University degrees: Postgraduate
Course length: 2 years
Course city: Los Angeles
The degree program of Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies is an innovative, interdisciplinary program that offers an international, cross-cultural exploration of theater, performance and the performative. The goal of the program is to produce world-class scholars whose research expands the understanding of theater, performance and performative actions with regard to their historical and cultural significance.
The program is small and highly selective; students enjoy intense personal mentoring in their pursuit of scholarship and professional proficiency. Many applicants to the program receive financial support through the granting of teaching assistantships and fellowships. Faculty publications and professional participation cover a broad array of research areas that enable the mentoring of a diverse range of dissertation projects. Dissertation projects combine original interpretive methodologies derived from critical theories and applied to the study of performance and performative actions. Recent dissertation subjects include digital performance, the costuming of Brazilian popular performances, Chinese and Taiwanese nationalist theater, African American performance and music, contemporary Japanese theater, Korean cinema and performance, Mexicana and Chicana performance, and historical studies of lesbian/feminist and queer performative strategies.
Students are encouraged to study with scholars in other departments in the field of their research interests and to take advantage of the enormous academic and cultural resources available at UCLA that include, among many others: the interdisciplinary Centers for African American Studies, Chicano and Chicana Studies, Asian American Studies and the Study of Women; the Fowler Museum of Cultural History; the Department of World Arts and Cultures; and the UCLA Center for Performance Studies, comprised of faculty across disciplines working in the field of performance. Los Angeles is a multicultural, multi-lingual, international city that offers a wide range of Western and Non-Western artistic activity; and special cultural resources such as the J. Paul Getty Museum and Institutes, the Huntington Library, and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center.
Course Requirements
During the first six quarters (two academic years), students must complete a minimum of 12 graduate courses (200- or 500- level) and Theater 220. Theater 216A, 216B, 216C are required. The remaining nine courses are elective graduate courses, seminars, or tutorials. Students are regularly enrolled in one seminar within the department and one beyond the department and no more than two electives may be tutorials. These electives must augment the required courses so as to constitute a definable area of study associated with the dissertation topic. The dissertation is a historical, critical, analytical, or experimental study of a theater or performance studies topic.
Foreign Language Requirement
There is no departmental foreign language requirement for the Ph.D. degree. However, specific qualifying examination areas may require students to demonstrate mastery of a language other than English before taking that qualifying examination.
