Richard Schechner's Introduction to Performance Studies

Performance Studies: An Introduction explores the wide world of performance--from theatre, dance, and music to ritual, play, political campaigns, social media, and the performances of everyday life. Performance studies also ranges across cultures--Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas. And it spans historical periods from the art of the paleolithic caves to YouTube and the avantgarde. This course is devised by Richard Schechner, one of the pioneers of performance studies, in dialogue with more than a dozen expert scholars and artists. Performance Studies: An Introduction puts students in dialogue with the most important ideas, approaches, theories, and questions of this dynamic, new academic field.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

Articulate and analyze the major concepts of performance studies

Identify and analyze performances within the “broad spectrum of performance”--from everyday life and social media to performance art and global spectacles such as the Olympics

Comprehend key terms of performance studies, including is/as performance, restored behavior, ritual, play, make-belief/make-believe, performance in everyday life, the performative, and intercultural performance

Produce collaborative work that demonstrates teamwork in applying ideas learned in the course

Compare, analyze, and interpret performances of their own and other cultures

Articulate how the major concepts of the course relate to their own experiences and worldviews

Analyze and criticize in a constructive way the work of classmates

The lessons present Schechner’s concept of performance studies along with online assignments. In the assignments, students apply what they are learning by composing short responses to materials, writing in their NYU Classes Forums, and by reviewing other students’ forum posts each week.

Students choose either to work in groups of 3 to 5 on a term-long project maintaining a project portfolio in NYU Classes or to writ...