FREN 345F - Staging French Plays from 17th to 20th Centuries

CR: 3
Prerequisites: One French course above FREN 202, junior standing, and approval of the Resident Director. A theatrical text is not written to be read, but to be performed. This course aims to reflect both on the writing of a play and on its performance on stage. How does a director and his team understand a work? How do they bring into play the different elements of the stage (stage design, set, costumes, lighting, music) so that the spectator understands and accepts their conception of this work? The class sessions devoted to theoretical analysis of the text will be enriched by class attendance at performances at plays in some of the most famous theaters in Paris (the Comedie Francaise, the Odeon, the TNP, etc.) Offered in Paris in the Junior Year in France program.