DRAM 340 - Seminar in Performance Studies: Artaud and His Legacy

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

This course explores the work and legacy of Antonin Artaud, one of the most influential thinkers about theater and its role in society to emerge from early 20th century Europe. Through the lens of Performance Studies, we spend the first half of the semester surveying Artaud’s essays, poems, plays, films, radio texts, magic spells, drawings, and letters, tracing the evolution of his thought processes on the radical, and perhaps revolutionary, potential of theater. During the second half of the semester, we turn to the myriad ways in which his proposals have helped to form the great performance traditions of the late Twentieth and early Twenty-First Centuries, and the profound legacy of his life and work. Some of the artists examined as part of Artaud’s legacy are: Peter Brook, Jerry Grotowski, The Living Theater, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Coco Fusco, Saint Orlan, Ron Athey, Sins Invalid, and Sasha Velour. Amanda Culp.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS