Introduction

Course Offerings

Class Schedule

Audition Information

Theater & Performance
Studies Major

Theater & Performance
Studies Minor

Dance & Performance
Studies Major

Dance & Performance
Studies Minor

Frequently Asked Questions

Student Advisor

Faculty Listing

Faculty Office Hours

Links

Undergraduate education in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies participates in the strongest traditions of arts and humanities education at Berkeley. Students pursue intensive work in acting, critical studies, design, directing, technical production, choreography, and modern dance technique in a major that emphasizes the methodological rigor of the study of performance, and that sets the literary, historical, theoretical, and cultural traditions of performance in dialogue with other arts and humanities disciplines. The faculty teach at all levels, and undergraduate and Ph.D. students have ample opportunity to study with major scholars and practitioners in theater, dance, and performance studies. Students have significant opportunities to participate in all aspects of performance, both in the formal season offered by the Department, as well as in smaller productions.

Separate major/degree programs are offered in Theater and Performance Studies and in Dance and Performance Studies, and students are encouraged to specialize within each program. Although all students fulfill general requirements in all areas of theater or dance practice and performance studies, they may specialize in one of several areas: acting, contemporary dance and choreography, directing, design, technical production, or drama/theater/performance studies. All students at Berkeley are required to fulfill an extensive range of requirements outside their major, and students majoring in Theater or in Dance are strongly encouraged to fulfill these requirements in complementary offerings in dramatic literature, visual arts and performance history, and culture and performance in a wide range of departments in the Division of Arts and Humanities, and in the College of Letters and Science.

Undergraduate majors and minors in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies are well-prepared for the future; the flexibility and integration with the humanities characteristic of the major makes them excellent candidates for graduate and professional schools, as well as for continued work and education in theater and dance. Students have been honored by the American College Theater Festival and the American College Dance Festival.