Disrupting the Canon:
Season Proposal Project
At the end of our second unit which focuses on Theatre History, my Intro to Theatre students (generally non-majors from all undergraduate years) must demonstrate mastery of two objectives: 1) analyze historical and cultural influences on theatre and 2) identify key figures, works, and trends in dramatic literature.
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In past years, they have done this by proposing a 'season' for a fictional theatre company that they create. Each of the shows in their season must come from a different era of theatre history, and they must link them thematically. This year, there was an additional criterion: the students' selections had to disrupt the traditional canon in some way.
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In past years, I reviewed season proposals with the usual suspects. The Ancient Play category featured only Greek plays and the Early Modern Play category was mostly Shakespeare. This year, the students stepped up their offerings considerably. The most exciting part was seeing the many different ways these non-majors proposed using theatre, historical theatre at that, to de-stabilize hegemony and challenge how things have "always been done" without being explicitly taught how things "have always been done."
Students absorb bias just by existing in society. Asking them to explicitly identify and challenge their biases as they explore theatre history was an eye-opening exercise. Below are some assignments submitted this semester by students (used here with permission). Click the photos to see their PowerPoint presentations.
01
For the Broken Theater Co.
This student highlighted plays written by playwrights from marginalized communities, but also wrote about how their staging of more traditional productions would challenge the canon - for example, casting a same-sex couple in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.
02
Happiness in Tragedy
This student designed a season that exclusively highlights the work of Chinese playwrights from each era of theatre history. Additionally, the student aimed to challenge patriarchy with their staging of each production.
03
Arabian Theatre
This student focused on works by Middle Eastern playwrights, and additionally stipulated that all roles in their season would be played by Middle Eastern actors.
04
Motherhood
This student focused on highlighting plays by women, but also chose to recontextualize some traditional plays in a way that would challenge the patriarchy.
