Texts
Aristophanes. Lysistrata and Other Plays. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780140448146. [Download a version of Lysistrata from Project Gutenberg.]
Corrie, Rachel, Alan Rickman, and Katherine Viner. My Name is Rachel Corrie. 2nd ed. London, UK: Nick Hern Books, 2008. ISBN: 9781854599469.
Ensler, Eve. The Vagina Monologues. New York, NY: Villard, 2007. ISBN: 9780345498601.
Hellman, Lillian. The Children’s Hour. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service, 1953. ISBN: 9780822202059.
Hughes, Holly. Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler. 1st ed. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780802133335.
Ibsen, Henrik. Four Major Plays. Vol. 2. Translated by Rolfe Fjelde. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1970. ISBN: 9780451522115.
Odets, Clifford. Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780802132208.
Parks, Suzan-Lori. Topdog/Underdog. New York, NY: Dramatist’s Play Service, 2004. ISBN: 9780822219835.
Shaw, George Bernard. Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Edited by Kindle. Digireads.com, 2004. [Download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg.]
Williams, Tennessee. Streetcar Named Desire. Edited by Jordan Yale Miller. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1972. ISBN: 9780138514853.
(These books have resources that will help you with your research, including useful bibliographies)
Aldgate, Anthony, and James T. Robinson. Censorship in Theatre and Cinema. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780748619610.
Houchin, John H. Censorship of the American Theatre in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780521108355. [Preview this book in Google Books.]
Sova, Dawn B. Banned Plays. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2004. ISBN: 9780816050703.
(Additional Background Reading on Censorship)
Mackay, Scott. “Author Visits Providence Production.” The Providence Journal (March 3, 2008): 1-2.
Reardon, William R. “The Tradition behind Bostonian Censorship.” The Educational Theatre Journal 7, no. 2 (May 1955): 97-101.
Taranto, James. “The Prurience and Prejudice of Holly Hughes.” New York City Tribune (October 8, 1990).
Hammer, Joshua. “The Death of Rachel Corrie.” Mother Jones (September/October 2003): 1-11.
Shaw, Bernard. “Mrs. Warren’s Profession. The Author’s Apology.” The EServer Drama Collection (January 1902): 1-14.
Statement by Holly Hughes, plaintiff/respondent, on the U.S. Supreme Court “Decency” Ruling. (June 30, 1998): 1-2.
(Web Resources on Censorship)
D’Entremon, Jim. “Pilgrims’ Progress: Boston’s Gay History.” The Guide Magazine, November 2007.
Havis, Allan. “American Political Plays and Culture Post 9/11.” Marshall Institute Blog, September 5, 2007.
Goodman, Amy, and Juan Gonzalez. “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” Democracy Now, TV/Radio News Program Debate, March 22, 2006.
Brantley, Ben. “Celebrating Shaw…and Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” The New York Times, September 16, 2005.
Butterfield, Fox. “Boston Journal; In a Furor Over Photos, An Echo of City’s Past.” The New York Times, July 31, 1990.
Banned in Boston. Research Guide by Boston University Library.
Defending Reproductive Rights in Cyberspace. American Civil Liberties Union, October 31, 1996.
| WEEK # | READINGS |
|---|---|
| 1 | Overview; questions; what’s “obscene”? |
| 2 | Shaw, Bernard. Mrs. Warren’s Profession (1893). |
| 3 |
Freud, Sigmund. “Negation.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud. Translated by James Stachey, et al. London, UK: Hogarth Press, 1961, pp. 233-39. Foucault, Michel. “The Repressive Hypothesis.” In A History of Sexuality. Vol. 1. Tanslated by Robert Henley. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1978. ISBN: 9780394417752. |
| 4 |
Houchin, John. “Overture: Theatrical Censorship from the Puritans to Anthony Comstock.” In Censorship of the American Theater in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780521818193. Obscenity law readingsComstock, Anthony. Excerpts from Frauds Exposed; or, How the People are Deceived and Robbed, and the Youth Corrupted. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith, 1969. ISBN: 9780875850795. U.S. Code Annotated (Title 18, Rules 371-700): Crimes and Criminal Procedures. Los Angeles, CA: West Group Publishing, 2000, pp. 85-88. Statutes at Large and Proclamations of the USA from March 1871 to march 1873 and Treaties and Postal Conventions. US Code: obscene materials (current law) 1460; 1461; US Statutes: obscene literature (1873 “Comstock Law”); Massachusetts: “An Act to Punish Unnatural and Lascivious Acts” (1887); Massachusetts Sodomy Law; Massachusetts: “Obscenity”: definitions. |
| 5 | Ibsen, Henrik. Ghosts (1881). |
| 6 | Aristophanes. Lysistrata (411 BCE). |
| 7 | Odets, Clifford. Waiting for Lefty (1935). |
| 8 | Hellman, Lillian. The Children’s Hour (1934). |
| 9 | Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). |
| 10 | Parks, Suzan-Lori. Topdog/Underdog (1988). |
| 11 | Corrie, Rachel, Alan Rickman, and Katherine Viner. My Name is Rachel Corrie. 2nd ed. London, UK: Nick Hern Books, 2008. ISBN: 9781854599469. |
| 12 |
Hughes, Holly. The Well of Horniness (1983). ———. Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler. 1st ed. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780802133335. |
| 13 | Ensler, Eve. The Vagina Monologues. New York, NY: Villard, 2007. ISBN: 9780345498601. |
