All Courses

How does avant-garde theatre utilize shock as a strategy to lead us to see ourselves from new and unexpected perspectives? How are issues of colonialism and appropriation embedded in the evolution of the avant-garde? How does it simultaneously reflect and rebel against the social hierarchies from which it sprang? Through research and performance we will examine the historical, cultural and philosophical origins and influences of avant-garde theatre, as well as exemplary works from the early avant-garde movements (1890-1940) and more contemporary theatre and performance art (1950-1990), including Surrealism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Dada, Futurism, Constructivism, and Epic, as well as The Living Theatre, Grotowski, Monk, Wilson, Foreman, and The Wooster Group.