Roger Copeland is emeritus professor of theater and dance at
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
where he taught History of Western Theatre among other classes. He enjoyed lecturing on the Choric
Dithyramb
The dithyramb (; grc, διθύραμβος, ''dithyrambos'') was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god. Plato, in ''The Laws'', while discussing ...
.
Publications
His essays about theater, film, and dance have appeared in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'', ''
Film Comment'', ''
Partisan Review'', and ''
American Theatre
Theater in the United States is part of the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the British theater. The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and ...
''. His books include ''What Is Dance?'' and ''Merce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modern Dance''.
His film ''Camera Obscura'' won the Festival Award at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh in 1985. In 1989, ''Recorder'', a video adaptation of his theater piece, "The Private Sector," was screened on WNET's Independent Focus series in New York City. ''The Unrecovered'', a feature-length narrative film directed by Copeland, was previewed in 2005 and released in 2007.
Controversies
In 2014, a sharp verbal exchange between Copeland and a student led to an investigation of his conduct as a possible violation of
Title IX
Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
. The investigation was eventually dropped.
Copeland was an outspoken critic of Oberlin College during its
legal dispute with Gibson's bakery.
References
External references
Roger Copeland at IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Roger
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American film directors
Oberlin College faculty