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Theatre, Film & Dance, Cornell University

Theatre, Film and Dance Cornell University Cornell University Theatre, Film and Dance, Cornell University

Graduate Study

Director of Graduate studies

Professor Debra Castillo
Phone: 607-255-7227

 

Graduate Program Info

 

Graduate Film Minor

The Department of Theatre, Film & Dance offers a graduate film studies minor. For more information, contact Professor Debra Castillo at 607-255-7227.

 

Student Organizations

Cinema and Media Studies Reading Group

This student group meets to discuss recent academic articles and books that have contributed to the field of media studies as well as screen films that have historical or artistic significance.

Association of Graduates in Theatre

Provides opportunities for grad students to share research interests, socialize and network. Ongoing yearly events include The Roundtable and the Play Reading Group.

MA/PhD in Theatre Arts

The doctoral program in theatre and performance studies at Cornell University offers students an interdisciplinary environment in which to pursue critical studies of various dramatic cultures, theatrical traditions, and expressive behavior in increasingly multilingual, intermedial and globalizing contexts. The program is located within the Department of Theatre, Film & Dance and comprised of distinguished faculty from across the humanities. Students many also work with professors at the East China Normal University in Shanghai through the Cornell-China Institute for the Arts and Humanities, established in 2008.

Apply to Cornell's Theatre Arts Ph.D. graduate program.

Freedom and Flexibility

There are two degree programs for the prospective applicant: the PhD and the joint MA/PhD. Students benefit from the unusual flexibility of Cornell's graduate system and the ideals of freedom with responsibility on which the system is based. A course of study is determined in consultation with a student's Special Committee and the PhD may be combined with a certificate in such areas as directing, cinema studies, and feminist, gender and sexuality studies.

Graduate News

Former Cornell Professor Subject of Theatre Studies Book

Carlsonsmall

Cornell University alumnus and former theatre studies professor Marvin Carlson is the subject of a recent published new book, Changing the Subject: Marvin Carlson 1959-2009. The book is edited and with an introduction by Cornell alumnus Joseph Roach, PhD’73.

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Cornell Grad Student Wins 09 Young Scholars Award

Sarah Powers was the graduate student winner for the 2009 Young Scholar's Award, given by the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Her winning paper is titled: "Just Semantics? Defining, Framing, and Referring to the Audience in Dramatic Theory." Over the past year, she has also presented papers at Theatre Symposium (held at Wake Forest University) and at the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image's annual conference (held at the University of Copenhagen).

PhD Alumna Has New Wasserstein Book Out

Former Cornell PhD student Jan Balakian (1991) has recently published a new book, Reading the Plays of Wendy Wasserstein. Balakian's essays place Wasserstein's seven major plays in a historical context, showing a connection between the women's movement in America and the conflicts within her plays.

Future Scholars

gradphoto

Graduate student Diana Looser and Professor Sara Warner.

Our program is focused on preparing students for careers as researchers and professors, with concentrations in drama and theatre; theatre history and aesthetics; and performance studies. Students work closely with Cornell's Society for the Humanities and The School for Criticism and Theory, interdisciplinary centers of intellectual exchange that draw scholars and artists from across the globe. The University boasts one of the best research libraries in the country, which maintains extensive holdings in theatre and performance studies and houses a number of special collections.