THEA 231
Race and Performance Fall 2024
Division I Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed ARAB 231

How does race function in performance, and, dare we say, “live and in living color?” How does one deconstruct discrimination at its roots? From a perspective of global solidarity, we will read plays every week and examine how race functions in theater and performance. This class offers students a discussion that does not center whiteness, but takes power, history, culture, philosophy, and hierarchy as core points of debate. In the first three weeks, we will establish the common terms of the discussion about stereotypes, representation, and historical claims, but then we will quickly move toward an advanced conversation about effective discourse and activism through art, performance, and cultural production. In this class, we assume that colonialism, slavery, white supremacy, and oppressive contemporary state apparatuses are real, undeniable, and manifest. Since our starting point is clear, our central question is not about recognizing or delineating the issues, but rather, it is a debate about how to identify the target of our criticism in order to counter oppression effectively and dismantle long-standing structures. Not all BIPOC communities are represented in this course, as claiming comprehensive inclusion in a single semester would be tokenistic and disingenuous. Instead, we will aspire to understand and negotiate some of the complexities related to race in several communities locally in the U.S. and beyond.