University of Houston Downtown 
Dr. Merrilee Cunningham, PhD. 
cunninghamm@uhd.edu. 

Summer II 2003

Credit hours: 3 (without capstone option)
University of Houston Downtown
E-mail: cunningham@uhd.edu
Home page: http://www.uhd.edu/~cunningm

Office: S-1039
Office Phone: 713-221-8107 
Office Fax: 713-226-5205
Office Hours: Before and after class and by appointment anytime

1. Develop critical reading and analytic skills by reading a series of assigned works (canonical and non-canonical) which survey drama as a genre from classical Greece to the end of the 20th. Century.
   
   
2. Trace the development of theatrical modes, styles, staging traditions and innovations, editing and acting discoveries of history and record.
   
   
3. Increase our understanding and familiarity with some of the greatest dramatic poetry written.
   
   
4. Comprehend the complexities of stagecraft, historical and social circumstances, political, psychology, court and town traditions, reformations and counter-reformations.
   
   
5. Learn to read and analyze individual literary texts within a cultural and historical context.
   
   
6. Recognize major trends in literature and understand the ways these trends manifest the cultural and historical milieu.
   
   
7. Improve writing and analytical skills, particularly the skill of writing literary analyses in essay form, using the conventions of the university academic community.
   
   
8. Learn how to write a cogent, extended literary interpretation incorporating critical sources acquired through library research and documented correctly and adequately using the MLA style of documentation.

Textbooks:

Klaus, Carl H.; Gilbert, Miriam and Field, Bradford S, Stages of Drama: Classical to Contemporary Theater, fifth edition, Boston: Bedford, St. Martin's. 2003

Dover Thrift Editions, The Winter's Tale and The Merry Wives of Windsor

Reasonable Accommodation:

UH-Downtown adheres to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities should register with Disabled Student Services and contract their instructor(s) in a timely manner to arrange for appropriate accommodations.

Attendance and Participation:

Theater is a social, collaborative effort. Your absence and tardiness will adversely effect the people with whom you are working (and your own grade). Group activity will be a regular part of your class work. I take a very dim view of students who do not participate to their best ability in this class and absent or silent people are not fully participating. If you must choose between being late and not coming at all, of course, come to my class late.

Grading Criteria

1. Appropriateness of response to the topic. (If the essay does not address the topic, the grade is 0).
   
2. Appropriateness and strength of proofs.
   
3. Originality of essay.
   
4. Grammatical Correctness
   
5. Clarity and rhetorical level of writing style
   
6. Detailed textual evidence used in essay.
   
7. Conceptual sophistication of essay.
   
8. Adherence to the conventions of academic writing, including thesis, organization, proofs, structure.
9. Use of correct documentation for secondary sources.

Grades:

900 -1000 - A = Excellent college-level work
800 - 899 - B = Good college-level work
700 - 799 - C = Adequate college level work
650 - 699 - D = Poor college-level work
0 - 649 - F = Failing college-level work
No work submitted = 0

Participation, including any quizzes 200 points
During several classes, I will give a quiz over the day's reading assignment. To be eligible to take a quiz, you must be present at the time of the quiz, which is usually, but not always, the beginning of class. Students who arrive after or leave before I administer a quiz will not be allowed to take the quiz. There will be no opportunities to make up missed quizzes. Quizzes are the instructor's deliberate attempt to reward those who read the assignment before class and then attend the entire class. They are a wonderful way for a struggling drama student to help his or her cause.

Midterm - 200 points
The midterm examination will consist of short answer and short essay questions. Before the exam I will hand you a review sheet and study questions. Essay responses should be organized clearly with a thesis, support the answer with a variety of relevant specific references to the readings, and demonstrate your skills in critical reading and thinking.

Final 200 points
The final will be in the same format as the midterm examination, but will include the material since the midterm in the identification section and refer to all material covered in the essays. A study guide will be provided.

Annotated Bibliography for paper 100 points
This is due one week before the research paper and will illustrate an understanding of the state of research on your subject.

Long Paper 200 points
An extended study, due at the end of summer school, the ticket to entrance into the final examination, but due the week before the final exam, this is a serious piece of scholarship for the course.

Review of The Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing or The Merry Wives of Windsor

Due actually the day of the final exam, this is a review of the productions we see at the theater. . It will consider some of the following: acting, setting, interpretation, wardrobe, directing. I will bring your tickets to you. You are welcome to bring significant others with you to the performance.

Plagiarism:

"Mine honor is my life; both grow in one;
Take honor from me, and my life is done."

King Richard II, William Shakespeare

You will fail the course if you plagiarize. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of ideas (Whether paraphrased, summarized or quoted) by a writer who seeks to pass off those ideas as his or her original thought. If you fail to document or attribute a source of the idea, even if you restate another writer's ideas, you have plagiarized. A serious university offense, plagiarism may be punished by failure or expulsion. Students who plagiarize on the research paper will receive an F on the paper.

To avoid plagiarism, you must document your papers using the MLA citation format. We will not cover this format in class, since this format is covered in English 1302, a prerequisite for taking this class, but if you do not know how to document your paper, I would be happy to teach you by taking you personally through the system. The same is true of CD-ROM databases in the library or in the computer center.

Late Assignments:

All assignments in this class must be submitted on time, even if you are absent. Late assignments are taken at the discretion of the instructor and carry a minimum penalty of 10% of the grade to be deducted for each and every late assignment.

Individual Needs:

I will make every attempt to maximize accessibility. I will be available before and after class and during office hours, which will be posted on my office door. If you have problems understanding the assignments please seek to talk to me about those assignments. Talk to me often. Get involved in the course and the course material.

Week 2 - The Medieval World to the English Renaissance

Shakespearean Celtic Comedy: The Merry Wives of Windsor

Week 3 - From Renaissance to Neo-Classical

Week 4 - Realism and Expressionism: Issues of Race, Class and Politics

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House

Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Week 5 From Renaissance to Neo-Classical

Shakespearean Comedy , The Pastoral and Romance:
Much Ado About Nothing (In your Anthology)

Aphra Behn, The Rover

Week 6 Realism and Expressionism: Issues of Race, Class and Politics

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House

Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Week 7 Issues of Race and Class Struggle

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Final Examination