calendar

Day-to-Day Calendar

toc Below, I present information about how to access any materials that aren't part of the required texts sold through the bookstore and, in some cases, offer some context for reading or otherwise preparing them. This page supplements the print version of the "Calendar of Assignments" you received as a handout the first day of the semester (available on the course D2L page). For major (i.e. graded) project assignments, see the [|course D2L page].

For the daily discussion questions (and access to the board for responding to them) click here.


 * WEEK 1**
 * M Aug 29**
 * All Play: Acting, Improvising, and Re-enacting**

> [] > []
 * VIEW (in class): **“Dramatic Chipmunk”** (actually titled "Dramatic Look" -- and, technically, it's a prairie dog), at:
 * VIEW (in class): **"Charlie Bit Me**" (actually titled "Charlie Bit My Finger - Again!"), at and can be found on YouTube, at:

Other possible videos as posting by Fall 2010 students:


 * NOTES ON VIDEOS**

KNOW YOUR MEME: For many of the YouTube "memes" that not only get passed around from viewer to viewer, but that actually get re-enacted, re-film, and then posted by other YouTubers, a good place to start is the //Know Your Meme// site maintained by The Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies, at [|http://knowyourmeme.com/]). Here are their pages for > [] > []
 * **“Dramatic Chipmunk”**
 * **“Charlie Bit Me”**

TRANSCRIPT of "Charlie Bit My Finger - Again!", adapted from //Wikitubia//, at [|http://youtube.wikia.com/wiki/Charlie_bit_my_finger_-_again_!]

> **CHARLIE:** Gah! (bites Harry's finger)

> **HARRY:** Ah-haha! Charlie...Charlie bit me.....UAAaahh.....mmm-hm-hm... (tries to put finger in Charlie's mouth)

> **CHARLIE:** (Bites finger)

> **HARRY:** Ah-ha! (hurt expression) Oooh-hoo-hoo...ouch...OUCH! OUCH, CHARLIE!! OOOOOOOOW!!! (looks at Charlie ) Ow Charlie, that really hurt... (wipes his bitten finger on his shirt and his face changes back to normal)

> **CHARLIE:** (Starts to laugh)

> **HARRY:** (Rubs his hand in his hair, mildy laughing) Charlie bit me... and that really hurt Charlie! and it's still hurting...

> **CHARLIE:** (interrupting) Ah! (laughing and rubs face in blanket on chair)


 * W Aug 31**
 * Roles to Play / Roll to Play**


 * DOWNLOAD, PRINT, READ and (as always) BRING: **J. Huizinga,** selections from Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture, pp. iii-iv (foreword, unpaginated in the text) and 1-14. Right-click the PDF file below to download this reading.




 * F Sep 1**
 * The Play Element of Culture**
 * BRING: Huizinga, Homo Ludens


 * WEEK 2**
 * W Sep 7**
 * Writing/Wrighting Play**

> **To read on-screen:**[] > **To print:** [] > **Photo-Essay** of Miyamoto's hometown of Sonobe: []
 * PRINT, READ, and (as always), BRING: Nick Paumgarten, “Master of Play” (profile of Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto), //The New Yorker//, December 20, 2010.


 * F Sep 11**
 * Writing/Wrighting a Play**


 * READ (and BRING): Anna Deavere Smith, //Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992//. This is one of the required course texts from the bookstore.


 * As with all plays this semester,** I'm asking you to read the entire thing BEFORE the first day we are scheduled to discuss it.


 * For this particular play,** I strongly recommend that you start by giving yourself 10 minutes online familiarizing yourself with the basic facts about the 1992 riots in Los Angeles that make up the subject matter of Smith's play: Who was Rodney King? Why did the verdict in his case trigger riots in L.A.? What shape did those riots take? If you know the basic answers to these questions, when the characters talk about the events in the often indirect way that they do will make more sense to you.


 * WEEK 3**


 * M Sep 12**
 * Answering Huizinga**


 * READ and BRING: Roger Caillois, //Man, Play and Games//, pp. ix-36 (including the translator's introduction). This is one of the required course texts from the bookstore, and one of the texts (along with Huizinga) that you'll be using extensively in the first writing assignment.


 * W Sep 14**
 * How to Play: Verbatim Theater**
 * READ and BRING: Smith, //Twilight//, introductory materials, pp. 4-13, 172-174


 * F Sep 16**
 * How to Play: YouTube Re-Enactments**
 * PERFORM: Group YouTube re-enactments

Along with the members of your assigned group, you will choose, rehearse, and perform a re-enactment of a YouTube meme of your choice. You may use one of the examples that have been posted to this site, or you might decide to use something completely different. You may choose to literally act out the scene, or you may also choose some other method of performing (puppets, lip syncing, etc.). Ideally, your choice should take 3 minutes or less to perform, and should have a part for every member of the group.


 * WEEK 4**


 * M Sep 19**


 * READ and BRING: Roger Caillois, //Man, Play and Games//, pp. 38-55. This is one of the required course texts from the bookstore, and one of the texts (along with Huizinga) that you'll be using extensively in the first writing assignment.


