Topics in Drama: 19th-Century American Drama

Throughout the 19th century, the American theatre was an important site for forging and contesting public consensus on issues such as representative government, linguistic sovereignty, Indian policy, slavery, class mobility, women's rights, and civic responsibility. In this course, we will read plays from the "long" 19th century--from Royall Tyler's_The Contrast_ (1787) to Percy MacKaye's _St. Louis Masque and Pageant_ (1914)--considering them in light of contemporary cultural debates in order to arrive at a sense of how the theatre both reflected and shaped popular attitudes toward such issues, while providing a stage on which to model American identity. Satisfies the Nineteenth Century requirement.
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM; FA HUM

Topics in Drama: 19th-Century American Drama

AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES 4340

Section 01