Posted: March 18th, 2022

English 358, Staging America examines how the American theatre has staged the idea of America

English 358, Section 70: Staging America
M, W: 2:30 to 3:50

English 358, Staging America examines how the American theatre has staged the idea of America and what it means to be American. We will read plays, consider their unique generic elements and examine them as they probe both the American dream and the American nightmare. We will consider their political, historical and cultural contexts and consider issues of production and performance. We will also see some productions on film and, if possible, a live production, thus taking advantage of San Diego’s rich theatre community.

We are also part of the “Engage” Living and Learning Community. (From the website: “As a new member of the USD community and the Engage TLC, you’ll work toward solidarity, connecting with members of the USD community and beyond to facilitate discourse and encourage equitable participation in civic life.”) In our course, then, we will be also be examining the idea of community: How is community defined? How does that understanding or definition differ from culture to culture, event to event, historical moment to historical moment? What creates community? What disrupts it? What does it mean to belong to a community? What does it mean to exist on the edges of community and be perceived as “other?”

Staging America meets three core requirements: Literary Inquiry; Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice (Domestic, Level 1); and Integration. Please see below for a detailed description of the learning outcomes for these core attributes. We will meet the DISJ and Literary Inquiry outcomes through readings, writings and class discussions. We will meet the Integration Outcomes through participating in the campus wide disciplinary exchange in October, and by creating a group integration project and presenting it at the TLC showcase in December. Those events are included in the calendar below.

Core Outcomes*
Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (Domestic, Level 1)
• Critical self –reflection
Critically reflect on and describe how you and others have experienced privilege and oppression.
• Write my Essay Online Writing Service with Professional Essay Writers – Explain diversity, inclusion, and social justice
Analyze how social constructions are produced historically and reproduced in contemporary contexts and various forms of cultural representation – literature, film, among others.
Describe struggles of marginalized peoples and their allies against forces such as racism, sexism, classism, or heterosexism to attain equitable outcomes.
• Analyze the complexities of diversity, inclusion, and social justice.
Critically examine the intersections of categories such as race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality in local and/or global contexts of unequal power relationships and social justice.
Integration
• Recognize broad connections between multiple disciplines, perspectives, and/or approaches to learning.
• Articulate how the integration of different disciplines, perspectives, and approaches to learning can enhance one’s understanding of practical issues and problems.
• Synthesize knowledge and/or skills from multiple disciplines or perspectives.
• Apply knowledge and/or skills from multiple disciplines or perspectives.
Literary Inquiry
• Develop and demonstrate understanding of language and discourse and of methods of analysis and interpretation of textual works including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and/or drama in filmic or literary representations.
• Perform close reading; identify the formal and aesthetic attributes of a text; and analyze the ways that written language and (in film) multi-sensory codes create meaning and various effects on readers and audiences.
• Analyze literary and/or filmic interpretations, theories, and arguments; identify and probe unexamined assumptions; demonstrate understanding of diverse theoretical movements and traditions, their fundamental characteristics, their development over time, and their long-term influences.
• Contextualize literary and/or filmic movements, works, and genres with regards to their diverse cultural, historical, geographical, ethical, philosophical, social, political, economic, religious, and/or spiritual situations, impacts, and claims.
• Demonstrate deep engagement with textual analysis techniques by means of oral contributions in class and writings that contain ethical insight and critical interpretation.
*My thanks to Dr. Marcelle Maese-Cohen for creating this chart and sharing it with me.

Texts
Hay, David “The Elements of Drama” (Handout; Blackboard)
Kushner, Tony Angels in America: Part 1, Millennium Approaches. (Theatre
Communications Group, ISBN: 978-1-55936-384-6)
Lauro, Shirley A Piece of My Heart. (Samuel French, ISBN 0-573-69333-1)
Miranda, Lin-Manuel and
Quiara Alegría Hudes In the Heights. (Applause Theatre Books, ISBN: 987-1-4768-7464-7)
Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman. (Dramatists, ISBN: 978-0-8222-0290-5)
Nottage, Lynn Sweat. (Theatre Communications Group, ISBN: 978-1-55936-532-1)
Sondheim, Stephen and
John Weidman Assassins. (Theatre Communications Group, ISBN: 978-1-55936-038-8)
Valdez, Luis. Zoot Suit. (Arte Público Press, ISBN: 9781558850484)
Wilson, August The Piano Lesson. (Plume, ISBN: 978-0-45226-5349)

Please do not wait to order these texts. The bookstore returns all books after a few weeks, and books are not always available at the last minute on
Amazon. All books are also on closed reserve in the library, which means you can check them out for 4 hours and read them in the library. You are
responsible for making sure that you have read the text when we are beginning our study; I also expect you to have access to texts in class.