 * W Sep 21**


 * WATCH FILM (in-class): Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, et. al., //How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying//

We'll watch the beginning of this film in class on Wednesday, September 21, and I'll screen the remainder in our regular classroom on Friday, September 23, starting at 8:00 a.m. Due to the inaugural ceremonies for Marquette's new president, this Friday screening time is optional: you may, instead, choose to watch the remainder of the film on your own time in the Reserves room in the basement of Raynor Memorial Library. (The film will be available there following the Friday screening.)


 * F Sep 23**
 * NO CLASS: Presidential Inauguration**

However, I will be screening //How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying// in our regular classroom beginning at 8:00 a.m. Due to the inaugural ceremonies for Marquette's new president, this Friday screening time is optional: you may, instead, choose to watch the remainder of the film on your own time in the Reserves room in the basement of Raynor Memorial Library. (The film will be available there following the Friday screening.)


 * WEEK 5**


 * M Sep 26**


 * PEER REVIEW: Analytical Essay: How We Play. Bring two print copies of a full draft of your essay for review by your peers.


 * W Sep 28**


 * DUE:Analytical Essay: How We Play. Please read the assignment sheet carefully for my expectations about the finished version of this essay, and look at the course syllabus for the details of formatting your margins, typeface, etc.


 * F Sep 30**


 * DOWNLOAD, PRINT, READ and (as always) BRING: **Richard Dyer**, "Entertainment and Utopia," from //Only Entertainment//, pp. 19-35. This text is available as a PDF through [|ARES] online library reserve for this class (ENGL 2720; password "drama").


 * WEEK 6**


 * M Oct 3**


 * READ AND BRING: Plautus, //The Haunted House//, in //Four Comedies// (required course text from the bookstore), pp. 131-186


 * W Oct 5**


 * READ AND BRING: //Four Comedies//, introductory material, pp. xi-xxiii, xxx-xxxv


 * F Oct 7**


 * **MIDTERM REVIEW:** Come with your Drama Genre Conventions study guide, and come prepared with any questions you have about verbatim theater, musical comedy, or Plautine comedy


 * WEEK 7**


 * M Oct 10**


 * **MIDTERM**

If you haven't already, be sure to download and consult the "Drama Genre Study Guide" chart and the "Midterm: What to Expect" handouts from the course D2L page.

The exam (worth 20% of your semester grade) is a 50-minute in-class “blue book” exam (bring pens). It will be open-book and open-note (though not open-computer or open-mobile-device).


 * W Oct 12**

> http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_bissell?currentPage=all
 * READ: Tom Bissell, "Voicebox 360," from the //New Yorker//, August 15, 2011 (profile of actor Jennifer Hale), at


 * F Oct 14**


 * DOWNLOAD, PRINT, READ, AND BRING: Erving Goffman, //The Presentation of Self in Everday Life//, selections from Ch. 1, "Performances," pp. 17-30, and 70-76. This is listed on the print version of the schedule as being on library reserve, but instead you can simply right-click on the link to the PDF below to download it.




 * WEEK 8**


 * M Oct 17**


 * BRING Goffman


 * W Oct 19**


 * Library Instruction Session**
 * MEET in Raynor 245
 * READ AND BRING: Research Essay ("Role-Play") assignment sheet. I handed this out in Monday's class; but you can also access it through the "Content" page of the course D2L site.


 * F Oct 21**


 * NO CLASS: Midterm break**

=WEEK 9=

M Oct 24

 * FIND, READ, and BRING: Role-playing scholarly article.

By this I mean, come to class having found a peer-reviewed article from a scholarly journal on the subject of role-playing. It can come from any scholarly discipline; but I encourage you to use this as an opportunity to explore the aspect or type of role-playing that you are considering writing about for the research essay.

It is not necessary for you to print out the article in its entirety if you don't want to. Instead, just print out the first full page of the article in its PDF form (the page that would have the title, author, journal information, and the first paragraph or so of the text //as formatted for publication//).

W Oct 26

 * DOWNLOAD, PRINT, READ and BRING: Mordecai Gorelik, from //New Theatres for Old//, “Pictures andPlatforms,” pp. 46-77. This text is available as a PDF through [|ARES] online library reserve for this class (ENGL 2720; password "drama").

F Oct 28

 * READ and BRING: //Fifteen Strings of Cash//, in //Traditional Chinese Plays//, pp. 39-46 and 61-153. This is one of the required course texts available through the bookstore.

=WEEK 10=

M Oct 31

 * READ AND BRING: //Traditional Chinese Plays//,introductory materials, pp. v-x, 3-11, and 47-60

W Nov 2

 * DOWNLOAD, PRINT, READ, AND BRING: A.C. Scott, “The Music of the Chinese Theater.” NOTE: this is NOT part of the volume of traditional Chinese plays that you have (it's from Scott's previous volume of such plays). You can find this reading through library ARES reserve for this class, using the password "drama".

