Ethnographic Playwriting

Course Description

Summary

This course takes an ethnographic approach to making new theater works within community collaborations. This course is about engaging your most adventurous artist self in the context of delicate, politically loaded, dialogic processes. We will read, watch and discuss the work of subculture theorists, architects, theater-makers and other artists, all of whom use staged conversations as an element of their work, either in finished form or in process. We will talk about step-by- step processes for building trust among colleagues and community members, balancing an artistically unified voice with real co-authorship, and leading a process through partnership. Another focus of the course will be on how to successfully reach desired publics with works. Ultimately, students will take what we do in class and create original in-progress works of live performance using ethnographic methods, and socially-engaged aesthetic and ethical considerations. **For registration please fill out this form