AB Brown
Assistant Professor of Performance, Theater and Dance
Performance, Theater, and Dance
The lights come up. The house is packed. You’ve spent months preparing for this moment. The adrenaline rushes and the show starts.
Whether you’re a performer, playwright, director, choreographer, designer or someone who prefers to work behind the curtain, programs in the Performance, Theater, and Dance Department will prepare you for future involvement in the performing arts.
About Performance, Theater, and Dance
The Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance emphasizes performance practice and study as paths to engaged citizenship. Under its umbrella, the disciplines of Theater, Dance, Design, Media and Performance, and Performance Studies integrate theory and practice; give students avenues to follow myriad curiosities; and teach students to become thoughtful collaborators and leaders. Students merge critical and creative thinking by integrating disciplinary knowledge from varied fields into creative practice. With a commitment to original work, many departmental productions focus on hybridity and interdisciplinarity; and historical works are informed by our contemporary position. As students progress through the flexible major, they create their own pathways according to their primary interests. Students leave prepared to make change in changing fields–whether that is in performing arts or elsewhere.
The Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance is equally committed to broadening our definitions of performance and expanding our sense of community. Its public season includes faculty-led student productions and professional guest artists and companies. All performances are free and open to the public. Similarly, production experiences and courses are open to non-majors. There is no audition requirement for incoming students, but each semester presents audition opportunities for individual shows.
Faculty and Staff
Learn more about the members of the department
Matthew Cumbie
Visiting Assistant Professor of Performance, Theater, and Dance
John Ervin
Technical Director, Performance, Theater, and Dance
Marjorie Gallant
Production Manager
Annie Kloppenberg
Associate Professor of Performance, Theater & Dance; Chair of Performance, Theater & Dance
Meredith LaBounty
Costume Shop Manager
Kate Pestana
Administrative Assistant-Performance, Theater, Dance and Cinema Studies
Gwyneth Shanks
Assistant Professor of Performance, Theater and Dance
Jim Thurston
Associate Professor of Performance, Theater and Dance
Bess Welden
Lecturer of Performance, Theater and Dance
- Christine M. Wentzel, M.A. ’94, M.A., 1973-2011, Adjunct Professor of Theater and Dance, Emerita
- Joylynn W.D. Wing, M.A. ’04, Ph.D., 1988-2008, Professor of Theater and Dance, Emerita
Events
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