DRAMA 608: Historical Approaches to Dramatic & Theatrical Critical Theories

Instructor: Stefano Muneroni

Schedule: Wednesday | 1-3:50 p.m.

Location: Timms Seminar Room (TC 203)

Description: This seminar will introduce students to some of the major theoretical writings on drama and theatre from classical antiquity to the 1950s, and it will locate these theories in their historical and cultural contexts. Together with seminal texts from the western canon, including Aristotle, Horace, and Castelvetro, among others, students will also investigate Japanese, Chinese, and Indian critical texts. Selected plays will help frame the relevance and applicability of these theories and showcase the interconnection between the theory and practice of theatre. This course is not simply a survey of critical theories of the past; it also draws on these theories to reflect on the crisis of representation that theatre faces today. Students will frame their subjective responses to various historical dramatic genres, theatrical practices, and plays as a way to understand and respond to contemporary postmodern and postdramatic perspectives. Through class discussions, presentations, and short papers, students will develop an overview of dramatic and theatrical theories from the past and rethink the ways in which the representation and reception of theatre have changed from ancient times to today.

DRAMA 686: Devised Theatre and Performance for Directors

Instructor: David Kennedy

Schedule: Tuesday | 1-4:50 p.m.

Location: SAB 158

Description: This practice-based seminar focuses on theories and methods for the creation of devised theatre and performance. Through devising exercises and projects, students will develop advanced tools for generating and shaping material, while exploring how a group of artists goes from an initial idea or inspiration to a finished work. The seminar will cover disparate approaches to collective creation, with an emphasis on helping directors successfully engage with an ensemble throughout the process. Please note that this seminar is open to all graduate students in Drama, is FOUR hours per week, and involves practical work, readings, presentations, and discussions.

TDES 275/575: History of Dress and Decor

Instructor: Robert Shannon

Schedule: Monday and Friday | 10-11:20 p.m.

Location: ED 262

Description: Given the interdisciplinary scope of this course, graduate students from other departments are strongly encouraged to register. This intensive course is a survey of style as displayed in dress, architecture, and decorative art from the Northern Renaissance to the present day. The course provides an overview of the historic cultures which have exerted prominent and sustained influence over the styles of design in the West. Using extensive primary source documentation, the course will examine the progression and elaboration of major styles, within the framework of the social and political forces which shaped them. The course is highly visual and infuses visual literacy as a core instrument that will deepen the understanding of the pervasive power of style and image, while also equipping students with the appropriate terminology to critically discuss and analyze dress, architecture and interior design.

TDES 475/775: Topics in History of Scenography

Instructor: Guido Tondino

Schedule: Wednesday | 9 -11:50 p.m.

Location: FAB 3-092

Description: This is a course about some of the central ideas that came to shape the theories of design for the stage in the twentieth century. It is partly a course in Intellectual History and partly a course in Art History from a practitioner’s point of view. It also reflects my own journey in my career. Students will be asked to read contextual material as well as primary sources in preparation for class discussions. In addition, each student will be required to give one or two oral presentations based on the weekly readings and to submit a final paper analysing the ideas, social context, and theories of one specific designer in relation to one specific production and its design.

DRAMA 505:  Berlin’s Theatre Scene: In Front, Behind, and Around the Stage 

Spring 2026 in Berlin (Germany) - part of the E3 program.

Co-taught by Piet Defraeye and Melanie Dreyer-Lude. 

This regular 3-credit  course combines live performance visits, short lectures, seminars, field trips, and research and is condensed over the period  May 4-29, 2026.  The focus will be on live  theatre, dance, opera, and performance arts events; we will study their cultural and historical context, the artists that created them, and the architecture in which they are presented – all to better understand how performance responds to contemporary concerns. (Most productions will have English surtitling).

