Online Undergraduate-Level Course
Script Analysis for Theater
This is a Boston Conservatory course offered through Berklee Online.
Level 1
3-Credit Tuition
$1,497Non-Credit Tuition
$1,250Welcome to Script Analysis for Theater. In this course we’re going to work backwards from your love of theater to closely examine how the plays you fell in love with were made. We’ll look at the movements in theater that spawned important genres and aesthetic devices that writers have used to engage audiences across time. Each week, we’ll discuss specific terminology and tools from within specific traditions, while considering how these movements speak to each other, and we’ll apply those ideas to selected readings. Our lens will be global, from ancient Japan and India to twenty-first century Broadway and Boston Conservatory. After deepening our understanding of the roots of theater-making, we’ll end the semester with our eyes focused on the present and the future, by together considering contemporary issues (including racism in American theater), and as students work in groups to present their prognosis for the longevity of specific plays.
This course will not only make you more fluent in some of the most important theater traditions in the world, but enhance your understanding of the texts with which you will engage as theater artists.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- recognize the genre of a work and the way that genre varies by time and culture
- identify modes of presentation and how they signal meaning beyond the text of a work
- analyze the intended effect on the audience of a playwright’s choice to defy genre or established modes
- articulate the role of race and culture in how theater is received, promoted, and sustained
- make a critical case for the longevity of a text, based on its artistic merits, cultural context, and your understanding of theater history
Syllabus
Lesson 1: What Makes Theater Distinct
- The Difference of a Live Genre
- Character, Conflict, and Motion
- How to Read a Play Manuscript
- Beats, Scenes, and Acts
- Assignment 1: The Narrative Trio in Action
Lesson 2: Tragedy
- Ancient Tragedy in Greece
- Tragedy in Japan’s Noh Theater
- Shakespearean Tragedy and “Revenge Plays”
- Tragedy in African Theater
- The Role of Tragedy in Native American Theater Tradition
- The Debate over Modern Tragedy
- Assignment 2: Tragedy in Comparison
Lesson 3: Comedy
- Sanskrit Comedy
- Ancient Comedy: Greek and Roman
- From Clowns to Comedy of Manners
- Farce, Satire, Parody, and Black Comedy
- Assignment 3: Comedy Comparison and Analysis
Lesson 4: ‘Well-Made’ Plays and Beyond
- Story Structure
- The ‘Well-Made’ Play
- The Influence of the Well-Made Play on TV and Film Structure
- Well-Made Play Redux
- Assignment 4: BFE Analysis
Lesson 5: Beyond Genre
- Tragicomedy and Dramedy
- Playing with Tropes and Conventions
- Trope Bingo
- The Perils of Using Tropes
- Devised Work
- Assignment 5: Father Comes Home from the Wars Analysis
Lesson 6: Naturalism and Realism
- Why Realism and Naturalism Aren’t Always Interchangeable
- Naturalism in France
- Realism from Ibsen to Chekhov
- ‘Angry Young Men’ and ‘Kitchen Sink’ Plays
- Assignment 6: A Taste of Honey Analysis
Lesson 7: Beyond Naturalism
- Non-Naturalism
- Heightened Naturalism
- Absurdism
- Playing with Time
- Assignment 7: Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue Analysis
Lesson 8: Musicals and Their Conventions
- Music and Spectacle from the Beginning
- Popular Genres of Musicals
- Archetypal Numbers and Characters
- Musicals That Defy Expectations
- Assignment 8: The Band’s Visit Analysis
Lesson 9: Contemporary Theater Part One: Theater as Protest and Movement
- Twentieth Century Movements for Theater as Change
- Perils and Promises of ‘Message Plays’
- Documentary Theatre
- Case Study: Pipeline
- Assignment 9: Pipeline Analysis
Lesson 10: Contemporary Theater Part Two: Racism and Bias in American Theater
- Language Matters
- Own Voices
- Reenacting Trauma
- Colorblind vs. Conscious Casting
- Intersectionality
- Assignment 10: Racism and Bias in American Theater
Lesson 11: The Lifespan of a Play
- ‘Canon’ and Gatekeepers
- The Influence of Criticism
- Critical Reception, Then and Now
- Context Matters
- Assignment 11: Preparing Central Inquiry, Your Final Project
Lesson 12: Central Inquiry: Making a Case for a Play
- Encapsulating a Play
- What Makes the Work (and Its Author) Unique or Distinct?
- What Makes a Play Last?
- You Take the Stage
- Assignment 12: Final Project (Central Inquiry)
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
- This course does not have any prerequisites.
Required Textbook(s)
Most of this course's required readings are included in the Reading Anthology compiled by course author, David Valdes. You’ll be able to access the Anthology upon registration.
In addition to the Anthology, the following plays are required (purchase links included below).
- Bootycandy by Robert O'Hara (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
- Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, and 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
- The Band's Visit by Itamar Moses (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
- Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau (available on Amazon and the Berklee Bookstore)
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in live chats. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software (available in the course when joining your first chat)
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal Microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author & Instructor
David Valdes is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed across the US and abroad. He has worked with Actor’s Theater of Charlotte, Milagro, Borderline, Mixed Blood, Boulder Ensemble Studio Theater, The Humana Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Portland Stage, Stage Left, Fresh Ink, the Boston Center for the Arts, Company One, and others. His plays have twice been featured in the National Showcase of New Plays, and he has received fellowships from Company One, IATI, and the Boston Foundation. As a columnist, he has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and Medium.
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Script Analysis for Theater can be applied towards these associated programs:
Associated Certificate Programs
Associated Degree Majors
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
We can also answer basic questions in the comments below. Please note that all comments are public.
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