JAN 307-01 - Eco-Drama: Staging Crisis and Transformation

Level:  300-level

Course Times:  2:45pm - 5:25pm

Course Materials Fee:  $30

Instructor(s):  Daniel Larlham   

Email:  dl15@stmarys-ca.edu

Students in this course will examine a diverse set of artistic “eco-dramas”: plays, films, and performances that map humanity’s relationships with vast systemic processes like climate change and mass extinction.  The playwrights, screenwriters, and theatre-makers under discussion find the roots of the planetary ecological emergency in overlapping crises of human imagination, emotion, morality, and action.  They also locate within these human dramas the seeds of positive transformation toward a life-sustaining society, one built upon an ethos of stewardship and care for the earth.

Beyond readings, discussions, and written assignments, the course offers students the opportunity to write, rehearse, and/or devise their own ecologically themed mini-plays and mini-performances.  This dimension of the course will empower students to use their critical intelligence, imagination, and talent to make a creative contribution to societal conversations about climate, ecology, and environmental justice.

Prerequisites & Notes
SEM 250 or SEM 327

Credits: 3