In addition to attending events and studying context through conversations and short lectures, we hope to take numerous field trips to theatres and also to traditional sites (the Reichstag, the Berlin wall memorial, the Jewish Museum, Sachsenhausen Memorial, Potsdam, etc.) and less conventional sites (the supermarket, the post office, the pharmacy). This will allow us to interrogate the meaning of culture from within curated spaces and those that are part of everyday living.

Students can register for the course and  claim the credit as part of their required course load for Winter, Spring, or Fall 2026. You must apply through the E3 Study Abroad program (Application deadline is Feb. 10.)  (https://www.ualberta.ca/en/international/global-learning/go-abroad/programs/e3-in-berlin.html) You can also apply for extra funding to help with travel expenses. 

DRAMA 624 B01: Contemporary Performance and the Body on Stage

Instructor: Dr. Piet Defraeye, Prof. Lin Snelling

Schedule: Monday 1:00-4:50 PM

Location: FAB 2-43

This graduate seminar course, developed by Dr. Piet Defraeye and Prof. Lin Snelling, looks at the various layers of meaning experienced through moving and dialogue; and how this allows experiential knowledge into performance and production dramaturgy. While the course  surveys some contemporary practices of select artists in Theatre and Dance Creation, it squarely focuses on the body in all its complexity and possibilities.  The starting point is the realization that the body offers an intuitive/intelligent framework which invites a physical perspective into the embodiment of thought processes and artistic expression. How does the intelligence of the body integrate with the architectures of theatrical space and create collisions and confluence points?

We work with critical theory and contemporary dramaturgy and a physical application of these principals. In the spirit of communal exploration, and the interweaving of the physical and cognitive we hope to benefit and stimulate creative thinking and moving; the final goal of the seminar is to gain a different, renewed perspective of one's own creative process and methodologies. We combine studio work with intense reading and discussion. Please note it is FOUR-hour seminar.

DRAMA 624 B02: Models of Dramatic Structure 

Instructor: Prof. David Kennedy 

Schedule: Wednesday 10:00-12:50 PM 

Location: Timms Seminar Room (TCA 203) 

Every play has a structure, the specific arrangement of the constituent parts into a unified whole, and learning to view play texts through a structural lens remains one of the essential techniques  for grasping their meanings and understanding how they work in performance. Through the  study of significant plays and important critical and theoretical documents, this seminar covers  various Western models of dramatic structure and the ways in which dramatic works can be  analyzed structurally. It will include close examination of a number of prevalent dramatic  structures in Western theatre from classical Greece to the modern era, and the historical,  political, and cultural conditions in which they evolved. Students will contend with  these structural models and representative plays not only in their original contexts, but also as a  means of discovering how to make the work come alive in contemporary production.

DRAMA 505: Contemporary Mise en Scène

Instructor: Dr. Piet Defraeye

Schedule: Tuesday 1:00-3:50 PM

Location: Timms Seminar Room (TCA 203) 

We will be looking at a selection of contemporary approaches to mise en scene in opera, theatre, and dance with an in-depth focus on a number of directors / designers/ dramaturgs/ theatre groups. Of particular interest will be the status of the playwright, as many theatre makers either profoundly intervene in the playscript they are working on or a playscript is no longer the blue-print for the production.  Names of theatre makers that  may come into the discussion include playwrights Aimé Césaire, Peter Handke, Elfriede Jelinek, Jos Fosse, Nelson Rodrigues, Mandla Mbothwe. Companies or theatre groups include Needcompany, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Rimini Protokol, Reckless Sleepers, Forced Entertainment, Wunderbaum.... Directors Johan Simons, Luk Perceval, Ivo Van Hove, Guy Cassiers, Robert Lepage, Luc Bondy, Romeo Castellucci, Jan Fabre,  Milo Rau, Christoph Marthaler, Nicolas Stemann, Christoph Schlingensief, Thomas Ostermeier. Yael Ronen, Tadashi Suzuki, ... . Choreographers Pina Bausch, Anne Thérèse De Keersmaeker, Alain Platel, Wim Vandekeybus, Marie Chouinard, Jerome Bell, Crystal Pite, etc.  While Canadian production is certainly part of the curriculum, the main focus will be outside of Canada.

