Introduction to Performance Studies

THEATRST 202

Spring 2025

Wednesdays, Fridays 10:05 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.

Dr. Jules Odendahl-James

This course introduces students to key concepts and theories in the field of performance studies, a discipline which expands the notion of performance from an object or event created by an artist for an audience to performance as a set of cultural practices that emerge through embodied, often ritualized behaviors that can be analyzed dramaturgically, paying attention to context, convention, and change across time. Students will engage with key texts from scholars (such as Erving Goffman, Richard Schechner, Diana Taylor, Dwight Conquergood, Carrie Sandahl, Rebecca Schneider) and artists (such as Taylor Mac, Suzan-Lori Parks, Marina Tsaplina, Liz Lerman, Mike Lew) and will explore different forms of experimental and critical writing in response.  

Introduction to field of performance studies, with examples drawn from music, dance, theatre, performance art, protests, rituals, and everyday life. Through comparative study of global performance, we explore the usefulness of concepts of ritual, play, and performativity as they relate to performance and technology; intercultural performance and implications and ethics of appropriation and borrowing; originality and imitation; archive and repertoire; performative writing; and the performative dimensions of gender, race, and sexuality.
Curriculum Codes
  • CCI
  • W
  • ALP
Cross-Listed As
  • CULANTH 219
  • ENGLISH 202
  • LIT 202
  • VMS 205
Typically Offered
Occasionally