What Is Essential in Teaching Theatre History? A Revised Theatre Studies Curriculum

Abstract

What Is Essential in Teaching Theatre History? A Revised Theatre Studies Curriculum Daniel Smith (bio) and Ann Folino White (bio) In 2014, we implemented a new theatre history curriculum at Michigan State University by replacing the two-course survey sequence with two topics-based, non-sequential courses: Studies in Contemporary Theatre and Studies in Theatre History. Initially, this decision proved controversial with some of our colleagues; a number of faculty (mainly though not exclusively from acting) expressed discontent with a perceived diminishment of students’ familiarity with historical knowledge and vocabulary vital to students’ “pre-professional” training. Meanwhile, one of us was scolded by a senior scholar at another university for creating “functional illiterates.” The resistance we encountered appears to be based in the notion that essential material was not being taught. In these instances and others, we were made to respond to two questions: How did we determine what is essential? and What was our criteria? We have answered these questions largely by committing to teaching historiography, and reiterating to students that nothing is vital so much as one (or two) courses can only offer a partial view and as such it is only one of multiple histories. Displacing the survey model was our attempt to respond to student-centered concerns, administrative agendas, our shared pedagogical dissatisfaction, and changes in the field of theatre history. Five years on in this experiment, we wish to share our experience implementing alternative curriculum, because developing, teaching, and revising these courses has helped us to home in on the essentials of theatre history pedagogy. The goals to develop students’ information literacy and understanding of historiographic principles and practices have provided us both the flexibility and mooring to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and social upheaval. Like so many of our colleagues across the nation, we were asked by administrators to find nimble and agile solutions in order to pivot to online learning. This transition went somewhat more smoothly than it might have, because we were already emphasizing “concepts over coverage” (Ahlgren 39). Overview and Genealogy In fall 2013, following the retirements of two theatre studies faculty, the then-chair appointed Ann as Head of Theatre Studies. The chair encouraged a revitalization of the area and gave Ann a lot of latitude to overhaul the curriculum, which she and Dan did together. Prior to this, students were required to take a pair of courses: History of Western Theatre to 1850 and History of Western Theatre since 1850. Catalog descriptions suggest that this sequence was intended to be a study of theatre styles, with a survey of everything before realism in the fall, and then realism and responses to realism in the spring. As instructors, we were dissatisfied with the compacted, compressed, canonical, and Eurocentric model we had inherited. The Registrar’s Office provides digital access to course catalogs since 1970, allowing us to trace some genealogy (“Archived Course Descriptions”). In 1974, there were six upper-level theatre studies courses. The Western Theatre History Survey was a three-course sequence: 500 BC–1550; 1550–1770; and 1770–1905. Two courses were devoted to modern and contemporary theatre: Ibsen to 1945, and 1945 to the present. A course in Asian theatre disappears from the catalog in [End Page 113] 1974. In 1978, the Western Theatre History Survey sequence was reduced to two courses and the title changed to Developments in Theatre I and II. This change effectively combined the first two sections into one course, as it broke the two-course sequence at 1770. In 1985, this end date was changed to 1850. The modern and contemporary sequence had also been cut in 1978; perhaps the move to 1850 was intended to reflect increased coverage of twentieth-century topics in the survey. Part of our impetus for reviewing the survey, then, was that it had been running without significant changes since 1985. Our changes to the curriculum were approved in 2013 by both Department of Theatre faculty and the College Curriculum Committee (as required in bylaws) and implemented in 2014. The approved course descriptions are: • Studies in Contemporary Theatre: Interdisciplinary methods for analysis of contemporary drama, theatre, and performance. Emphasis on the relationship of artistic forms...