COMP 247
Gender, Sexuality and Modern Performance
Last Offered Fall 2016
Division I Writing Skills Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed ENGL 253 / WGSS 250 / THEA 250
This course is not offered in the current catalog

This interdisciplinary tutorial explores aspects of gender, sexuality, performativity, race, class, and representations of the body in modern theatre and performance in America. While attention will be given to the still understudied role of women in the arts, we will focus primarily on the transsecionalities of social identities under interrelated systems of oppression. Close analysis of works by dramatists–such as Adrienne Kennedy, Caryl Churchill, Wendy Wasserstein, Ntozake Shange, Tony Kushner, Naomi Iizuka, Paula Vogel, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Henry Hwang, Tarell McCraney, Gina Gionfriddo, and Taylor Mac–will occur alongside consideration of works by artists such as Karen Finley, Ron Athey, Tim Miller, E. Patrick Johnson, and Young Jean Lee. Our approach to this varied material will be comparative and will be enriched by readings of critical works by writers such as: Judith Butler, bell hooks, Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, Eve K. Sedgwick, Jill Dolan, José Esteban Muñoz, David Román, and Donna Haraway.