Theatre and Performance Studies

Theatre and Performance Studies new curriculum is coming soon

Program Description

The Theatre and Performance Studies program at California State University Channel Islands provides an inclusive learning environment that promotes and values creativity, collaboration, community, and culture through embodied performance, on stage, on screen, and in everyday life. The degree offers students a strong foundation of performance skills in the areas of theatre as well as new media. Coursework is anchored in imagination, individual experiences, local and global awareness, current and historical events, and the performance traditions of diverse cultures, all as sources of artistic expression, intellectual inquiry, and human connection.

Theatre and Performance Studies majors learn to use their voices both physically and metaphorically, to develop proficiency in storytelling and shared live presence, both in-person and virtual, and to cultivate and apply an understanding of how representation works and matters in performances on various twenty-first century stages and screens, and beyond.

Careers

The Theater and Performance Studies major prepares students to forge their own unique and creative career paths by integrating their skills in collaboration, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving, with their understanding of embodied performance forms, histories, and cultures in order to work or pursue advanced studies in diverse interconnected careers and contexts, including Hollywood, Broadway, regional theatre, digital platforms, education, community organizations, arts activism, somatic practice, drama therapy, social work, arts administration, and other performance-oriented jobs not yet in existence.

Program Learning Outcomes

Develop an embodied practice for lifelong engagement with theatre and performance as integral components of education, community, ritual, cultural knowledge, social justice, equity, and history.
Demonstrate critical thinking through analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of written, visual, and audio texts in diverse cultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
Integrate the theories, practices, and methods of theatre and performance to develop a range of twenty-first century skills such as empathy building, communication, collaboration, creativity, innovation, critical thinking, digital and media literacy, and global awareness.
Use knowledge of theatre and performance to engage with equity-minded, anti-racist and anti-colonial issues, practices, and movements in communities, and work toward a just and equitable society in collaboration with service organizations.
Analyze theatre and performance as continually developing artistic forms and human phenomena connected by the origins, contributions, and confluences of Indigenous, African, Latin, Asian, and European peoples, and intersecting with race and racism, class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, age, economics, and/or technology in diverse contemporary as well as historical cultures and societies.
Express themselves effectively in written, physical, and spoken forms in response to a variety of personal, local, global, and historical events.

Faculty

Catherine Scott Burriss, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Performing Arts
Bell Tower East, Room 2760
(805) 437-3126
catherine.burriss@csuci.edu

Programs

Major(s)

Theatre and Performance Studies, B.A. - 120 units