Southern Utah University

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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Shakespeare Unbound (Face-to-Face)

THEA 1303-01

Course: THEA 1303-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: TA
CRN: 30627

Course Description

Shakespeare Unbound explores Shakespeare’s plays in multiple contexts including theatrical, literary, cultural, and historical. We will study three plays using a variety of formats and ideas including live theatre, the written word, graphic novel, and film adaptations (both traditional and modern). 

Required Texts


REQUIRED TEXTS & READINGS:

  • As You Like It: Manga - Adapted by Richard Appignanesi and illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada. Available on Amazon for between $20 and $30, or on eBay (I got mine for $7 there), or you can read it for free online on the Digital Theatre+ Database
    Links to an external site. from the SUU Library (log in with your SUU credentials). I would suggest a physical copy to fully appreciate the subtleties of the layout and design. There will be a heavy focus on this text. 
  • As You Like It - Free online or you may purchase a physical copy at the bookstore. I would suggest a free copy, as this will be a supplemental text to our discussion of the manga.
  • Macbeth - Free online or you may purchase a physical copy at the bookstore. I would suggest a free copy, as this will be a supplemental text to our discussion.
  • Comedy of Errors - Free Online Version or you may purchase a physical copy at the bookstore. I would suggest a free copy, as this will be a supplemental text to our discussion.
  • Various additional required readings will be provided in Canvas.

REQUIRED PERFORMANCES & FILMS:

  • As You Like It Utah Shakespeare Festival - Tickets will be provided at no charge for the assigned night. If you do not attend the assigned night, you will still be required to attend the USF production. 
  • Macbeth Utah Shakespeare Festival - Tickets will be provided at no charge for the assigned night. If you do not attend the assigned night, you will still be required to attend the USF production. 
  • The Comedy of Errors Southern Utah University Theatre - Tickets are free with current SUU I.D. There will not be an assigned night for this production.
  • The Comedy of Errors (1977, Royal Shakespeare Company Production). Streaming via Kaltura in Canvas. 
  • Throne of Blood (1957) Streamed via Kanopy.

Learning Outcomes


1)    Creative and Critical Thinking:  Students will imaginatively apply creative and critical thinking to evaluate visual, textual, and performative elements of Shakespeare’s work, adaptations of Shakespeare, and Shakespeare’s influence on contemporary society.

2)    Communication: Students will write and speak about Shakespeare’s work, history, and performance. Students will also perform Shakespeare and demonstrate the ability to connect the study of Shakespeare to their own interests, majors, and specific fields of study.

3)    Knowledge of Human Cultures & the Physical & Natural World: Students will derive evidence from primary and secondary sources regarding the work, culture, and society of William Shakespeare and describe how our understanding of Shakespeare is shaped by social, cultural, linguistic, and/or historical circumstances. 

Course Requirements

Group Work: This class will have significant group work, including performances. Since your contribution to group work can impact other student's work, failure to contribute will result in significant point loss.

Guest Artists: We will have several guest artists during the semester. You will be expected to come prepared, be attentive, and actively participate when we have guests. 

Readings and Video Viewings: Because much of the learning in this class happens through discussion and processing various ideas raised in those discussions, you need to come to class having completed all assigned readings and videos for each day. You will not be able to adequately participate in class or process ideas if you are not prepared.

Attending Plays: Attendance at plays is mandatory and cannot be substituted with movies, videos, or attending alternate productions.

Course Outline

This course consists of seven modules that each last approximately two weeks.

Module 1: Play Attendance and Participation—This module will run throughout the semester. Students will be required to attend at least three live Shakespeare performances, attend a SUMA exhibit, and visit Special Collections in the library. 

Module 2: Literary Theatre—In this module we are going to learn about the parts of a play and the elements of plot. Most of this information comes from The Poetics, a document Aristotle wrote almost 2,500 year ago! Its original intent was a critical analysis for the theatre (specifically tragedy) but has become one of the foundational theories for analysis of all literature. I'm sure you'll recognize some of this material from your English classes. 

To complete this module you will need to:

  • You should have watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in class, if not you need to watch it before moving forward.
  • Read the material provided in Canvas
  • Do the Aristotle's "Poetics" reading with video and quiz
  • Do the Parts of a Play: Reading and quiz
  • Do Elements of plot: Reading and quiz 
 
Module 3: Shakespeare and Elizabethan Period History Overview—This module will consist of several in class presentations and multiple readings and quizzes. It will provide an overview of the history leading up to Shakespeare’s neo-classical period, an overview of the history of the Elizabethan age, an overview of the history Elizabethan theatre buildings, and an overview of the history of the publication of the era including the First Folio. A visit to SUU Special Collections will be required for this module.


Module 4: Macbeth—In this module we will explore both the 2025 USF production of Macbeth as well as Akira Kurasawa’s film masterpiece Throne of Blood.

To better understand Throne of Blood, we will learn consider examples of Sumi-e art, haiku poetry, and learn about Japanese Noh theatre and explore how the film is an homage to these other arts, as well as Macbeth. We will dive into this melding of arts by visiting SUMA and finding thematic similarities between Macbeth and the From GI to MFA: Clayton Rippey's Explorations in Abstraction exhibit at SUMA.

Assessment for this module will include completing:
·      Macbeth Haiku Assignment
·      Short Writing Assignment: SUMA, Macbeth, and Throne of Blood
·      Macbeth/Throne of Blood Mini Essay series


Module 5: As You Like It—In this module we will explore both the 2025 USF production of As You Like It as well as a manga of the same play. We will have at least one guest lecturer during this module. We will take a deep dive into the imagery and text of the manga, including learning about manga morphology. A compare and contrast writing assignment will be required. 

Module 6: The Comedy of Errors—In this module we will explore the SUU production of The Comedy of Errors as well as a BBC musical production from the Royal Shakespeare Company that won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Students will create thematically relevant memes about the play. They will also create and present a mind map that integrates textual analysis with performance interpretation, showing how different artistic choices shape meaning and audience experience.

This activity encourages:
· Deep analysis of Shakespeare’s play from multiple perspectives
· Insight into how directorial choices affect storytelling
· Collaborative synthesis of ideas from beyond the page
· Creative, visual organization of complex comparisons


Module 7: Monologue performance—For this modulestudents are going to prepare and perform a Shakespearean monologue. There are six steps/assignments they must complete for this module. They must also provide a scansion of their monologue as well as perform it both in class and in a video. They will rehearse their monologue for both the professor and their class peer group.

 
Final Module: For your final you will be doing research, a group presentation, and a group performance.

Your group will research what we will call an "original practice" using primary and scholarly sources in the SUU Library. Your group will present your original practice research to the class, and then will perform a scene from a Shakespeare play that illustrates your original practice

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late work is generally not be accepted for full credit unless you have made arrangements with me prior to the time it is due but I know that "life happens" so I will leave assignments open for two-to-four days after the due date at which point they will lock. Once something is locked, you will not be able to turn it in and will not receive points. The lock date is not the due date. Things are due when they are due. If treating the lock date as a due date becomes the norm, I will no longer offer this courtesy. It should only be utilized in extenuating circumstances.

Attendance Policy

Attendance at every class period and play is expected and required. You are also expected to actively participate in class while also allowing others the space to participate. Full points for participation and attendance will be awarded to everyone at the start of the semester. Points will be subtracted for absences, tardiness, or failure to participate in the learning process. I recognize that students' learning and participation styles vary and I will try and be sensitive to those differences. 

Attendance at plays is mandatory and cannot be substituted with movies, videos, or attending alternate productions.

Course Fees

There are no course fees.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.