A great deal of analysis goes into a play before the acting begins. In this exclusive seminar, Professor Alexa Alice Joubin from George Washington University and Professor Jyotsna Singh from Michigan State University will explore dramatic theory to dramaturgy and how the vital aspects of Shakespeare’s texts are brought to life through a play’s production. In short, learn when the analysis ends and the acting begins.

     Professor Joubin, in her presentation, reveals the German root of western dramaturgy in the eighteenth century and examines one core concept of twenty-first-century dramaturgy: the ideas of performativity and speech acts of language and narrative. 

     She uses genderplay, embodiment of gender, and gender roles as case studies to show how performativity works in performance. In the process, she untangles some of the enduring myths of such comedies as Twelfth Night. Who is Cesario? Who is Viola? Can the comedy be interpreted through a transgender lens?