William Worthen

What an insufferable dick. There is absolutely no other way to put it. Hands-down the worst professor (or teacher) I have ever had. Avoid at ALL COSTS. Bill Worthen is a man with a perpetual, anxious, evil grin, making jokes in extremely poor taste; a man with pent-up energy, like a ticking bomb— giving the sense that he could explode on anyone at any minute; a man who is so full of himself that he will not only make you buy a textbook written by himself but who will impose all of his ill-informed, outdated, biased convictions on you as if they are fact. If you want to be assigned an unrealistically massive amount of reading every week (nearly all of it dull, by old/dead white guys) only to then go to class and listen to an old, self-important, over-confident prick unpreparedly ramble purple-prose and undecipherable jargon for the longest 75 minutes of your life twice a week, then go for it. If you want to then have your GPA totally destroyed by being quizzed on the smallest, inconsequential minutia of said readings like they do in high school to prove you read it, then go for it. If you want to go to office hours, only to have him make some snide, inappropriate remarks about your appearance, while glaring at you over his glasses with his little beady, vain, judgmental eyes, then go for it. If you want any theatre-related ambition or interest to be immediately squelched, then,…

Professor WB Worthen is a really terrific teacher who inspires you to engage with all the aspects of theatre, and analyze how performances work to make artistic meaning. His classes are mainly lecture based, with him doing most of the speaking and the entire class feverishly attempting to write down his exact words. The lectures always have a very strong focus on a single element of a play or production that then can be used to discuss other plays or other concerns, which helps you first get a grasp on some of the complicated epistemological/artistic concerns he is interested in (illocution, embodiment, authenticity, and many more), and then you are expected to apply them on your own to other work. Some people complained about how fast he spoke in Theatre History, but I found the pace to be more about the train of thought than every point that got him there. If you don't understand things, Prof. Worthen is super accessible (especially for the head of a department) through e-mail or at his office hours. Though he is a lecturer, he always asks questions and genuinely responds to questions and comments. He appreciates class participation. Something that I especially appreciate about WB's classes is that he is always bringing in topics of conversation from NYC performances, always wants to hear what people "saw over the weekend," and generally encourages people to go see and criti…

There is simply no one out there that compares to William Worthen. He is the authority on all things Modern Drama AND Shakespeare; his own writings weigh the two. His passion in the classroom will keep you engaged from the moment he enters to the moment he realizes that class time is up (you will not be noticing the clock at all during his class). His lectures are incredibly coherent and he uses no notes to facilitate them. He simply knows the texts inside and out, can pull quotes from nearly anything off the top of his mind, and his discussions of the plays are illuminating. He does not recite cliches but his ideas and opinions are based in a lifetime of devotion to the study of theater. He is a brilliant and charismatic man and one should seize the opportunity to take a class with him.

I would recommend this course and the professor. Though I can't speak for the class in a traditional setting, I think it was run in the best way possible considering the online format and circumstances of the semester. Professor Worthen is a super antsy little dude, but brilliant, organized, and funny. My first class, I've taken through Barnard, and I'm impressed. Class almost always went overtime by up to about 10 minutes, which was a little stressful since I had back-to-back classes on my schedule. He read every essay, returned work quickly, and gave actually helpful feedback. Extremely accessible professor. There are some cons. I attended every class without exception and submitted all assignments on time, and still almost failed the course. My grades on everything before the final exam were mostly As, with some Bs. I ended up doing pretty badly on the final, though, due to self-inflicted time constraints, and it was graded unforgivingly. I reached out with long, personal messages via email about concerns I (and others) might be facing due to the pandemic in a futile attempt to establish a student-professor relationship or connection in the online world, and was met with responses that were jarringly curt, uninterested and insensitive. He also often says things in class that are a little off color and he avoids discussions of race and sexuality like the plague. Some of thes…

