THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

Degree Types: PhD

The Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama (IPTD) is a cross-school program featuring faculty and coursework that span the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Visual and Performing Arts. We train outstanding students for lifetime careers both within and beyond the academy, emphasizing the simultaneous development of intellectual excellence in scholarship with pedagogical skills. We seek students with exceptional promise as researchers who may also have backgrounds in theatre, dance, or performance in order to examine historical and contemporary theatrical practice from multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives.

IPTD gives students the opportunity to choose classes and work with professors from any department in the School of Communication or the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, while providing a home base in the Department of Theatre. Individual students in IPTD work with a committee unique to their interests and, in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and their advisors, design a program of study incorporating theatre, dance, or performance research with one or more other academic fields.  

Students in this program are encouraged to participate in TGS’s Interdisciplinary Initiative program. For more information on how you can have a second intellectual “home” outside of your department or program, please visit the Interdisciplinary Clusters page.

The Department of Theatre also offers MFA programs in Acting, Directing, and Stage Design.

Additional resources:

• Department website
• Program handbook(s)

Degree Requirements

The following requirements are in addition to, or further elaborate upon, those requirements outlined in The Graduate School Policy Guide.

PhD (For students starting in Fall 2023 or later)

(Students starting in Fall 2022 have the choice of adhering to the new or former core course requirements)
The PhD in Theatre and Drama consists of 18 course units, including six required core courses that emphasize a breadth of historical coverage as well as significant methodological inquiry into historical and theoretical practices. Courses satisfying these requirements are identified each year by the Director, and only those so approved can satisfy the requirement. 

Coursework Requirements

PhD (For students starting in Fall 2021 or earlier)

(Students starting in Fall 2022 have the choice of adhering to the new or former core course requirements)
The PhD in Theatre and Drama consists of 18 course units, including six required core courses that emphasize a breadth of historical coverage as well as significant methodological inquiry into historical and theoretical practices. Courses satisfying these requirements are identified each year by the Director, and only those so approved can satisfy the requirement. 

Coursework Requirements

*

Courses satisfying theses requirements must have prior approval of the program director.

Other PhD Degree Requirements

• Examinations: late in second year or early in third year, qualifying examination for admission to candidacy consisting of three three-hour written sections followed by one two-hour oral examination; examination materials focus on reading lists identifying (usually) three examination fields approved by the student's dissertation committee and the IPTD Executive Committee
• PhD Dissertation: written dissertation and oral defense
• Other: at the beginning and end of the academic year the student submits a statement of current progress and goals on GSTS, which is added to the student's program record; the Executive Committee reviews these statements each year and makes recommendations to program director and in written statements to student