New Major and Minor Structure
April 29, 2021Dear All,
As you may know, the Dramatic Art faculty took a hard look at the requirements for the Drama Major this past Fall and decided to make several changes to the Core Curriculum for the Major. Primarily, this affects the Dramatic Literature/Theatre History/Criticism sequence for the Major, and for our Minors in Dramaturgy and Design. As you can see below, DRAM 120 Play Analysis will remain the gateway course to the Major, but we have created a new required course, DRAM 220 Theatre Histories. This course will introduce students to Theatre Histories and Dramatic Literature from across the globe including Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Western Europe/North America. Building upon that foundation students will then choose two more courses from any of those areas in the Theatre History/Dramatic Literature/Criticism sequence and will no longer be required to take DRAM 281 and DRAM 282. We have worked with our colleagues in the Departments of Asian Studies and African, African-American, and Diasporic Studies to expand the course offerings available for the Drama Major in Asian, African, and African American Theatre and Performance by making selected courses from those two departments available to fulfill the requirements of the Drama Major.
We are excited about this new structure for the Major and selected Minors that sheds the Major’s Eurocentric focus and replaces that focus with a globally inclusive lens. Students beginning the Major, or the two affected Minors, in Fall 2021 will follow the new structure. Current Majors with the time and flexibility to do so are welcome to follow the new structure as well in consultation with their advisors.
Many of you have been part of this process, whether through the petition delivered to the Department last summer, direct conversation with me, or discussions with other members of the faculty. Thank you for caring enough to become involved.
Please let me know if you have any questions about any of this.
All the best,
Adam Versényi (He, Him, His)
Professor and Chair
Department of Dramatic Art
Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art CB # 3230
The University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3230
Senior Dramaturg
PlayMakers Repertory Company
Editor, The Mercurian: A Theatrical Translation Review
(919) 843-9813
anversen@email.unc.edu