The Architecture of a Play

Course Description

Summary

This is a course for playwrights (and others) who are interested in thinking about the relationship between architecture, character, and plot. We will read plays in which unusual buildings, specific rooms, and distinctive built environments of all kinds play a crucial role in the dramatic action.

Readings will likely include Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, Alan Ayckbourn’s House & Garden, Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj, Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja's African Hair Braiding, as well as works from other genres: Ted Chiang’s novelette Tower of Babylon, Kay Thompson’s Eloise picture books, Wong Kar-wai’s film Chungking Express, and selections of architectural theory. We will build our visual imagination by imagining new physical environments for our plays. We will think about the power dynamics, emotional resonances, and character relationships that arise within different buildings: hotels, luxury high-rises, underground labyrinths, government buildings, ancient temples, crowded apartment buildings, etc. As a secondary concern, we will investigate whether the structure of buildings can teach us anything about the structure of our plays.

While this is primarily a playwriting class, it will also be of use to designers as well as writers from other genres who are interested in creating work informed by distinctive architectures. Assignments will include short creative and analytical assignments, an in-class report on an unusual building, and a final play or other creative project.