The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are second only to New York City in the number of “live performance” tickets sold annually. This is a creative community with dynamic artistic institutions! In this class, we examine the many histories, forms, signifying systems and strategies of performance-making in these Twin Cities. We will attend theatre and dance performances in urban venues as various as professional theatres, small puppet-show venues, dance concert halls, among others. We will read playscripts, scholarly articles and research documents, as appropriate, in preparation for attending shows, and we will practice the vocabularies of analysis and critique, and the art of reflection and review, after the performances.

The course meets MWF for one hour per class period. We will attend 4-6 off-campus productions during the semester, on Thursday or Friday nights. This will be announced in the syllabus on the first day of class. All transportation and tickets are pre-arranged for students in the class -- the students do not pay for either bus or tickets. We will also prepare to see both Macalester THDA productions in the fall: Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, and the Fall Dance Concert. Inclusion of both off-campus and on-campus productions allows us to identify conventions of performance in any setting, and discuss variations on the spectrum of educational to professional, text-based to experimental and non-speaking performance. In preparing for the interpretative encounters of live performance, we learn and practice vocabularies of re-collection crucial to discussing and analyzing performance. We will consider the histories and innovations in the forms we see, developing a capacity for what Brecht called “complex seeing” as we actively watch, hear and make critical new meanings in the performance event. We will meet with directors, actors and designers in connection with several of the productions; this always enhances spectators' understanding of process and the various specialized labors of performance-making.

Course readings change every year, selected for connections to productions we will see. Beth Cleary will communicate with the class in August about a pre-reading for the first class meeting. Required texts for the course will be available in the college bookstore.

Course Requirements:

Attendance is required at all productions listed on syllabus, with the group. Arrangements should be made early in the semester with coaches, program leaders, etc., if you will need to miss a game or an event. Beth Cleary can send letters prioritizing this coursework to any parties involved.

Students will be taught to engage in critical writing about performance. Mastery in this form will be measured as part of the grade. Critical writing about performance translates readily into all forms of analytic writing in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Students will undertake