Evaluation

Essay 1 10%
Essay 2 25%
(The rough draft will be 5% of the grade and the final draft 20% of this grade)
Quizzes 15%
(9 in total). These will be given on the first day that we take up a new play, excepting Angels, which will have 2 quizzes. I will drop your 3 lowest scores to accommodate potential absences due to illness. No make-ups. If you are late to class, you may not be able to take the quiz.
Integration #1 5%
Integration #2 15%
Final 20%
The final will only be given on the date and time assigned for our class. Please see the class schedule below and arrange any travel home accordingly. If you have a disability that needs to be accommodated for the exam, please bring me the appropriate paperwork well in advance of the exam date.

Participation 10%
I will give you a score each day for class participation. Students who attend every session, offer good reflections on our frequent in class “quick writes, and contribute daily to class discussion will earn an A for participation. Silence during class, lateness to class, absence from class, not reading the assignment, leaving for the restroom in the middle of class, and forgetting your text will lower this grade substantially.

All written work and the final exam must be completed to pass the course. In addition, a pattern of lateness, frequent absences, and failing to be prepared could also result in failing this class.

Course Guidelines

Please be on time for class. A pattern of lateness or early departures will negatively impact your participation grade.

Failure to attend class will result in a low participation grade and, potentially, failing the class.

Please do not get up in the middle of class to use the restroom. It disrupts class activities and discussion.

Please turn off and put away your cell phones when you come into class; I do not want to see them.

Students may use computers to take notes ONLY if they have some reason why note taking by hand is impossible. Please talk to me if that is the situation.

It is better to have a hard copy of the text, but if you are using a computer or e-reader, please let me know. Students who use their computers or e-readers for purposes other than class will be asked to put them away. Please do not use phones to access your texts.

Late work will be marked down 1/3 grade for each day late, and the grade will become an F after one week. If an emergency means that your work will be late, letting me know before the due date in question will help you forego a late penalty. To pass this class, you must submit all the class writings and take the final exam.

If you have a documented disability that requires you to occasionally miss class, make-up assignments can be arranged that will count as class participation. I will need a copy of the documentation. A similar arrangement can be made for athletes or those participating in a university function, provided documentation is shown to me.

Plagiarism: As commonly defined, plagiarism consists of passing off as one’s own the ideas, words, writings, etc. that belong to another. Students who plagiarize will be disciplined in accordance with Honor code policy. If you have any questions regarding plagiarism, please review the plagiarism poster on the wall of the Writing Center. All out of class essay work will be submitted to Turn It In on Handout/Blackboard for a plagiarism check.

If I need to communicate with you, I will do so via email. Please check your email regularly. Class handouts will be posted on Handout/Blackboard as well as any additional readings.

If you wish to discuss a grade on an assignment with me, please make an appointment with me. Our discussion will be based on my written feedback so please read it before our appointment.

Please do all that you can to make the class a healthy and vital learning experience. Show respect for me and your fellow students by being attentive to our class discussions. Side talk, cross talk and whispering disrupt our discussions. If you are sleepy or ill, please stay home.

Calendar
Our Class College/LLC
W, 9/4 Introduction to Staging America
Classes Begin
M, 9/9 Read for today:
Wilson, The Piano Lesson, Act 1
Hay, “Setting”
Quiz #1
W, 9/11
Read for today:
Wilson, The Piano Lesson, Act 2

Th, 9/12 Mass of the Holy Spirit

Fr, 9/13 Last day to enroll in classes and to add/drop without a ‘W’
M, 9/16 Homework help – Discussion continues:
Wilson, The Piano Lesson
Hay, “Character”
W, 9/18 Read for today:
Nottage, Sweat, Act 1
Quiz #2
Fr, 9/20 to Sunday, 9/23 Engage Event: Camping Trip to Laguna Mountains
M, 9/23 Read for today:
Nottage, Sweat, Act 2
W, 9/25 Read for today:
Valdez, Zoot Suit, Act 1
Quiz #3
M, 9/30 Valdez, Zoot Suit, Act 2

Tu, 10/1 Writing: Essay No. 1 due to Blackboard Turn It In by NOON

Financial aid applications for Intersession 2020 available
W, 10/2 Homework help – Discussion continues:
Valdez, Zoot Suit
Hay, “Structure” 10/2-10/30 Online reservations for Intersession 2020 available
M, 10/7 Read for today:
Kushner, Angels in America, Part 1, Act 1
Quiz # 4
W, 10/9 Read for today:
Kushner, Angels in America, Part 1, Act 2

M, 10/14 Kushner, Angels in America, Part 1, Finish the play
Hay, “Language”
Quiz #5

