A group of ETSU students traveled to Englands to participate in, "London Theatre," a summer course. The group included, left to right: Brittany Gillis-Williams, Jenny Barnett, Emily Mahoney, Alliese Forsman, Dr. Judith Slagle, and, in the background, Evan Thomas and Matt Brewer. Not pictured is Tiffany Brown, who took the photo.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - In May 2008, Dr. Judith Slagle, chair of East Tennessee State University's Department of English, and seven students traveled to England for a course entitled "London Theatre."
During the pre-summer session, they attended performances at various theatres in the West End area and at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, where they took a backstage guided tour by Globe officials and participated in arranged discussion groups.
Students lived in the International Exchange Students' London Residence Hall in Chelsea in southwest London and saw a variety of plays throughout the city, including Shakespeare's King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream, Joanna Baillie's Witchcraft, Bertholt Brecht's The Good Soul of Szechuan, and "blockbusters" such as Woman in Black, Wicked, and The Phantom of the Opera.
There was time for sightseeing, weekend trips to Oxford and Edinburgh, and shopping, but students primarily visited museums, held discussions, kept theatre journals, and submitted a major paper after their return to Johnson City. Slagle and the students collaborated on a review of the first performance in more than 150 years of Baillie's Witchcraft; that work is forthcoming in the British Association for Romantic Studies Bulletin and Review.
"London Theatre" will be offered again in May 2009, and scholarship money will be available through ETSU's Study Abroad program.
For further information, contact the ETSU English Department office at (423) 439-4339.
