African American drama is an extraordinarily rich and varied form of art that enables readers and spectators to learn about US history and culture through the words and gestures of characters inhabiting both page and stage. This course explores the textual as well as the performative dimension of dramatic literature to provide students with a thorough knowledge of African American theatre, some of its most influential playwrights, its distinctive aesthetic and stylistic eclecticism, and its recurring themes and tropes. By reading and analyzing pivotal plays by Lorraine Hansberry, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks and August Wilson, students will travel through US history, from the Civil War to the post-racial era, and they will learn about different dramatic styles (naturalism, realism, symbolism, expressionism, postmodernism). Students will also understand how Hansberry, Nottage, Parks and Wilson reinvented dramatic genres inherited from the European tradition – namely, the tragedy, the comedy, realist drama and the theatre of the absurd – through formal experimentation and innovations in subject matter that attest to the interconnectedness of various Atlantic cultures: American, European, and African. In order to fully appreciate the oral quality and the performative dimension of dramatic literature, excerpts from the plays will be read out loud in dedicated sessions throughout the course. Students will also be involved in theatre translation activities aimed at translating brief scenes and monologues from the plays into Italian*. The guided translation exercises will enable students to reflect on how African American drama can be made available to Italian readers and spectators, thus contributing to push back the boundaries of a hitherto Eurocentric theatre tradition in a more inclusive way, one that allows for the presence of histories, characters, actors and directors of African descent in Italian theatre.

*Erasmus students will translate the excerpts into their first language.

Bibliografia

Testi primari (è necessario utilizzare le edizioni indicate di seguito):
- Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun [1959]. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
- Nottage, Lynn. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2013.
- Parks, Suzan-Lori. Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2015.
- Parks, Suzan-Lori. White Noise. London: Nick Hern Books, 2021.
- Wilson, August. King Hedley II. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
- Anna Deavere Smith, Fires in the Mirror, Anchor Books, New York, 1993. ISBN-10: 9780385470148. ISBN-13: 978-0385470148. (estratti testuali forniti dalla docente in formato PDF).

Altri testi
- Declaration of Independence (1776) https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=2&page=transcript
- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1787) (PDF copy provided by the instructor).
- The Constitution of the United States of America (1787)
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=9&page=transcript
- Abraham Lincoln, ‘The Emancipation Proclamation’ (1863)
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=34
- Abraham Lincoln, ‘The Gettysburg Address’ (1863)
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=36