Overview of the Ph.D. Program

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The Ph.D. program provides comprehensive training in theatre and performance scholarship with a dual emphasis on theatre and performance history and dramatic theory. Particular strengths of the program include American, English and Classical studies, race and gender studies, semiotics, Asian and post-colonial theory. The three-year plan of study addresses a full range of Western and Non-Western materials from the ancient to the postmodern.

Graduates of the program have gone on to careers as university professors, arts administrators, dramaturgs and critics. Most applicants have theatre degrees and production experience, but on-going production work is not an integral part of the doctoral program. The enrollment is small, and individual attention to scholarly projects shapes the student's experience throughout the course of study. Whatever their particular interests, Ph.D. students are expected to develop the broadest possible understanding of theatre theory and history. For a broader cross-disciplinary appeal, the program partners with other departments to cover areas outside the expertise of the faculty. These areas include English, Comparative Literature, Asian Studies, the International School.

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Program of Study

Coursework within the School consists of three years of study including a sequence of 16 seminars (8 in history/8 in theory), a reading quarter and qualifying and comprehensive examinations. These courses are linked to provide complete preparation in the major issues of historical study and contemporary critical practice. Students also enroll in a minimum of three upper level courses outside the School of Drama, and must complete an upper level reading course in a foreign language.

The sequence of drama seminars reflects the changing needs of the field and the developing research interests of the faculty.& Topics in the history sequence have included Drama in the Industrial Age , Communism and Capitalism , and Sources and Antiquity . Seminars in criticism have included Reading, Interpretation and Performance, Mimesis and Theatrical Representation , The Semiotics of Theatre , and Globalization Theory. From the seminars, students are encouraged to develop original research and to present their work at professional conferences, leading to publication in academic journals.

The fourth year of the program is devoted to writing a dissertation under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Recent doctoral dissertations have explored semiotics, feminism, medieval traditions, American theatre history, contemporary English and German drama, ethnicity and performance theory.