SOLUS is Queen’s Student On-Line University System. You’ll have access to a SOLUS account once you become a Queen’s student. You’ll use SOLUS to register for courses, add and drop courses, update your contact information, view financial and academic information, and pay your tuition.
First Nations Playwrights
DRAM 303/3.0
A survey of the work of First Nations playwrights, exploring the stories, concerns and aesthetics of these contemporary, mostly Canadian, theatrical practitioners. Course work involves reading, discussion, and writing descriptively, critically or creatively about selected pieces in artistic, social and/or political contexts.
Please note: This course is typically offered in the winter term
Learning Outcomes
After completing DRAM 303, students should come away with the following knowledge and skills:
- An understanding of some of the historical and contemporary social/political/economic circumstances that inform the creative work of First Nations playwrights in 21st century Canada.
- An understanding of some of the alternative world views that inform, and are expressed in, both the creative and critical work of these playwrights.
- A familiarity with the dramaturgical strategies and the political effects of those strategies in contemporary plays by First Nations playwrights.
- The ability to effectively and responsibly use and share information in support of these playwrights, and their work as artists/thinkers, to develop a better understanding of the contextual foundation of their plays.
- The opportunity to explore and engage openly with both familiar and unfamiliar issues, ideas, world views, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.
- The ability to combine and synthesize existing ideas and images in original ways that are marked by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking and risk-taking in their own work as students, scholar-critics, and potential future artists.
The ability to develop and effectively express ideas in writing using a variety of genres and styles.
Description
Dram303 is a course about reading plays, and listening to, through their work, a collection of dynamic, challenging, often hilarious, inspiring, provocative, and brilliant indigenous playwrights and theatre artists. Your job as a student is to let the work of these writers affect you, critically as student-scholars, but also creatively, emotionally, intellectually, and intimately as people. You will be asked to read these plays, engage with the ideas and stories you encounter in them, and then respond thoughtfully, intelligently, and with generosity of spirit in your own writing.
Some First Nations commentators say these plays are part of the fulfillment of Louis Riel’s prophecy: “My people will sleep for one hundred years. When they awake, it will be the artists that give them back their spirit.” Others take John Ralston Saul’s conception, in A Fair Country, of an indigenously inflected Canadian identity to heart. However interpreted, this body of work represents an alternative Canadian artistic theatre practice focused through traditions of storytelling, traditional beliefs, political articulation and activism, social rescue, cultural survivance, and reconstruction. Through these plays and other writings by these playwrights, students will encounter alternative ways of seeing the world, and variant means of interpreting our place within it.
Terms
To be determined
Course Dates:
TBD
Exam Dates:
N/A
Evaluation
20% - First Impressions Responses
20% - Guides Discussion Forums
60% - Four Short Play Reports (15% each)
*Evaluation Subject to Change*
Textbooks and Materials
ASO reserves the right to make changes to the required material list as received by the instructor before the course starts. Please refer to the Campus Bookstore website at http://www.campusbookstore.com/Textbooks/Search-Engine to obtain the most up-to-date list of required materials for this course before purchasing them.
Required Textbooks
- ORDER THESE TITLES FROM THE CAMPUS BOOKSTORE:
(Please refer to the Campus Bookstore website at http://www.campusbookstore.com/Textbooks/SearchEngine/ to order these titles. They will be posted there as soon as they become available) - Farewel by Ian Ross (Scirocco Drama, 1998)
- Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring (Talonbooks, 2009)
- ORDER THESE TITLES DIRECT FROM THE PUBLISHER (PLAYWRIGHTS CANADA PRESS) at http://bit.ly/2frXe5W:
(NOTE: We have arranged with the publisher to sell these titles as a bundle, at a discount. We will post a link to where you can order the bundle, as soon as it is available). - Medicine Shows: Indigenous Performance Culture by Yvette Nolan (Playwrights Canada Press, 2015)
- Staging Coyote's Dream (vol. 2) edited by Monique Mojica and Ric Knowles (Playwrights Canada Press, 2009)
- Darrell Dennis - Two Plays by Darrell Dennis (Playwrights Canada Press, 2005)
- The Hours That Remain by Keith Barker (Playwrights Canada Press, 2013)
In addition to the books listed above, we will also be reading plays and essays from a variety of online sources. You will not need to purchase these sources. We will provide links to them in onQ via the course ereserves.
Time Commitment
Students can expect to spend approximately 10 hours a week (120 hours per term) in study/practice and online activities for DRAM 303.
Course Resources
About SOLUS
About OnQ
onQ is Queen's online learning platform. You'll log into onQ to access your course. All materials related to your course—notes, readings, videos, recordings, discussion forums, assignments, quizzes, groupwork, tutorials, and help—will be on the onQ site.
About Credit Units
Queen’s courses are weighted in credit units. A typical one-term course is worth 3.0 units, and a typical two-term course is worth 6.0 units. You combine these units to create your degree. A general (three-year) BA or BSc requires a total of 90 credit units.
Computer Requirements
To take an online course, you’ll need a high speed internet connection as well as a microphone and speakers to be able to watch videos, hear sounds, and participate in interactive online activities. A webcam is recommended but not necessary.
System Requirements:
Computer Specifications
- Windows 8.1 or newer
- OSX 10.13 (High Sierra) or newer
- Dual Core 2 GHz processor
- 4 GB RAM
- Soundcard
- USB Headset
- Webcam
Supported Browsers
- Chrome (preferred - latest version)
- Firefox (latest version)
- Safari is not recommended as it causes several known issues in onQ
- Edge is not recommended as it causes several known issues in onQ
Internet Connection
- Wired high speed access: Cable or better
- Wifi is not recommended
Java
- Latest version
Media Player
- Flash (latest version)
Adobe Reader
- Latest Version
Dates/Deadlines
The deadlines for new applications to Queen’s Arts and Science Online courses are in our Upcoming Application Dates section.
Grading Scheme
The information below is intended for undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Academic Regulations in other Faculties may differ.
| Letter Grade | Grade Point |
| A+ | 4.30 |
| A | 4.00 |
| A- | 3.70 |
| B+ | 3.30 |
| B | 3.00 |
| B- | 2.70 |
| C+ | 2.30 |
| C | 2.00 |
| C- | 1.70 |
| D+ | 1.30 |
| D | 1.00 |
| D- | 0.70 |
| F | 0.00 |
GPA Calculators
Have your SOLUS grade report handy and then follow the link to the Arts and Science GPA calculators.
How does this affect my academics?
See the GPA and Academic Standing page.
Follow the link above for an explanation of how the GPA system affects such things as the Dean’s Honour List, requirements to graduate, and academic progression.
Frequently Asked Questions on the Grading Scheme
Please follow this link to the FAQ's
Tuition Fees
Tuition fees vary depending when you start, your year, faculty, and program. Fees for Summer Term 2018 first-year Distance Career Arts & Science Domestic students are as follows: for a 3.0-unit course, $685.90; for a 6.0-unit course, $1371.80 See also Tuition and Fees.
Campus Bookstore
All textbooks can be purchased at Queen’s Campus Bookstore.
Non-Queen’s Students
All Queen’s Arts and Science Online courses are open to students at other universities. Before applying as a visiting student, request a Letter of Permission from your home university that states that you have permission to take the course and apply it to your degree. See also Apply.
Academic Integrity
Please see Queen’s policy statement on academic integrity for information on how to complete an online course honestly.
