Theatricality and Reality in Modern French Drama

FAIN: FV-50172-08

North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC 27695-0001)
Mary Ann F. Witt (Project Director: March 2008 to June 2010)

A four-week seminar for fifteen school teachers on major French contemporary dramas by Sartre, Genet, Ionesco, and Beckett, to be held in Avignon, France.

An intensive study of some major French plays of the twentieth century with special attention to the ways in which the self-conscious theatricality of modern drama has portrayed modern reality. Primary readings and discussion in French. Texts to be studied: Jean-Paul Sartre, Huis Clos; Jean Genet, Les Bonnes and Les Negres; Eugene Ionesco, Rhinoceros; Samuel Beckett, En Attendant Godot, and one other play to be selected among those produced at the Avignon theater festival, where the seminar will be held. Attendance at this performance required. Seminar meetings based on discussion of texts, oral reports and theater reviews, explications de texte, and staging of scenes by participants. One written paper, one written review. Conducted in French.