Introduction to Drama
Theater history and practice from its origins through the modern period, including non-western traditions, taught at MIT. The course examines drama both as literature and as performance, tracing how theatrical forms grow out of and respond to their cultural contexts. Students read plays alongside critical and historical texts, moving from Greek tragedy and classical Sanskrit and Japanese drama through European and modern experimental theater. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include a full syllabus, weekly reading assignments, and writing assignments that ask students to analyze plays as both texts meant to be read and scripts meant to be staged. There is no video lecture series; the course is organized around close reading, discussion questions, and written analysis rather than recorded lectures. Free to access, with no certificate offered.