Description: This course will consider how Jewish artists represent Jewish identity, culture, and history in American performance from the 1920s to the present. Combining the viewing of video and live performance with critical readings, we will examine Jewishness in a wide range of genres including theater, dance, musical theater, film, comedy, and television. Throughout we will consider—what does “Jewish” mean? How is Jewishness performed? What role does gender, race, class, or nationality play in these performances? What role has performance played in shaping our understanding of Jews and Jewish culture in the U.S.? How have Jewish artists addressed themes including anti-Semitism, stereotyping, exile, immigration, assimilation, religion, the Holocaust, Israel, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? This course is open to ALL students who are interested in the relationship between ethnicity and performance. No knowledge of theater, performance, Judaism, or Jewish culture is required. Texts for the course may include Bial, Acting Jewish: Negotiating Ethnicity on the American Stage and Screen, Brook, ed., You Should See Yourself!: Jewish Identity and American Postmodern Culture (Rutgers 2006), Kushner, Angels in America: Part I and II, Bock and Styne, Fiddler on the Roof, and a course reader. Students will also watch a variety of performances (theater, dance, musicals, film, television) on video. Grading (subject to change): 15% participation, 10% informal journal responses, 10% 3-page performance review, 15% 4-5 page paper, 20% collaborative presentation, 30% 6-8 page final research paper and brief oral presentation Dr. Rebecca Rossen is a choreographer, dance historian, and performance scholar whose research focuses on Jewish identity in American dance and performance. Her writings on this subject have appeared in TDR: The Drama Review (2011), Feminist Studies (2011), and the anthologies You Should See Yourself!: Jewish Identity and American Postmodern Culture (Rutgers 2006), and The Oxford Handbook of Ethnic Dance (Oxford 2012). Her forthcoming book, Dancing Jewish, will be published by Oxford University Press. See: http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad/people/faculty_and_staff/faculty/rossen.cfm
