Professional director and choreographer Jack Clark will use videos and scripts to look at relevant developments in the diverse characteristics of theater and its performance. This free class will meet from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in Harvard Hall. No need to register; just come to any or all. Questions? jackaclark@ hotmail.com

• October 3: The Birth of Tragedy: Ancient Greek Theater: Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles; The Trojan Women, by Euripides.

• October 10: The Development of Comedy: Ancient Greek political comedy — Lysistrata, by Aristophanes; Ancient Roman sitcom — Miles Gloriosus (The Braggart Soldier), by Plautus; French 17th-century satire — Tartuffe, by Moliere.

• October 17: 17th-Century Villains: the man — Iago in Othello, by William Shakespeare; the woman — BeatriceJoanna in The Changeling, by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley.

• October 24: Female Victims and Feminists in the 19th Century: Miss Julie, by August Strindberg; A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen.

• October 31: The American Tragic Hero: The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams; comparing Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to August Wilson’s Fences.