This course will combine theory and practice to examine and create theatrical performances from “real life” material, such as transcripts, interviews, and autobiography. While reading and viewing representative works, we will also explore methodologies for creating this kind of theatre. The class will culminate with the creation of our own theatrical piece, to be performed the weekend of April 22nd. 

This form is often used for socio-political purposes; famous examples include: Anna Deavere Smith’s one-woman Fires in the Mirror, about the 1991 Crown Heights riot as seen through the perspectives of African-American and Jewish members of the community; Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theater’s ensemble-based The Laramie Project, which focuses on the city's reactions to the 1998 murder of gay student Matthew Shepard; and Tina Satter/Half Straddle’s Is This a Room, a performance of the verbatim transcript of a 2017 FBI interrogation of a young woman who leaked classified documents to the press. 
 
Note: Depending on Covid conditions and other considerations, we hope that some enrollees, with university funding, will be able to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in August. For further information, contact Dr. Rosemary Malague: rmalague@sas.upenn.edu.