PHD Program

UCSD Theatre and Dance offers a groundbreaking Ph.D. in Theatre and Drama in conjunction with the Department of Drama at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The joint nature of the Ph.D. program provides an unrivalled diversity of theatre faculty and affiliated faculty between both campuses available for coursework and advising. Within the context of the program’s twin focus on theory and history, an innovative structure permits each student to pursue a custom-designed curriculum that draws from a rich variety of seminars in faculty research areas that include: Theatre of the Americas (modernist and postmodernist theatre and performance; US Latino theatre; African American theatre and dance; Asian American performance) and European Theatre (Greek classical theatre; Shakespeare; neoclassical, modern, Italian Renaissance, and contemporary French theatre; modern and contemporary German theatre), as well as Asian Theatre, Gender Studies, Intercultural Theatre, and Critical Theory.

Ph.D. students take seminars at both UCSD and UCI and write dissertations under the supervision of faculty at both campuses. In addition, UCSD Ph.D. students have historically received part of their financial support by working on the editorial staff of the internationally renowned theatre journal TheatreForum and by creating publicity materials for productions staged by the department’s top-ranked MFA program. The scholarly, theoretical nature of the doctoral program thus exists alongside the thriving artistic scene of the UCSD Theatre District, which includes the La Jolla Playhouse. Students with backgrounds in theatre and interests in history and theory find the breadth of the UCSD Theatre and Dance department and the joint nature of the Ph.D. program to be fruitful ground to prepare for a professional career in scholarship.

 

Faculty Research Areas

 

	Jim Carmody. PhD Stanford. Classical and Contemporary French Theatre, History of Mise en Scène. Full Bio.
	Emily Colborn-Roxworthy. PhD Northwestern. Asian American Drama, Intercultural Performance, Political Spectacle, Performance Studies. Full Bio.
	Nadine George-Graves. PhD Northwestern. African American Theatre, Gender and Performance, Dance. Full Bio.
	Jorge Huerta. PhD UC-Santa Barbara. Chicano and US Latino Theatre and Dramatic Literature. Full Bio.

	Marianne McDonald. PhD UC-Irvine. Ancient Greek and Roman Drama and their Modern Versions, Irish Drama, Japanese Drama. Full Bio.
	Janet Levarie Smarr. Ph.D. Princeton University. European Renaissance, Italian, Women’s Studies. Full Bio.
	John Rouse. Ph.D. Stanford University. Modern German Theatre, International Avant-Garde. Full Bio.

Other faculty areas of expertise include Asian Theatre, Gender Studies, Intercultural Theatre, and Critical Theory.

UCI Faculty

Stephen Barker. Ph.D., University of Arizona;
Professor: Postmodern Theatre, Beckett, Critical Theory. Full Bio.

Anthony Kubiak. Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee;
Professor: American and Modern Drama, Modern Poetry, Critical Theory, Philosophy. Full Bio.

Daphne Lei. Ph.D., Tufts University;
Associate Professor: Asian Theatre, Asian American Theatre, Intercultural Theatre, Gender Theory, Performance Theory. Full Bio.

Ian Munro. Ph.D., Harvard University;
Associate Professor: European Drama and Performance, Early Modern Popular Culture, Theatrical Performance of Wit. Full Bio.

Bryan Reynolds. Ph.D., Harvard University;
Professor and Head of Doctoral Studies: Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, Critical Theory, Transversal Poetics, Feminist Theory, Performance Theory, Cultural Studies. Full Bio.

Bill Tomlinson. Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Assistant Professor of Informatics and Drama: Autonomous Characters, Computational Social Behavior, Interactive Media, Real-Time Animation. Full Bio.

Frank Wilderson. Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley;
Assistant Professor: Film theory, Marxism, Black Political Theory, Dramaturgy, and Cultural Studies. Full Bio.

 

Facts about the UCSD/UCI Joint Doctoral Program

Each department selects its own students. Students earn their degrees from the campus to which they are admitted. Each department supports its own students in accordance with applicable departmental and campus financial support policies.

