English & Language Arts

Women appeared on London's stages for the first time in 1660; before that, female roles were played by boys. When the first woman stepped onto the public stage, she was assumed to be a whore; men had free access to their dressing rooms and at least two, Moll Davis and Nell Gwynn, were mistresses to King Charles II. This program looks at the background and training of these first actresses, at their influence on plays written at the time, at their lives and the roles they played, and at how their sexuality and availability became the central feature of their professional identity. (26 minutes)

When the decision was made by Britain's Channel 4 to film a TV adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the result was a gloriously irreverent, deliciously colorful production in which the twins Viola and Sebastian-Parminder Nagra and Ronny Jhutti-are re-imagined as shipwrecked asylum seekers adrift in a surreal contemporary London. In this fascinating four-part series, the people who made it all happen explain how it was done. Clips from the movie are included throughout. 4-part series, 25 minutes each.

In this program, slang expert Jonathan Green explores the history of English slang and its use around the world. Wittingly revealed are the derivatives and sources of some of the more famous words, such as bimbo-a derivative of the 18th-century Italian word for baby-bambino, and the word slang itself, thought to have derived from the Scandinavian word sling, meaning throw or shot. (23 minutes)

It is said that every road movie and novel about a defining journey owes a debt to the Odyssey. This imaginative program uses the poem's division into groupings of books as a framework to allow Dr. Tom Winnifrith, of Warwick University; Dr. Douglas Cairns, of Leeds University; and Ken Dowden, senior lecturer at Birmingham University, to analyze the oral tradition and key elements of the story line. Readings and dramatizations from the Odyssey enhance the discussion of recurrent themes, characterization, relationships, morals, and the cumulative effect of the ten-year journey in shaping and seasoning Odysseus. (31 minutes)

As the landscape of the New World awakened England's imagination, so did a new landscape of words-in the English of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible. This classic PBS program describes the spread of English to North America and explains how Shakespeare's prodigious vocabulary filled the language with startling new words, phrases, and constructions. Recording strong echoes of Shakespearean English in the little villages lying near Stratford, the program also describes the making of the Authorized Version of the Bible-the only great work of literature ever created by committee-and examines the linguistic dissent perpetrated by the Puritans. (59 minutes)

A scholarly program that reaches out to students of The Canterbury Tales to relate its characters and themes to everyday life in late-14th-century England. Period art of exceptional richness is combined with location photography that retraces the April pilgrimage to Archbishop Becket's shrine at Canterbury; excerpts are read from various tales; and the famous beginning is heard in Middle English. Written by Velma B. Richmond, produced by the University of California, Berkeley. (29 minutes)

Hosted by Eli Wallach, this program dissects Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun through the sharp insights of Joe Morton (Walter Lee Younger); Kim Yancey (Beneatha Younger); Phylicia Rashad (Lena Younger); Ruby Dee, Audra McDonald, Starletta DuPois, and Ernestine Jackson (Ruth Younger); Ralph Carter (Travis Younger); John Fiedler (Carl Lindner); directors Lloyd Richards and Jack Hofsiss; Broadway producer Philip Rose; and Hansberry expert Lynn Domina, author of Understanding A Raisin in the Sun: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. The first play to realistically portray the daily lives of a contemporary African-American family, Raisin-a revolutionary work about race written during the civil rights era-makes the universal statement that dreams of a better future are important to everyone. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. A Films for the Humanities & Sciences Production. (51 minutes)

This extraordinary six-part series traces the history of stage drama and the American imagination, from pre-Revolutionary days to the late 20th century, through expert interviews and a rich trove of archival images. Using theater as a mirror, each program reveals the ongoing evolution of American culture and a society's artistic aspirations. 6-part series.

Few stories of the French Revolution can match the vividness of A Tale of Two Cities. This video/CD-ROM combination offers penetrating insights into Dickens' memorable novel of love and sacrifice.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times...." Dickens' tragic tale of love, friendship, and sacrifice begins against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Using affecting dramatizations of key passages, Dickens experts Professor Margaret Reynolds and Professor John Rignall analyze the many nuances and themes of this work. Topics discussed include dualism in characterization and plot; the impact of the ideas of the French Revolution; the rights of women in 18th-century England and France; and society's ambiguous attitude toward violence. Dickens' dual personality is revealed in the characters of Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay. Although Dickens takes aim at both aristocratic tyranny and revolutionary excess, it is the latter that is precisely conveyed by the character Madame Defarge. The work's lasting importance is analyzed within the context of its emphasis on the irreplaceable value of each human life. (30 minutes)"

Although most actors dream of celebrity, many find satisfaction in modest film and television roles, commercials, and regional theater. This program shows students that side of the profession, interviewing several accomplished performers who-although they are far from being household names-have found steady work on the stage and in Hollywood. Kevin Conway (Invincible, Gettysburg), Melissa Leo (21 Grams), Peter Maloney (Summer of Sam), Jacqueline Knapp (Dominick and Eugene), Jim DeMarse (The Sopranos), Kristin Griffith (Interiors), William Wise (In the Bedroom), and others share their practical yet inspiring views on auditioning, insecurity, disillusionment, aging, and the viability of acting as a career option today. (34 minutes)

While the pace of the third and final year of the master's program does not let up, the real-world necessities of an acting career begin to loom large. In this documentary, the eight students who comprise the class of 2000 culminate their training and prepare for the harsh realities of trying to make a living as actors. A key event is the showcase presentation each student performs before an audience of agents. The finishing exercise for the class is the staging of a double-bill: The Importance of Being Earnest and Bus Stop. The program then moves to a year after their graduation to show how the eight fledgling actors are faring in the world of theater, film, and television. (49 minutes)

This program traces the path of African-American literature from the shores of the U.S. to the Left Bank of Paris at the end of World War II through the late 1960s. The program provides context by first exploring the New Orleans salon poetry of Desdunes and discussing the historic suppression of black activists in the U.S. After the Harlem Renaissance, an increasingly hostile climate drove writers James Baldwin and Richard Wright to Paris, where liberal racial attitudes allowed for greater artistic expression. This program traces their lives in France through remembrances of fellow artists and readings from their diaries and works. (53 minutes)

This volume looks at writing from the perspective of agents, editors, and publishers. It begins with a Q&A segment that spells out how to secure an agent. Moderated by agent Betsy Amster, the panel-BJ Robbins, Julie Barer, and Elyse Cheney-fields questions including What do you like to see in a query letter? and What is a good way to find the right agent? A panel featuring editors Ann Close and Joy Johannesson and publisher Michael Pietsch concludes the program. Questions in this segment range from the general-What makes a book sell?-to the very specific: How do you determine the advance amount an author receives? (99 minutes)

This program looks back at the life and work of Aldous Huxley. Best known for Brave New World, Huxley left behind a large body of work, from his early novels which helped set the mood of the Roaring Twenties, to his essay The Doors of Perception," which became the manifesto of the 1960s drug culture. The program evaluates Huxley's legacy with the poet Stephen Spender, close friends Yehudi Menuhin and Huston Smith, the late drug guru Timothy Leary, biographers Sybille Bedford and David Bradshaw, critic John Carey, geneticist Steve Jones, Huxley's widow Laura and his son Matthew, and in extracts from archival interviews with Aldous Huxley himself. Filmed in California, where Huxley spent most of his life, and in Maryland and England, the program features numerous extracts from Huxley's major works. (50 minutes)"