Selections will be based on available video material (and possible live production opportunities).

T DES 675 B1: The History of Dress and Decor II

Instructor: Prof. Robert Shannon

Schedule: Monday and Friday 10:00-11:50 AM

Location: Room TBA

Given the interdisciplinary scope of this course, graduate students from other departments are strongly encouraged to register.

This intensive course is a survey of style as displayed in dress, architecture, and decorative art from the Northern Renaissance to the present day. The course provides an overview of the historic cultures which have exerted prominent and sustained influence over the styles of design in the West. Using extensive primary source documentation, the course will examine the progression and elaboration of major styles, within the framework of the social and political forces which shaped them. The course is highly visual and infuses visual literacy as a core instrument that will deepen the understanding of the pervasive power of style and image, while also equipping students with the appropriate terminology to critically discuss and analyze dress, architecture and interior design.

DRAMA 601: Methods and Tools of Research 

Instructor: Dr. Piet Defraeye 

Schedule: Friday 1:00-3:50 PM 

Location: Timms Seminar Room (TCA 203) 

Over the term, students will be introduced to various methods of research that serve critical writing and research creation. Research will comprise library-based research, archival as well as web-based research using databases. Students will be expected to develop a reasonable acquaintance with various bibliographic search instruments and have a discerning knowledge of databanks that are particularly useful for performance (theatre/dance). In order to develop critical writing skills, we will reflect on the function of theory in the critical approach of theatre, and how to use and apply theory in critical writing. Finally, students will be expected to develop their critical writing skills and be able to reference sources. They will be introduced to Zotero. They will be expected to put these skills into practice in a series of writing assignments. Drama 601 prepares students for the writing of their Thesis Proposal. (The course is taught in conjunction with DRAMA 401 – Honors.) 

DRAMA 621: Studies in Indigenous Theatre, Performance and Politics

Instructor: Dr. Selena Couture

Schedule: Wednesday 14:30 to 17:20

Location: Timms Seminar Room

This course engages with Indigenous theatre, performance and politics in the context of Indigenous resurgence exemplified by the 2019 inaugural season of Indigenous Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre, the ongoing Idle No More movement, responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and Canada’s June 2021 “Royal Assent” which began the process to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We will endeavour to acquire a working knowledge of the practices and perspectives of Indigenous theatre, performance, dramaturgy, and criticism written by Indigenous practitioners within a historical materialist framework. Beginning from the lands on which we live, work, practice, and study, we will aim to understand the significance of performance in Indigenous cultures and politics as well as how this is connected to the development of professional Indigenous theatre in Canada. We will also explore our own positionalities in order to build respectful relationships based in temporal and spatial solidarities which centre and support Indigenous resurgence expressed through theatre and performance. Course materials are a combination of critical theory, play texts, performance, attendance, recorded media as well as historical and political policy sources.

DR 608: Historical Approaches to Dramatic and Theatrical Critical Theory: Representation and Reception in the Classical Genres from Aristotle to Modernism

Instructor: Dr. Piet Defraeye

Schedule: Thursday. 14:00-16:50 pm

Location: Timms Seminar Room

This graduate course is designed to introduce students to some of the major theoretical writings on drama, theatre, and aesthetics in the West. We will read selections from some of the principal authors and read a running commentary on the historical development of these theories and the impact they have had and are still having on the practice of theatre (and vice versa).

Students in this course will be expected to be able to understand the major developments in the field of theory of drama, and make links with the more general discipline of theory of literature and philosophy of art. An important tool in this understanding is to lay the foundation for a vocabulary that will allow the students to do more in-depth studies of individual authors. Some of the questions and problems that will arise during the term: the question of mimesis, the nature of dramatic representation, the emergence of different genres, the nature of acting, the place of the audience, the emergence of the mechanized stage, and the emergence of modernism(s).

