ENG 219 - Solitary Voice: Theatre/Creative Writing-Ireland

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirements AR and DE and satisfies the IL requirement.
This team-taught MILA course focuses on creative writing (creative nonfiction and dramatic) and Irish literature, culture and history. The class meets during the spring semester and culminates in an 18-day intensive experience in the west of Ireland. During the spring semester, we will spend our time reading and discussing Irish plays, fiction, poetry and nonfiction, in order to develop an understanding of the cultural identity that informs a contemporary sense of Irishness. We will also work to build an ensemble, learn the basics of creative writing, and develop the needed analytic skills demanded of revision in the arts. The course will weave together the arts of performance and writing by focusing on the first person point-of-view in fiction, poetry and nonfiction writing and stage drama. In Ireland, we will turn our attention to the development of original work. The course will culminate in a public performance of original writing in the Aran Islands. During our stay in western Ireland, we will, in addition, attend performances, readings, literary events, films, and engage with other embodied cultural practices. We will also engage with the landscape and unique histories of the country through a number of excursions. No previous experience in creative writing or theater required. Satisfies departmental Prose or Drama/Transmedia requirement.