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    Topics in Performance Studies: 
    POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT 
    & VIRTUAL CULTURE

    Instructor: Toni Sant
     

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    R    		 THURSDAY  06
    Introduction: What is popular entertainment anyway?

    TUESDAY 11
    Each student will identify a presentation they would like to work on. 
    Each presentation must include a proposal (one paragraph) and a written report (two pages - double space). Collaborations are accepted for elaborate presentations only and each student must contribute equally to the proposal and the report.

    THURSDAY 13
    Lecture: Echoes of old Popular Entertainments in contemporary Popular Entertainments

    [Your Presentation Proposal is due in class today - 9/13]

    TUESDAY 18
    Readings in Popular Entertainment
    Brooks McNamara. Popular American Entertainments: Introduction
    Andrea Dennett. “The Dime Museum Freak Show Reconfigured as Talk Show”
    Brewster & Jacobs. Theatre to Cinema: Stage Pictorialism & Early Film

    THURSDAY 20
    Student Presentations: Theatrical Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 25
    Lecture: From Medicine Shows to Madison Avenue - what drives popular entertainment?

    THURSDAY 27
    Student Presentations: Theatrical Popular Entertainments
     
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    R    		 TUESDAY 02
    Readings in Popular Entertainment
    Ralph Allen. Vaudeville and Film: Chapter 1
    Philip Auslander. “Live Performance in a Mediatized Culture” (from Liveness)

    THURSDAY 04
    Student Presentations: Electric Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 09
    Lecture: The Pre-history and Current Impact of Rock Music on Popular Entertainment

    THURSDAY 11
    Student Presentations: Electric Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 16
    Lecture: The end of Radio as wireless telephony

    THURSDAY 18
    Student Presentations: Electric Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 23
    Readings: Electronic Popular Entertainment
    Bertold Brecht. “The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication”
    Douglas Rushkoff. “The MTV Revolution” (from Media Virus)

    THURSDAY 25
    Student Presentations: Electronic Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 30
    Lecture: Did Video Really Kill the Radio Star?
     
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    R    		 THURSDAY 01
    Student Presentations: Electronic Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 06 
    Lecture: I want my MTV!

    THURSDAY 08
    Student Presentations: Electronic Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 13
    Mid-term Exam

    THURSDAY 15
    Student Presentations: Electronic Popular Entertainments

    TUESDAY 20 
    Lecture: From Passive Consumption to Virtual Participation

    THURSDAY 22
    THANKSGIVING RECESS BEGINS – No Class

    TUESDAY 27
    Readings in Virtual Culture
    Timothy Leary. “Custom-Sized Screen Realities” (from Chaos and Cyberculture)
    Howard Rheingold. “The Experience Theatre and The Art of Binocular Illusion” and “The Origins of Drama and the Future of Fun” (from Virtual Reality)

    THURSDAY 29
    Student Presentations: Online Entertainments
     
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    R    		 TUESDAY 04
    Lecture: Virtual Realities – Real Virtualities

    THURSDAY 06
    Student Presentations: Online Entertainments III

    TUESDAY 11
    Readings on Applying a Theatrical Model to Popular Entertainments
    Richard Schechner. "Drama, Script, Theatre, Performance"
    Patrice Pavis. "Theatre and the Media"
    Brenda Laurel. Computers as Theatre

    WEDNESDAY 12
    Final Exam (Open Book in Class)