A cross divisional, interdisciplinary, team-taught course that fulfills the 11th- and 12th-grade English elective requirement, this class addresses the writer as artist and performer. Students examine a wide range of alternative, mainstream, and experimental theatrical and literary genres. Units include solo spoken word, slam poetry, epic theatre, street theatre, fringe theatre, Commedia dell’Arte, and, ideally, a smattering of both performance and conceptual art. In addition to the analytical examination and discussion of selected texts, students are expected to participate in the creation and performance of original, written, theatrical, and poetic works. This is as much a creative class as it is an analytical one—and, fittingly, divides class meeting locations between a classroom and the theatre. Students also participate in required trips, both in the evening and during the school day. Past classes have attended evening performances at La Mama Experimental Theatre and poetry workshops at The Nuyorican Poets Café. Texts for the year include works by Aristophanes, Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theater, Luigi Pirandello, The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Tom Stoppard, several complete volumes of contemporary poetry, and more. You do not need to be a drama student to take this class. Talent and experience are appreciated, but optional.