Since 2010 I have taught this course annually for a local community cooperative of retirees who wish to keep learning in their senior years. Each year I choose 3-4 regional theater productions in the metro DC area. For each play, the students and I read the play and then discuss it as literature; then we see the production and discuss it as theatre. Although the selection of productions is constrained by the dates of the class, I try to arrange plays that have a similar theme or style, or that we can discuss in chronological order.
Do you enjoy “an evening at the theatre” but want to know more about what you’re seeing? Have you ever wondered if knowing about historical context of a play, a theatre company, or a style would help you better enjoy a production you see? If so, this is the class for you! Through a timed series of readings and guided discussions, we’ll educate ourselves as audience members for four local theatre productions put on by four different companies.
The first session of the course will be a general introduction. Then one week we’ll read a play or the source material and explore it from a literary, dramatic, and historical point of view. You’ll see the production, and the following week we’ll come back together to explore what we saw, considering performance style, technique, and production values.
D. Ohlandt, Ph.D. 