Washington University Dance Theatre: Living in the Momentum, 2010
Eclipsed
The Threepenny Opera
Curse of the Starving Class
Hairspray

Mission Statement

The Performing Arts Department of Washington University, housed in the Division of the Humanities in Arts and Sciences, is dedicated to teaching the disciplines of theater and dance as a fundamental part of a liberal arts education based in a research university. We believe that the practice and study of theater, dance, and performance provide crucial interpretive windows into history and culture and that they deepen our understanding of diverse human experience across time and around the globe. We believe that both rigorous critical study of these cultural forms and disciplined aesthetic practice provide vital modes of inquiry that advance knowledge.

Radio Free Emerson

Radio Free Emerson

Showing February 17-26.
Purchase tickets by phone (314) 935-6543 or online. 
For more information about the show, check out this article in the Record. 

February 17, 2012

Marcus Residency Dance Artist Kirstie Simson Teaches a Master Class

Dance students in the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences get things moving Feb. 6, as part of an advanced master class led by acclaimed improvisational dancer Kirstie Simson. Described as “a force of nature” by The New York Times, Simson was on campus as the PAD’s 2012 Marcus Residency Dance Artist.

February 14, 2012

Student Thesis Spotlight: Amanda Spector

My thesis is an analysis of the idea of home as it is made manifest in Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill, Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard and August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. All three plays are in the canon of American Family Drama and the characters have a particular interest in the dysfunction of their homes. The mother characters especially feel the need to alter the state of the home (and sometimes the house as well) in order to find a stable sense of self identity. My thesis argues that the home these people so desperately yearn for is something that they already have. It is in a perpetual cycle of chaos and vulnerability, as well as through the struggle for independence and codependence that the family members connect and find home.