Courses

Our rigorous core curriculum consists of courses in historiography and pedagogy, taken by all students, and a series of field seminars and signature seminars from which students choose a minimum of four, best suited to their research interests. Field seminars focus on topics in the historiography of theatre and performance, helping students to both develop a solid grounding in our discipline, and engage in cutting-edge debates with a global and theoretically sophisticated perspective. Field seminars include “Performance Encounters: Early Modern in the Age of Exploration,” “Performance and Political Modernity,” and “Avant-gardes.” Signature seminars, meanwhile, explore specific research methodologies in depth, from performance ethnography, to theatre for social change or performance studies.

Students develop interdisciplinary expertise by taking coursework to complete a supporting program or minor field and developing relationships with faculty outside the department. They must also demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language by the conclusion of their coursework.