Queer Theater, Straight Plays

THEATRST 250S

Queer Theater, Straight Plays

Ryan M. Donovan

Assistant Professor of Theater Studies

Theater Studies Major - Area 2 (Dramatic Literature, Theater History, Performance Studies)

If, as scholar D.A. Miller argues, musicals are 'a somehow gay genre, the only one that mass culture ever produced,' where does that leave queer plays? This course surveys US queer theater from the early twentieth century to today. We will study how theater, identity, and LGBTQ+ political movements intersect. We will read plays both well-known and obscure to see how queer writers skirted censors through coding and camp before Stonewall, how Gay Liberation made coming out possible in the 1970s, and how HIV/AIDS impacted theater. Queer theater's expansiveness since the 1990s in the age of equality continues to challenge, subvert, and reinforce norms and push boundaries.

Notes

New Course Spring 2024

Curriculum Codes
  • CCI
  • ALP
Cross-Listed As
  • GSF 250S
Typically Offered
Occasionally