Our graduate programs are committed to Performance as Research as integral to the study of the history, theory, and practice of theatre and performance from around the world. We approach performance simultaneously as an object of study, a way of knowing, and a methodological tool, and are invested in the ways in which it can help us better understand—and challenge—the complicated legacies of our own academic disciplines and artistic practices. 

Program Overview

Our courses place dramatic texts, performance traditions, and applied performance from throughout history in conversation with contemporary performance. We ask: How might this performance work today? What challenges does it present to the contemporary scholar, maker, or facilitator? What role do gender, race, and/or coloniality play in this work? Why is it relevant today? We encourage our graduate students to engage in the practice of theatre and performance, broadly construed.

Involvement Opportunities

  • Our robust season of theatrical shows: students can apply to serve as directors, assistant directors, designers, choreographers, and dramaturgs
  • Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF): our department shares a close relationship with CSF and many of our students have worked with this  professional theatre company as actors, interns, dramaturgs, and technical staff
  • Performers Without Borders: a student group dedicated to using performance to illuminate social issues and ignite positive social change in which students working on applied theatre and theatre for social change can participate
  • PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research: a departmentally-produced journal dedicated to exploring the theory and application of performance in practice

Degrees Offered

*Please note, the PhD program will not be accepting any students in 2024, but we look forward to accepting applications again in 2025. We are still enthusiastically accepting MA and MA/MBA program in 2024. 

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