THEA 1349 - DISABILITY AND PERFORMANCE

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
This course brings disability studies into conversation with the ways we think about performance. In disability studies, we approach disability not as an individual medical impairment but as a social, cultural, and political phenomenon. While focusing on theatre and performance in the United States in the wake of the disability rights and liberation movements of the 1970s, we will make geographical and historical detours beyond this purview. We will explore commercial, experimental, and community-based theatre alongside dance, film, and multi-disciplinary performance practices by artists with physical, sensory, intellectual, neurological, and mental disabilities. Through reading, screenings, and a combination of critical and creative assignments, we will address questions including: how has theatre participated in constructing contemporary ideas about disability? What aesthetic strategies have disabled artists and activists used to challenge these representations? How have activists mobilized performance in pursuit of disability justice? What is the relationship between accessibility and aesthetics in contemporary performance? How have disabled artists challenged and reshaped the norms of professional theatre training and production? Throughout, we will pay particular attention to intersections between disability and race, gender, sexuality, and class. This course presumes no prior familiarity with disability studies.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Seminar
Grade Component: Letter Grade

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