Teacher: David Sloan (Read more about his biography here)
Dates for 4-week course:
Feb 24 – Mar 21, 2025
Times for Live Sessions: Monday through Thursday, Starting at 9:30am MT (which is 11:30am ET and 8:30am PT). Each live session lasts between 50 and 80 minutes.
Course Description
Plays can act as “windows” into historical eras and their cultural values. In this
course we will explore the polarities of comedy and tragedy while spanning
the evolution of Western drama from its birth in Greece to its many modern
variations. We will read three classic plays—Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex,
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Lorraine Hansberry’s
twentieth century classic, A Raisin in the Sun. Students will have an
opportunity to “act” in our daily dramatic readings. In class discussions, we
will delve into questions of character, relationships, and staging. Participants
will also write regularly about the readings, culminating their work with an
artistic project connected to one of the plays.
Course Materials:
The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles—translation by Paul Roche. ISBN-13: 978-0452011670
Folger edition of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. ISBN-13: 978-1501146213
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. ISBN-13: 978-0679755333
