Dramatic Literature

The study of Drama requires students to engage with one of the most venerable and complex of the arts. The Department of Dramatic Literature, Theater History, and Cinema recognizes the special nature of Drama, in particular its relationship to literary texts as well as to the performing arts, both theater and cinema. Accordingly, the Department allows students with a primary interest in Drama to study it intensively and comparatively within the fields of literature, theater history and production, and cinema. The curriculum brings students into a close intellectual engagement with the classical and contemporary texts of Britain, Europe, and America, while also providing opportunities for practical dramatic and theatrical experiences. The Department encourages students not only to pursue their interests through production and playwriting classes but also to take advantage of New York's thriving theater scene.

Academic Programs

The Department offers a major in Dramatic Literature, the requirements for which are set forth in the College of Arts and Science Bulletin. An honors program is available for qualified students, which consists of two courses, one junior honors seminar and a senior thesis. Students are encouraged to seek out internships that would allow them to apply their knowledge of Dramatic Literature and the theater in a professional setting.

Activities and Awards

The Dean Archibald L. Bouton Memorial Award for Research in English is awarded for the outstanding senior honors thesis; Estelle M. Holmes Award in American Literature is presented for the best term paper in American literature, and the Frederick Seward Gibson Prize is given for the best creative essay by a junior or senior. The George Goldstone Award is given for the best one-act play written by a CAS student; the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Prize, for work in poetry; and the Seth Barkas Prize, for fiction.

Career Options

The variety and depth of knowledge offered by the major provides an excellent foundation for careers related to the performing arts, including film, television, and music. The major also aims to help students develop the skills of careful reading, clear and independent thought, and effective writing--in short, to work as precisely and imaginatively as possible in the medium of language. Thus, the major is an excellent preparation not only for postgraduate study in theater, English, or other humanities, but for any career demanding a strong liberal arts background and a command of the written word. Dramatic Literature students have gone on to further study or professional work in arts administration, communications, public relations, and publishing.

Faculty

Charles M. Affron (French)

Cinema and stylistics; studio system; cultural history

Richard Allen (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Film theory; psychoanalysis and film; philosophy and film

Thomas Bishop (French)

Avant-garde movements; modern theater; Samuel Beckett

Una Chaudhuri

Drama; critical theory

John Chioles (Comparative Literature)

Tragedy; mythopoesis; phenomenology

Roger L. Deakins (Director of Undergraduate Studies)

Renaissance literature, especially drama and Shakespeare

Manthia Diawara (Africana Studies; Comparative Literature)

Film studies; black culture and criticism; critical theory

Antonia Lant (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Feminist film theory; film and orientalism; British film history; history and theory of early cinema

Annette Michelson (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Modernism and the arts; Soviet film; French film; historical and contemporary theory

Toby Miller (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Screen studies; gender; cultural policy; discourse analysis

Timothy J. Reiss (Comparative Literature)

18th-century literature, history, and politics; history and theory of theater; cultural and political theory

Gregory M. Sifakis (Classics)

Aristotle; ancient drama; ancient and medieval oral poetry

William G. Simon (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Film and narratology; Orson Welles; history of Italian film

Robert Sklar (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Film and American cultural studies; new German film; film and historiographic methods

Robert P. Stam (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Third world film; Brazilian film; semiotics; literature-film relations; French new wave; Bakhtin

Chris Straayer (Cinema Studies, TSOA)

Film and gay/lesbian studies; video art; feminist film theory and practice

Lowell S. Swortzell (Educational Theater, School of Education)

Theater for young audiences; American theater; musical theater; playwriting

Nancy Foell Swortzell (Educational Theater, School of Education)

Educational theater

Admission and Financial Aid

Students seeking admission should apply to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, New York University, 22 Washington Square North, New York, NY 10011. The University sponsors and administers a wide variety of financial aid programs. Awards are based on the student's record of academic achievement and test scores as well as on financial need.

More Information

New York University
Department of Dramatic Literature, Theater History, and the Cinema
Director of Undergraduate Studies
19 University Place, Second Floor
New York, NY 10003
(212)998-8800
E-mail: deakins@is2.nyu.edu

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