Professor Worthen is first and foremost passionate about theatre and he has the gift of teaching in that he can spark that passion in his students. And that is the difference between a good and a great professor. I found myself fascinated by the plays, the artists, even the theory part behind performance studies. Many things he taught have changed my perception of live performance and theatre to the better. He is also brilliant, witty, funny, and always prepared to the nines. Watch him when the computer doesn't live up to his level of perfection and you will get a performance by the master himself. It also needs be mentioned that Professor Worthen absolutely ALWAYS LISTENS to everyone's comments, and he truly 'hears' the students. Being at Barnard, he has shown a respect for the woman's perspective that some professors at Columbia might want to live up to. He is also not afraid to stand up for people, popular or not, if he believes they have earned it. All in all, if you are passionate about theatre, acting, performance studies, or literature in general, you will walk away from his class convinced that you chose the right major!!! PS: He loathes the Romantic Poets. So go ahead and quote Keats and you'll see that he'll cringe but still give you a fair grade. He truly has negative capability, q.e.d.

Professor Worthen is simply an extraordinary human. Not only is he utterly brilliant, but he is outrageously funny and kind as well. His energy is contagious and engaging and makes for an all-round enjoyable classroom experience. However, while I would love to have coffee, sit, and chat with Professor Worthen, I would question taking another class with him. As a casual theatre-goer with no previous classroom experience with theatre history, I felt lost for much of the class. Throughout his lectures Professor Worthen, in all of his radiant brilliance, constantly made casual references to playwrights, actors, theatrical technique, movements, etc. that were way over my head. This is a warning to anyone unstudied in theatre that while a prerequisite is not stated for the course, a working knowledge of theatre history is expected. The course was well organized, but aside from having read some really great plays, I barely managed to scrape through the class with a B and my knowledge of Modern Drama is now minimal at best. WARNING: Your entire grade in the class is based on two essays (one short, one long), the final test, and minimal class participation. Worthen is a tough grader and there are no opportunites to make up your grade if you do poorly on one of the assignments. Also, if you don't do all or most of the reading, you will be very sorry by the end because EVERYTHING that wa…

I don't think there is a worse professor in the theatre department than W.B. Worthen. It is astounding that at a college like Barnard that an intensely problematic straight white male is allowed to teach a course let alone head the department. If you are looking to be a theatre major you don't really have a choice but to suffer through this theatre trivia fascist's survey course where you may experience repeated instances of racism, homophobia, or just hours of worthless information. This worthless lecturing is not presented because it is valuable to your education but because it will stroke the extremely large ego of such a small man who loves to remind you of how much irrelevant information he stores in his brain. It is unclear whether or not W.B. has realized that the internet has made memorizing these factoids irrelevant and should instead focus the course on teaching practical ideas about the western theatrical canon relevant to our practices or if he chooses to waste our time and money on purpose. Now to describe the specific instances of racism I witnessed while taking his course. The first instance involved a theatrical use of blackface in which blackness was said to represent evil, ugliness and badness. Worthen went on to describe these ideas and then commented saying "isn't that kinda funny" as he chuckled much like the imp he is. He did not deconstruct the performan…

Two papers and a final. Contrary to what the other reviewer has said about grading, I felt that Worthen was a fair grader and gave me many suggestions. He wants to see you in dialogue with the texts, not plot summaries. One Broadway play (discounted tickets). Very do-able, but not a blow-off class. You need to enjoy the Modern stage.

Quite a few plays and essays to read. The plays are enjoyable, the essays tedious and the workload sporadic. Some days you find yourself with little or no reading and some reading assignments are very nearly impossible to complete in the amount of time given. Two essays (one short, one long) and a final. WARNING: Your entire grade in the class is based on the two essays, the final test, and minimal class participation. Worthen is a tough grader, doesn't give much feedback, and there are no opportunites to make up your grade if you do poorly on one of the assignments. Also if you don't do all or most of the reading you will be very sorry by the end because EVERYTHING that was ever discussed in class is fair game on the final including the identification of specific quotations. Notes on the lectures are essential to studying for the final.