ENGLISH 384S · also THEATRST 321S
Hot New American Plays
Ryan Donovan
Description from DukeHub
The 21st century is a golden age for new American plays that are hot, provocative, and weird. This course surveys contemporary US theater: what it is, who it is by and for, and what it can be. We will study how playwrights experiment with form, genre, and scale, in both Pulitzer Prize-winning plays and obscure plays, and from solo performance to multi-part epic. Parallel to the plays will be the study of how and where new plays are developed and produced. The course aims to show how playwrights break with convention and grapple with both theater history and US history. We consider how theater addresses contemporary sociopolitical concerns and engages with the idea of America itself.
Skills
- writingdepartment: ENGLISH
AI-resilient: 1 of 5
- No: Physical, lab or field work
- No: Live work with people
- No: Judgment someone is accountable for
- No: A craft you practice with your hands or body
- Yes: Small, in-person format · seminar, 14 seats per section
The checks lean on Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025), which found generative AI applies least to physical work and hands-on work with people. A signal, not a promise. How the score works
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