SEEN AND UNSEEN: EXPLORATIONS IN BALINESE THEATRE

The course teaches classical theater in Bali, Indonesia, an island well-known for its varied theatrical genres from sacred trance séances to masked dances that tell stories from Balinese history and the great Hindu epics. This class presents not only the various theatrical forms on the island but also their history, ritual, and social roles and transformations. There is a compulsory one-week field trip to Bali in the middle of the semester to learn how to stage a traditional Balinese theatrical genre from Balinese maestros through daily practice sessions, as well as how to be comfortable with learning and performing culturally-specific genres. In the end of the semester, the class performs a Balinese theatrical production on stage.