The textbook chosen for this class consists of three parts: Part One,
Foundations, which deals with the basic nature of theatre, performance, and
play script; Part Two, Varieties of Theatrical Experience in the
West; and Part Three, Theatrical Production, which deals with various aspects
of the production of plays. In this one－semester class, we shall concentrate
on Part Two, which is essentially a series of well-organized highlights in the
development of Western theatre in the past twenty-five centuries.
The textbook has also incorporated discussions of representative and famous
plays of each of the important epochs from ancient Greece to the present. We
shall go a step further by studying three of them in their entirety, namely,
Oedipus the King, Hamlet, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Considering the heavy load of required reading and the shortage of class
meetings, coverage of Chapter Nine: Contemporary Diversity will be limited to
points of great interest and relevancy to us.