Tisch School of the Arts - Dept. of Drama

Tuesdays & Thursdays: 12:30pm - 1:45pm
NYU Main Building, Room 407

Instructor: Toni Sant
Office Hours: Thursdays 2pm-3pm
TSOA 721 Broadway, Room 627

This course traces the historical development of popular entertainment from live to mediatized performance. Cinema, radio, and television absorbed participatory popular entertainments like vaudeville, medicine shows, burlesque, amusement parks, and variety shows and turned into objects of consumption. During the past decade, popular entertainments have also moved into the virtual world of cyberspace where the Internet has become the predominant arena of interactive popular entertainment.

By looking closely at specific modes of popular entertainment from the past 150 years we will see how they contributed towards the rise (or decline, as the case may be) of other forms of entertainment. Applying a theatrical model of space, script, performer, and spectator we can examine how, for example, the level of interaction between the entertainer and the entertained makes cyberspace a site of performance which has more in common with fairgrounds than with television.
 

ASSIGNMENTS

1. [25% of final grade]: Each student will give a short presentation

2. [25% of final grade]: "Pop" quizzes on readings (Sept. 18 + Oct. 2 + Oct. 23 + Nov. 27 + Dec. 11)

3. [25% of final grade]: Mid-term exam  (Tuesday, November 13)

4. [25% of final grade]: Final exam (Wednesday, December 12)
 

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Absence on day of exams, quizzes and/or your own presentation will automatically result in "F" as a grade for that day's assignment.  Every student is allowed up to 3 absences during the semester, including absences for religious holidays and medical/personal emergencies. Each absence after the 3rd will result in a lowered grade: an "A" becomes an "A-",  a "B-" becomes a "C+", etc. No exceptions.