• Students take a minimum of one graduate seminar per year with a faculty member of the other campus.
• Students have access to all PhD seminars in both departments.
• Graduate classes and seminars count toward graduation in both departments.
• All doctoral committees in each department include a faculty member from the other campus.
• The dissertation director may be selected, as a result of specific interests and after coursework, from either campus.
• The Joint Doctoral Program sponsors, on a rotating-host basis, a colloquium in which PhD students from both departments present samples of their work and discuss them with colleagues and faculty.
• Both departments offer strongly competitive support packages to qualified students. Support packages may include tuition, fees, and stipend.
• Students who have advanced to candidacy may have the opportunity to teach undergraduate classes in their research areas.

Program of Study

All students are required to:

• take an Introduction to Doctoral Studies
• take a minimum of six seminars in history of drama and theatre
• take a minimum of four seminars in theory and criticism
• pass through a sequence of annual exams that focus progress toward degree completion
• satisfy the second language requirement before the end of the third year
• complete and defend a dissertation

Course offerings

Students are required to an introduction to doctoral studies plus ten departmental seminars to achieve candidacy. The following doctoral seminars are a sampling of those that have been taught in the past couple years; the syllabi are available for reference here.

• Introduction to Doctoral Studies (Professors George and Roxworthy)
• Chicano Dramatic Literature and Theatre (Professor Huerta)
• Brecht’s Modernism (Professor Rouse)
• Madness in Renaissance Culture and Drama (Professor Smarr)
• Heroism, Men and Women, and Colonialism: Ancient Drama and Plays by Athol Fugard (Professor McDonald)
• How to Do Things With Theory: Theatre History, Performance, and Nationalism (Professor Roxworthy)
• Theatre Historiography (Professor Rouse)
• Dialectics in African American Theatre (Professor George)

Recently Completed Dissertations

Ashley Lucas:
Performing the (Un)Imagined Nation: The Emergence of
Ethnographic Theatre in the Late Twentieth Century

Amy Cook:
Shakespeare, the Illusion of Depth, and the Science of
Parts: An Integration of Cognitive Science and Performance Studies

Danielle Amato:
Collage Corporeality: Body and Technology in Contemporary American Performance.

Christopher Berchild:
Staging Dublin: Urban Representation in Contemporary Irish Drama.

D.J. Hopkins:
City / Stage / Globe: The Reinvention of Space in Shakespeare's London.

Virginie Magnat:
Towards An Indigenous Ethnography of Performance: Grounding the Intercultural Utopia in the Performer's Labor of Embodiment.

Shelley Orr:
Theorizing Stages: Text, Performance, and Dramaturgical Practice in the Theatre of Marguerite Duras.

Antonia Nakano Glenn:
Racing and E-Racing the Stage: The Politics of Mixed Race Performance

 

Employment Record

Our graduates have secured academic positions at institutions including: Indiana State University, San Diego State University, University of Arizona, UC Santa Cruz, University of Texas, and Washington University.

Living in La Jolla and the San Diego Area

• Renowned regional theatres the La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theatre
• Lively fringe arts scene including San Diego Rep, Sushi Art, Sixth at Penn, Cygnet, Diversionary, Adams Avenue, and Studio of the Arts
• Close proximity to Los Angeles and Mexico

Contact Information

Department Addresses:

Department of Theatre & Dance
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0344

858.534.1046 (Graduate Admissions)
858.534.1080 (Fax)

Department of Drama
University of California, Irvine
249 Drama
Irvine, CA 92697-2775

949.824.6614 (Graduate Admissions)
949.824.3475 (Fax)

Admissions and Selection Process

Applicants must have or must be about to receive a BA (with a minimum GPA of 3.5), MA, or MFA degree prior to applying for admission. Experience in one of the creative activities of theatre (acting, design, directing, dramaturgy, playwriting) will enhance chances of admission. While not required for admission, a working knowledge of a second language is highly desirable. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required for all those applying to the doctoral program. Applicants must also submit two samples of their critical writing ( e.g. seminar paper or MA thesis chapter ), one of which must deal with an aspect of drama or theatre. Please note that due to the nature of our program, students may enter only in the fall quarter, and we do not accept transfer credits from other programs.

Students selected for admission will be notified after a complete review of the file and all submitted documents and after a personal or telephone interview. Entrance into the program is highly selective. On average, two students are selected each year.

To apply online go to our Admissions Page or email our Graduate Adviser, Lee Montaño at lmontano@ucsd.edu.