Theater 397L - ST- Theaters of Dissent

Artists across human history have addressed social injustice and played a dissenting role in society. In our current political climate, the role of the artist is charged with an urgency and relevance. Performing artists use lives bodies (their own and those of others) to take up space, disrupt the status quo, comment on contemporary states of/and affairs, and to (re)imagine human possibilities and connections. This course will explore contemporary and historic forms of performed dissent and resistance including The Black Arts Movement, protest theatre in apartheid South Africa, feminist body art, Act Up! Latinx agit-prop and guerilla theatre, street art, graffiti and hip hop artistic practices, culture jamming, and political protests from Black Lives Matter to the 2017 Women's March. Students will learn about, and then make, pieces of dissenting performance art.

Pre Req: THEATER 120