F Nov 4

 * MEET: for our 2nd Library Instruction session with Susan Hopwood on the 2nd floor of Raynor. This session will be a hands on "lab" for you to work on your research at a computer station in consultation with me and the librarian. You will get the most our of the session if you've done some research already and, thus, will have some good questions about any problems you've encountered and about how to take your research to the next level.

=WEEK 11=

M Nov 7

 * READ Sidney Kingsley, //Dead End//, Act Two (pp. 1-34) of the PDF (pp.449-482 of the published script). This play is only available as a PDF hosted on this wiki (see below)
 * PRINT AND BRING: pp. 5-10 of the PDF (pages 453-458 of the published script)



W Nov 9

 * READ Sidney Kingsley, //Dead End//, Act Two (pp. 35-63) of the PDF (pp.483-511 of the published script). This play is only available as a PDF hosted on this wiki (see the calendar entry above for M Nov 7)
 * PRINT AND BRING: pp. 58-63 of the PDF (pages 506-511 of the published script)

F Nov 11
NOTE: The reading below represents a change from the print version of the original schedule you have (in which today was to have been a Peer Review day -- the Peer Review day has been rescheduled for Monday, November 21)


 * READ Sidney Kingsley, //Dead End//, Act Three (pp. 64-83) of the PDF (pp.512-531 of the published script). This play is only available as a PDF hosted on this wiki (seethe calendar entry above for M Nov 7)
 * BRING: materials you already have printed from //Dead End//

=WEEK 12=

M Nov 14
NOTE: The reading below represents a change from the print version of the original schedule you have (in which today was to have been your essay's due date -- the due date for the essay has been rescheduled for Wednesday, November 30)


 * READ and BRING: Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, //Assassins//. This is a required course text available through the bookstore

W Nov 16

 * BRING: //Assassins//
 * FIND and VIEW: any video clip you can find of any production of //Assassins//.

F Nov 18

 * READ and BRING:Andre Bishop, preface to //Assassins//, pp. vii-xi

=WEEK 13=

M Nov 21

 * **PEER REVIEW:** Research Essay. Bring a copy of a full draft of your essay for review by your peers.

=WEEK 14=

M Nov 28

 * **READ and BRING:** William Shakespeare, //Macbeth//. This is a required course text available from the bookstore. In reading, concentrate on the following scenes: **Act I:** Scene I and III; **Act II:** Scene II; **Act III:** Scene IV; **Act IV:** Scene I; **Act V:** Scenes I, V, and VIII.

NOTE: We will be focusing on //Macbeth// in these last two weeks in terms of theatrical tradition and innovation through examining several distinct and distinctive **productions, performances, and adaptations** of it. Therefore, it is important that you read it this week in the form of the assigned **comic book** adaptation by John McDonald -- Scottish! -- for a company called Classical Comics. Classical comics specializes in such projects; and for each adaptation they do, they offer the same artwork but with three different versions of the dialogue: we are reading it in the **Original Text** (i.e., the words you'll see are Shakespeare's original words), but they also offer it in Plain Text (cleaned up for modern readers) and Quick Text (for lower level readers).

So as you read, think about **how this comic book works as a production / performance** of Shakespeare's play.

W Nov 30

 * DUE: Research Essay ("Role-Play")
 * BRING: Shakespeare & McDonald's //Macbeth//

F Dec 2

 * BRING: Shakespeare & McDonald's //Macbeth//
 * VIEW (in class): Billy Morrissette, dir. //Scotland, PA// (film; 2001). This is a parody/update of //Macbeth//, set in a fast-food restaurant in 1970s Pennsylvania. As you watch, consider how the film depends upon, and then plays with, its audience having a high school English class / Cliffsnotes familiarity with Shakepeare's play.

=WEEK 15=

M Dec 5

 * BRING: Shakespeare & McDonald's Macbeth
 * FIND and BRING: one peer-reviewed scholarly article on the production history of //Macbeth//

W Dec 7

 * BRING: Shakespeare & McDonald's //Macbeth//
 * READ: Wendy Smith, "The Play that Electrified Harlem," in the Federal Theatre Project Collection of the Library of Congress's //American Memory// site. Link to from []. The article is 4 pages long and you will have to click through each page individually.
 * SKIM & BRING ONE PRINTED PAGE FROM: the production notes for Macbeth, as directed by Orson Welles for the Negro Unit of the New York Federal Theatre Project, April 14-June 20, 1936. Link to from []. Look at anything you'd like. But you might especially enjoy browsing the first few pages of the playscript, starting on pg. 17 of the production notebook.

F Dec 9

 * BRING: Shakespeare & McDonald's //Macbeth//
 * VIEW:Republic Pictures film production of //Macbeth// (1948), directed by Kenosha, Wisconsin's own Orson Welles

Intro (Witches) from Republic Pictures production of //Macbeth// (1948), directed by Orson Welles media type="youtube" key="Z1_I36qHDts?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

Assassination scene from Republic Pictures production of //Macbeth// (1948), directed by Orson Welles media type="youtube" key="MF6a9QQWM10?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

=FINAL EXAM= 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., David Straz Hall 450
 * Monday, Dec. 12**