​What is our relationship to theater now? What can we get from reading plays? How can enacting imagined events, stories, and experiences put us in touch with ourselves and the world around us? In this 5-week class, we will explore these questions by reading plays together. 

​Drawing from experimental theater from the past 10 years, and a mix of contemporary ideas and performance artists, this will be a quick and totally incomplete crash course in reading theater and thinking through plays.

​Note that this isn’t an acting class, and although we will be in person with our bodies in the room, it won’t require much body movement. We will sit around, read together, and discuss what we read together. At times, there will be tasks assigned between classes but most of “the work” will be done in real time when we meet. This class is for everybody! No previous experience is required.

​We will explore works by Elionor Fuchs, Annie Baker, Aleshea Harris, Richard Maxwell, and more. All readings will be provided. A visiting playwright will come talk to us about their experience writing and workshopping an in-progress play. By the end of the class we will have a deeper understanding of what theater means to us and what plays we are drawn to and why. 

​Learning Outcomes

• ​Understand our relationship to theater, and gain appreciation for each other’s experiences of play(s)

• ​Become familiar with contemporary experimental works by a variety of playwrights and in different formats

• ​Get comfortable reading in a group and taking risks by being vulnerable, in an environment where everybody is celebrated

​Syllabus

​Note: This syllabus is in progress and not representative of the entire scope of the course. Plans will change as class starts and we find our pace for learning together.

​Week 1 5/6: Introduction

​Introduction, getting to know each other and our relationship to theater, and setting up a class agreement for our work together. Warmup exercises. Reading together: EF’s Visit to a Small Planet: Some Questions to Ask a Play by Elionor Fuchs.

​Week 2 5/13: Circle Mirror Transformation

​Warmup exercises. Reading together: Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker. 

​Week 3 5/20: Playwright Guest Visit

​Conversation and workshop with guest Cassie Sheedy.

​Week 4 5/27: Is God Is

​Warmup exercises. Reading together: Is God Is by Aleshea Harris. 

​Week 5 6/3: Conclusion

​Warmup exercises. Reading together: Theater for Beginners by Richard Maxwell. Wrap-up reflection and class photo. 

​Luiza Dale (b. 1988, Rio de Janeiro) is a graphic designer and teacher based in Richmond, VA. Her work explores (1) visual representation that pushes against norms of clarity and (2) the combination of theater and graphic design. Luiza designs independently and as part of the studio The Aliens in addition to running Quickbooks—a press that publishes fast and for free. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University and graphic designer in residence at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA).