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Event—Adult Education

Realism and Non-Realism on Stage

Feb 13, 2020

In this seminar, we explore how theater works by focusing on the opposition between and interplay of realism and non-realism. We will examine plays by modern and contemporary naturalistic writers like Ibsen and Tracy Letts, as well as others by playwrights who rejected realism in part or whole, including Brecht, and Beckett.

Seminar Description

In this seminar, we explore how theater works by focusing on the opposition between and interplay of realism and non-realism. We will examine plays by modern and contemporary naturalistic writers like Ibsen and Tracy Letts, as well as others by playwrights who rejected realism in part or whole, including Brecht, and Beckett. Participants will be encouraged to attend Chicago productions of two representative plays: Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and James Ijames’s Kill Move Paradise.

Four sessions. E – $195, R – $214.50

Neil Blackadder recently retired from a 25-year career teaching theater at Knox College and Duke University. He is a theater historian, director, and translator of contemporary drama from German and French.

Materials List

Required:

  • A Doll's House. Henrik Ibsen. Dover, 1992. ISBN: 9780486270623
  • Machinal. Sophie Treadwell. Nick Hern, 1993. ISBN: 9781854592118
  • August: Osage County. Tracy Letts. Dramatists Play Service, 2009. ISBN: 978-0822223009
  • Kill Move Paradise. James Ijames. Dramatists Play Service, 2019. ISBN: 978-0-8222-4002-0

First Reading:

  • For the first class, please read A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (available widely in translation) and Come and Go by Samuel Beckett (a digital file of this reading will be sent with the email confirming your registration).

  • Additionally, please consider attending the Raven Theatre's production of A Doll's House in a new adaptation by Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey and Kirsten Brant and directed by Lauren Shouse.

Registration Information

  • Online registration opens at 9 am (CST) on Tuesday, January 7.
  • Phone registration opens at 12 pm (CST) on Wednesday, January 8.

Early registration (E) prices are in effect from January 7 at 9 am through January 24 at 4 pm. Regular registration (R) prices are in effect January 24 at 4 pm through the end of the term.

We offer a 10% discount to members, seniors, and students.

Need Help? Please email seminars@newberry.org.

This seminar is part of the Newberry’s Seminars Program. Learn more about registering for a seminar, program policies and procedures, or teaching a seminar.