Mark Cosdon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies
Department of Communication Arts and Theatre
311 Vukovich Center for Communication Arts
Allegheny College
Meadville, PA 16335

mcosdon@NOSPAMallegheny.edu --Of course, you'll want to remove the NOSPAM bit.

Office: (814) 332-2304
FAX: (814) 332-5335

Allegheny College's Playshop Theatre is now on Facebook! (You don't have to be a Facebook user to have a look!)

Spring 2012 - Exam Week Office Hours
Tuesday, May 1: 11 - noon
Wednesday, May 2: 4 - 6 p.m.
Friday, May 4: 9 - 11 a.m.
Monday, May 7: 9 - noon
Tuesday, May 8: 11 - noon

Spring 2012 - Teaching Schedule
FS 102 - The Contemporary American Musical, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays
CA 325 - The Revolutionary Stage, 10 - 10:50 a.m., Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
CA 430 - Special Topics in Theatre: The Contemporary American Stage, 1:30 - 2:45 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays

Fall 2012 - Teaching Schedule
FS 101 - The American Rock Musical, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays
CA 315 - Classical Ages of the Theatre, 11 - noon, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
CA 130 - Introduction to Theatre, 9 - 9:50 a.m., Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

Spring 2013 - Teaching Schedule
CA 130 - Introduction to Theatre, 9 - 9:50 a.m., Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
CA 325 - Revolutionary Stage, 11 - 11:50 a.m., Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

Italy EL 2013 - "La Bella Figura: Italy Then and Now"
An interdisciplinary exploration of central Italy grounded in the Italian language and the culture of the Renaissance and today. The small, walled hill town of Amelia, one of the oldest in Italy, is the course's starting point, where students will be housed with families and study Italian intensively. Time is also devoted to learning about Italian customs, mores, and manners firsthand through a range of activities and fieldtrips. Students consider what it means to be "Italian" by focusing on the material presence of the past as a vital mode of cultural production and meaning. Structures of moral reasoning, theatricality, cultural codes and styles, religion, architecture, art, and food are analyzed as complex signifiers offering rich insights into Italian life. With Amelia as a base, students will make one-day visits to nearby towns including Assisi, Siena, Urbino, Orvieto and Gubbio in Tuscany and Umbria--two of the most picturesque and historic provinces in Italy. As well, students will make longer overnight trips to a spectacular agriturismo (working farm) in Titignano and to Florence, the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. The course concludes with six days in Rome, where students will deepen their familiarity with the various dimensions of late Medieval and Renaissance history, as well as the classical traditions.
Tentative Trip Dates: May 13 - June 8, 2013.