Inviting audiences into a special relationship with illusion, backstage dramas and plays-within-plays reach beyond and alongside traditional plot-driven narratives to reflect on the process of representation itself. This course will examine a variety of plays and films that deal directly or indirectly with this phenomenon. From All About Eve to Marat/Sade to Being John Malkovich, from Shakespeare to Moliere to Pirandello, playwrights and filmakers have used this device to elicit specific kinds of reactions and reflections from viewers. An examination of the workings of mimesis and metadrama, among other critical concepts, will help us articulate the complex network of responses and underlying assumptions (whether cultural, political, or social), about art and life, that these works engage.