English 217WP - Topics in English: 'Contemporary Women Playwrights'

While women have written plays since the seventeenth century, the twentieth and twenty-first century has witnessed a boom in women playwrights. This course will familiarize students with some of the major female playwrights of our era, such as Wendy Wasserstein, Caryl Churchill, Suzan Lori-Parks, and Nzotke Shange, as well as newer playwrights (Amy Hertzog, Katori Hall, and Young Jean-Lee). Assignments include both practice-oriented (such as developing a screen treatment or production proposal for one of the plays) and research-oriented (such as conducting in-depth research for a grant proposal), three short analytical papers, a script analysis, and in-class presentations.

Prereq: One of the following: FMT-102, FMT-104, FMT-106, or ENGL-199.