PRINCETON COURSE CATALOG LISTING

"American Stages" investigates the history of theatre and performance in the United States during the past two centuries. Through archival excavations, bibliographic exercises, and close examinations of theatre history methodologies, and through a deep engagement with human and archival resources local to Princeton, this course undertakes an intensive introduction to the use of primary documents within both performance scholarship and performance practice (playwriting, directing, design, devised performance, etcetera). In a series of structured assignments, through a mix of short essays and in-class presentations, students will report on their independent work in the archive as they develop an archive-based final project that elaborates on core methods of the course through independent research, critical analysis and creative investigation.