Group Assignments
Group 1: Mei Lanfang's Performances in New York City, 1930
September 26, 2005Group Members: Michael Chan, Lindsay Horvath, Gemila Lanyi, Christina Yi Bo Zhang
This assignment consists of two parts: 1. a class presentation of maximum 15 minutes, and 2. a 5 to 8-page paper to be handed in either on the day of the presentation or one week after the presentation the latest.
In the spring of 1930, Mei Lanfang and his acting troupe arrived in New York to begin a US tour which besides New York also included Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. In New York, Mei's performances attracted a lot of attention from the public and the press. In particular, quite a few articles appeared on Mei and his acting troupe in the New York Times. For this assignment, you are to gather the announcements, reviews and other news items related to Mei's performances in New York city. You are also to look for the ads which appeared for his performances during his stay in New York. This material is to be put in an appendix to your 5 to 8-page paper.
Your paper has to include the following elements:
- an account of the facts of Mei's visit: where did he perform? For how long? From which date to which date? How was Mei received? Whom did he meet? What problems did he and his troupe encounter? How did they solve these problems?
- a summary and evaluation of the reviews which appeared regarding Mei's performances: what did the reviewers highlight? What understanding did they have of Chinese drama? Did their view change due to Mei's performances? What words did they use to describe Mei's performances? How do the reviews of Mei's performances compare to reviews of Western plays which were performed at the same time? What is the reviewer's attitude toward Chinese drama? What do the reviewers try to convey to their readers? What image did they create of Mei, his acting troupe, and Chinese drama?
- a description and analysis of the ads: How many and what kinds of ads did appear? How were they designed? What information did they contain? Did they change over the time of Mei's stay in New York? What image did they create of Mei, his acting troupe, and Chinese drama? In order to find the New York Times articles on Mei Lanfang's performances, go to the reference room in Alexander Library and ask for the Index to the New York Times for the year 1930. Try various ways of looking up this information (for example, look under Mei Lanfang, or China, or Chinese drama, etc.).
After gathering the material, read the material and consider the questions given above. Establish a structure for your paper and divide up the work among the group members.
In your class presentation, you present your main findings and illustrate them with material you gathered in the research process. Prepare a handout for your presentation, include a few of the most significant illustrations or source texts. This class presentation is not to exceed 15 minutes.
Group 3: Bertolt Brecht’s Appropriation of Chinese Theater
November 7, 2005Group Members: Whitney, Jessica, Angelo, Peter
This assignment consist of two parts: 1) a class presentation of maximum 30 minutes and 2) a 5 to 8 page
paper (double spaced, 11 or 12 point font, side margins of 1.25" each, top and bottom margins 1") to be handed in on the day of the presentation or one week after the presentation the latest.The German playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is well known for his interest in Chinese theater. Quite a few of his plays are either based on Chinese source texts (e.g., The Caucasian Chalk Circle), make use of a Chinese setting (e.g., The Good Woman of Setzuan), or are loosely inspired by Chinese theatrical practice (e.g., Mother Courage and Her Children). In addition, one of Brecht’s most important contributions to theater theory, the so-called Alienation Effect, was inspired by Brecht’s first-hand experience of a performance by Mei Lan-fang that took place in 1935 in Moscow. Although some recent scholarship on Brecht has qualified the extent to which the playwright was influenced by Chinese theater, it nevertheless remains true that there is a link between Brecht and Chinese theater that is worth exploring.
For this assignment, you are to show how Brecht appropriated the Chinese theater for his own purposes and thus enriched the Western theater tradition. I would like you to approach this topic from two directions: 1) Brecht’s adaptation of the Chinese Yuan drama The Chalk Circle and 2) Brecht’s theorizing of Chinese theater practice that led to the coinage of the term Alienation Effect. For the first aspect, you are to compare Brecht’s play The Caucasian Chalk Circle to the Yuan drama The Chalk Circle and explore how and to what effect Brecht used the Chinese play. For the second aspect, you are to read critically Brecht’s theoretical writings that deal with the Chinese theater, in particular “Alienation Effects of Chinese Acting” and “Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which Produces an Alienation Effect.”
After reading the material and considering the above questions, establish a structure for the paper and divide up the work evenly among the group members.
In your class presentation, you present your main findings and illustrate with material you gathered in the research process. Prepare a handout for your presentation in which you include the most significant illustrations or source texts for your topic.
Refer to the Check List that I wrote up for these group assignments so that you know what I expect you to do.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions. You may also ask your fellow students who have already done this group assignment for advice and learn from their experiences.
Group 4: Chen Shizheng’s New York Performance of The Peony Pavilion
Group Members: Wenty, Yi Chan, Wilson, T.J., Jing
Group 5: Peter Sellars’ Berkeley Production of The Peony Pavilion
Group Members: Elaine, Nicole, Huiting, Christine
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Asian Languages and Cultures
Scott Hall Room 330 Tel: 732/932-7605
Last updated: November 8, 2005
