the Bottom Of the River. New York: Aventura, Vintage Books.

pp. 3-5, 40-61 ISBN: 0-394-73683-4) [on Ares reserve]*

Miller, Brenda (2001) “A Braided Heart: Shaping the lyric essay.” In Writing Creative

Nonfiction. Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard, eds. Cincinnati: Story Press. pp.

14-24 (ISBN: 1-88491-050-5)

Mitchell, Stanley (1973). “Introduction” in Walter Benjamin: Understanding Brecht.

New Left Books. pp. vii-xix. (Available Verso edition, 2003: ISBN: 1859844189)

Ortiz, Alicia Dujovne (1986-87) “Buenos Aires (an excerpt),” Caren Kaplan, trans.,

Discourse, Fall-Winter 86-87: 73-82.

Pollock, Della (1998) "Performing Writing." In The Ends of Performance. Peggy Phelan

and Jill Lane, eds. New York and London: New York University Press . pp. 73-

103 (ISBN: 0-8147- 6647-1)

Price, Sally (1989) “The Universality Principle” and “Power Plays.” In Primitive Art in

Civilized Places. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 23-36, 68-81. (ISBN: 0-

226-68064-9 ) [on Ares reserve]*

Salverson, Julie (1996) “Performing Emergency: Witnessing, Popular Theatre, and the

Lie of the Literal.” Theatre Topics, vol. 6, no. 2: 181-191. September 1996

---- (2006) Witnessing Subjects: a fool’s help. In A Boal Companion: Dialogues on

theatre and cultural politics. Cohen-Cruz and Schutzman, eds. pp. 146-157. NY:

Routledge. ( ISBN: 0415322944)

Schechter, Joel (1985) “The Jokers of Augusto Boal,” in Durov’s Pig: Clowns, Politics

and Theatre. New York: Theatre Communications Group. pp. 158-163. (ISBN:

0-930452-51-8)

Sangari, Kum Kum (1987) “The Politics of the Possible” (excerpt), Cultural Critique:

The nature and context of minority discourse II, No. 7: 157-176, Fall 1987.

Taylor, Diana (1998) “Border Watching” in The Ends of Performance, P. Phelan and J.

Lane, eds. New York: NYU Press. pp. 178-185 ( ISBN: 0-8147-6647-1)

Tyler, Stephen A, (1986) “Post-Modern Ethnography: From document of the occult to

occult document.” in Writing Culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography.

Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 122-140 ( ISBN: 0-520-05729-5)

Williams, Patricia (1991) Chapters 11 and 12 in The Alchemy of Race and Rights: diary

of a law professor. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 202-238.

(ISBN; 0-674-01471-5) [on Ares reserve]*

[on Ares reserve]* : these texts have been scanned by the library and are available for you to download as PDFs. Go to USC library services and logon to Ares.

BOOKS

Sikelianos, Eleni (2004) The Book of Jon: A Memoir. San Francisco: City Lights.

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