This course will examine the characteristics and elements of theatre and the performing arts, emphasizing the principles and conventions that guided theatre productions through history. The course examines the ways that theatre influences and is influenced by cultures and by individual life experience. Particular attention is paid to the development of scripts, visual theatre, theatre vocabulary, and the emergence of Deaf and multicultural theatre.

A study of Deaf performance in the United States from its earliest documented forms to the present. Topics covered include storytelling, visual vernacular, ASL poetry, ASL music, Dip Hop, principles of artistic sign language, the development of the National Theatre of the Deaf, and the history of integrated Deaf/hearing theatre. In addition to assigned readings, students will view and analyze a wide variety of Deaf performance artifacts. Due to the nature of this subject, instruction is in ASL and voice interpreters will not be provided.