T DES 775 – History of Scenography

Instructor: Guido Tondino

Schedule: Mondays 12:00 – 14:50

Location: FAB 3-92 (aka the Chip room)

The course will focus on primary sources, drawings, sketches, maquettes as well as
photographs and video from actual productions.  Main themes and trends will be examined, with the purpose of identifying the most current developments and their roots in the History of Art and Political Ideology and their impact on the development of Scenography.  The course is intended to provide both theoreticians and practitioners with insights into the major developments in theatre design in the twentieth century. The course structure will include 4 lectures, 2 Roundtable discussions as well as seminar presentations. This course is open to upper-level students in Art History and History.

DRAMA 622 - Intermediality and Digital Theatre & Performance

Instructor: Dr. Donia Mounsef

Schedule: Tuesday 13:00 to 15:50 pm

Location: Timms Seminar Room

This course provides an overview of the ever-increasing integration of digital technology and media across a variety of performance genres and platforms. We will examine the theatre’s implicit and explicit relationship to media from aesthetic, structural, socio-cultural, and ideological perspectives. Relying on both media theory and performance theory, we will investigate the difference between “synthetic, transformational & ontological intermediality” (Schöter) by creating and challenging taxonomies of multimedia performance. Students will develop the necessary critical and research tools to understand media in performance, immersive theatre, site-specific and locative performance. You will be able to re-imagine artistic practice in light of mediation and mediatisation and reflect on your own work and the work of key practitioners.

DRAMA 686 – Devised Theatre and Performance for Directors

Instructor: David Kennedy

Schedule: Wednesday, 10 am - 1:50 pm

Location:  SAB 1-58 

This practice-based seminar focuses on theories and methods for the creation of devised theatre and performance. Through devising exercises and projects, students will develop advanced tools for generating and shaping material, while exploring how a group of artists goes from an initial idea or inspiration to a finished work. The seminar will cover various, disparate approaches to collective creation, with an emphasis on helping directors successfully engage with an ensemble throughout the process. Please note that this seminar is open to all graduate students in Drama, is FOUR hours per week, and involves practical work, readings, presentations, and discussions.  

T DES 575 – History of Dress and Décor I – Sumer to the Italian Renaissance 

Instructor: Robert Shannon

Schedule: Mondays and Fridays 10:00 – 11:50

Location:

Given the interdisciplinary scope of this course, graduate students from other departments are strongly encouraged to register.

This intensive course is a survey of style as displayed in dress, architecture, and decorative art from the Ancients to the Italian Renaissance. The course provides an overview of the historic cultures which have exerted prominent and sustained influence over the styles of design in the West. Using extensive primary source documentation, the course will examine the progression and elaboration of major styles, within the framework of the social and political forces which shaped them. The course is highly visual and will deepen the understanding of the pervasive power of style and image, while also equipping students with the appropriate terminology to critically discuss and analyze dress, architecture, and interior design.

Students will curate a Style Archive which will illustrate their visual literacy and comprehension of terminology. 

DRAMA 505 – Advanced Topics in Theatre Studies

Gender, Sex, and Desire in Performance

Instructor: Donia Mounsef

Schedule: Monday 12-3 pm, Fall 2023

Location: FAB 2-30 

This course examines the provocative relationship between gender, sexuality, desire, and the modern and contemporary stage. It looks at the way desire is produced and consumed from the early 20^th century to the way it is instituted, circulated, and promoted as infinite accumulation in late capitalism. We will examine how performative practices resist and trouble dominant social norms of gender and sexuality. The course examines how femininity, masculinity, femaleness, maleness, queer and trans identities, identification, and expression are constructed and how they are unsettled in performance. The following questions will be addressed: what makes desire performative from a feminist, queer, and transgender perspective? What are the forces that script the sexualized body as an emblem of desire in performance? Is gender a performance practice? What effects do censorship and obscenity laws have on writing and performing sexuality?