This course enables students to study the historical growth, aesthetic premises, and literary and theatrical techniques of major modern playwrights. Students analyze play structure and the major styles in modern theater, such as realism, naturalism, expressionism, and theater of the absurd. The works studied most often include those of Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Shaw, O'Neill, Brecht, Ionesco, Williams, Miller, Becket, and Wilson. To help students grasp modern dramatic technique, students may participate in dramatic readings, block and deliver short scenes from key plays, and compare and contrast actors' interpretations of various dramatic scenes.

Prerequisites: Any ELIT course and 75 credits