The study of theatre history is an essential part of any theatre education.  The projects in this unit expose students to more than just the traditional survey study of Greek and Elizabethan theatre.  It is important for students to gain a broad sense of theatre traditions from around the globe so that they can recognize the diversity of dramatic performance and can appropriately situate current theatre practices.

Skills and Understandings

Students will be able to

• Identify major past and present playwrights
• Create a general timeline of theatre history
• Identify reliable sources for research
• Analyze nontraditional theatre practice
• Identify key elements and people associated with realism
• Name and summarize one major play from each theatrical time period
• Explain the design, performance, playwright and major historical event information for one specific theatrical time period
• Apply historical knowledge to a performance