W, 10/16 Homework help – Discussion continues:
Kushner, Angels in America, Part 1
Hay, “Staging”
Fr, Oct. 18 Fall Holiday
M, 10/21 Integration Event #1: Interdisciplinary Faculty Exchange:
Dr. Terry Bird, Dept of Biology,
“The Biology of AIDS” Midterm Grades Due
W, 10/23 Read for today:
Lauro, A Piece of My Heart, Act 1
Quiz #6
M, 10/28 Read for today:
Lauro, A Piece of My Heart, Act 2
Writing: Integration Reflection #1 Due to Turn It In by Noon
W, 10/30 Read for today:
Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act 1
Quiz #7
F, Nov. 1 Priority deadline for Intersession 2020 financial aid applications
Class reservation begins for Spring 2020
Walk-in reservation begins for Intersession 2020
Deadline to Petition for May or August 2020 graduation
M, 11/4 Read for today:
Miller, Death of a Salesman, Act 2 Deadline for Pass/Fail option
W, 11/6 Homework help – Discussion continues:
Miller, Death of A Salesman
M, 11/11 Homework help – Discussion continues:
Miller, Death of A Salesman
Tu, 11/12 Last day to withdraw from a class with a W
W, 11/13 Writing: Rough Draft of Final Essay Due (in class)
Integration #2: Workshop on Showcase Project
M, 11/18 Read for today:
Sondheim, Assassins, Act 1
Quiz # 8
W, 11/20 Read for today:
Sondheim, Assassins, Act 2
Integration #2: Workshop on Showcase Project
M, 11/25 Posters for Integration Showcase Due
Homework help – Discussion continues:
Sondheim, Assassins

W, 11/27 No class; Thanksgiving vacation W, 11/27-F, 11/29 No classes; Thanksgiving Vacation
M, 12/2 Writing: Final Draft of Paper #2 Due by Noon to Turn It In
Read for today:
Miranda & Hudes, In the Heights, Act 1
Quiz #9
W, 12/4 Read for today
Miranda & Hudes, Heights, Act 2

6-8 PM: Integration Showcase @ UC
M, 12/9 Homework help – Discussion continues:
Miranda & Hudes, In the Heights,
W, 12/11 Writing: Integration Reflection #2 Due to Turn it In by Noon (on the Showcase Project)
Course review
F, 12/ 13 Last Day of Classes
M, 12/16 2-4: Final Exam M, 12/16-F, 12/20 Final Exam Period

*My thanks to Dr. Marcelle Maese-Cohen for creating the core chart and sharing it with me.

Copyright: Class lectures, the syllabus, the course description, handouts and other course materials are protected by copyright laws. Students enrolled in the course are allowed to share course materials (and notes or other writings based on the materials or lectures) with other enrolled students, but may not do so for commercial purposes or for payment of any kind. Lectures may not be recorded or distributed without the prior written permission of the instructor. Course materials (or derivations of those materials) may not be copied, displayed, or distributed without the instructor’s prior written consent. The sale or other commercial use of course materials, class notes, summaries, or other reproductions of lectures violates copyright laws and is strictly prohibited.

ADA Statement: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the USD Disability Services.

Practicing First Year Integration
Assignment Prompt for All Classes, Fall 2019
First-Year Integration is a component of the Core Curriculum. This semester you will attend an experience
where you will be able to practice making connections between disciplines. Your “Practicing First Year
Integration” experience will consist of this assignment after attending one of the following:
 Open classroom: you will visit another course session in your LLC theme. In this open classroom
a Professor will discuss a topic relevant to your LLC theme but his/her approach will differ from the
approach used by your LLC course professor.
 Faculty exchange: you will participate in a faculty exchange where an instructor from another
discipline will come into your classroom to provide a perspective on a topic being discussed in
class.
This written reflection assignment allows you to practice integration so that you can successfully
demonstrate your ability to meet the two First Year Integration learning outcomes.
The First Year Integration learning outcomes are:
● Recognize broad connections between multiple disciplines, perspectives, and/or approaches to
learning.
● Articulate how the integration of different disciplines, perspectives, and approaches to learning can
enhance one’s understanding of practical issues and problems.
Recognizing multidisciplinary approaches is important to enhance one’s understanding of a common
problem. This reflection assignment is designed to allow you to practice recognizing these different
approaches and how they might contribute to your own thinking on a problem or topic.
Please complete this assignment and submit it to your LLC/TLC professor by Monday 4 Nov, 2019.
Practicing First Year Integration
Student Name: ____________________________________
LLC/TLC Theme (check one):
Advocate Collaborate Cultivate Illuminate Innovate Engage
PART 1: Your Course
List the LLC/TLC course you are taking this semester ________________________________________
(E.g., FYW150 First-Year Writing)
Describe how the LLC/TLC theme connects to the course you are taking.
PART 2: “Practicing First Year Integration” Experience
List the discipline and topic presented at your experience.
Discipline: ________________________ Topic: ______________________________________________
(E.g., Chemistry) (E.g., Climate Change)
Describe the connection of the LLC/TLC theme to the experience that you attended.
(E.g., what questions, assumptions, facts, or approaches were presented?)
PART 3: Making Connections Between Disciplines
1. In what ways did your ”Practicing First Year Integration” experience help you think about your
LLC/TLC theme differently?
2. In what ways do these different disciplines, taken together, enhance your ability to think about your
LLC/TLC theme?

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