Course Description

CIT 208 GOD ON BROADWAY   3.0 Credit(s)
What can Broadway shows teach us about God? Does thinking about faith and doubt or what it means to be human show us anything about theatre? We know that God has always been a big-name star on stage: from Olympian deities in Greek tragedies to the prayers of singing nuns in classic musicals. The word "Broadway" describes two things. "Broadway" is a physical location-a street in Manhattan that runs through the theater district. And "Broadway" is also a style of theatrical drama and its literary afterlife as a printed script that can be performed again and again. Broadway shows strive to be commercially successful and accessible to a wide audience. Can Broadway reveal something about "God" for such a mixed and public audience? Can beloved Broadway shows help us talk about God and the common good in our shared lives today? Does God still perform on the world's stage? This seminar course looks at plays and musicals within, alongside, and through some big and controversial questions and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Taking its cue from God's presence and absence on stage and on the streets of ordinary life, we will explore theatre from the interdisciplinary perspective of Catholic Studies. Students will encounter cross-cultural religious inquiry and major performance theories, study plays and musicals by and about believers and atheists, and discuss Broadway's theological and ethical dimensions. A Catholic Studies approach to both God and Broadway invites us to consider the universal in the particular, so this course will focus on our close examination of classic and contemporary plays and musicals themselves. Seminar conversations will focus on dramatic scripts, recordings of performances, theological and theatrical interpretation theories, and our own ideas and responses
Offered: As Needed Contact Department