Instructor: Glenda Carpio and Robin Bernstein
Monday, 3:00-5:45pm | Location: Barker 316
Enrollment: limited to 12 students
Course Site
This course investigates the history of African American theatre from the antebellum era through the present. Students will: a) gain knowledge of the general history of Black theatre in the United States; b) develop understanding of what African Americans have done with and through theatre—that is, how theatre has been a vital tool for Black politics, culture, communities, and knowledge; and c) develop hands-on skills in archival research while critically analyzing the functions of archives in a Black context. We will read plays and scholarly analysis, work directly with historical artifacts in the Harvard Theatre Collection, and attend a live performance of James Ijames’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play, Fat Ham, after which we will have a classroom conversation with the playwright. The course culminates with a flexible project in which students will engage deeply with artifacts in a Harvard archive.
This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.