Ph.D. in Drama and Theatre

Department of Drama Faculty

Anthony Kubiak, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee;
Professor, Head of Doctoral Studies: American and Modern Drama, Critical Theory, Philosophy, Shamanism and Performance, Buddhism and Theatre.

Daphne Lei, Ph.D., Tufts University;
Professor: Chinese opera and performance, Asian American Theatre, Intercultural performance, transnational, diasporic, gender and ethnic studies, transpacific studies.

Tiffany Ana López, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara.
Professor, Dean of Claire Trevor School of the Arts: Dramaturgy, Latinx performance

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

Zachary Price, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara;
Assistant Professor: African American drama and performance, Black cultural production, Afro Asian performance and aesthetics, performance and community, liberation studies.

Bryan Reynolds, Ph.D., Harvard University;
Professor: Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, Critical Theory, Transversal Poetics, Feminist Theory, Performance Theory, Cultural Studies.

Tara Rodman, Ph.D. Northwestern University;
Assistant Professor: Modern Theatre, Performance, and Dance; Japanese performance; Transnationalism; Racial and Ethnic Formation; Global Asias; Comparative Modernisms.

Professor Emeritus (UC Irvine)

Stephen Barker, Ph.D., University of Arizona;
Professor, and Dean, Claire Trevor School of the Arts; Executive Director, UCI Museum and Institute for California Art: Performance Theory, Poststructural Theory, Beckett, Para- and Postmodern Theatre, Critical Literacy.

Ketu H. Katrak, Ph.D., Bryn Mawr College;
Professor: Ancient Sanskrit Theatre, African and Black Diaspora Drama, Feminist Critical Theory, Performance Theory.

David McDonald, Ph.D., Stanford University;
Professor Emeritus: Dramatic Theory, Irish Drama, Theatre History, Playwriting.

Janelle Reinelt, Ph.D., Stanford University;
Professor Emeritus: Political Theory and Performance.

Robert Weimann, Ph.D., Humboldt University (Berlin);
Professor Emeritus: Shakespeare, Critical Theory, Modern German Theatre.

UCSD Faculty

Julie Burelle, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; 
Associate Professor: Native American and First Nation Theatre; Theatre History and Theory

Jade Power-Sotomayor, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego;
Assistant Professor:  Latinx theatre, inter-cultural performance in the Latin Caribbean diaspora, epistemologies of body, and intersections between race, gender and language.

Hentyle Yapp, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; JD, University of California, Los Angeles--School of Law;
Associate Professor: Theoretical and methodological implications of queer, feminist, disability, and critical race studies for questions regarding the state and the transnational. 

Professor Emeritus (UCSD)

Jim Carmody, Ph.D., Stanford University;
Associate Professor: French Theatre, Critical Theory, Co-Editor of Theatre Forum.

Jorge Huerta, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara;
Professor Emeritus: Chicano Theatre, US Latino Theatre.

Marianne McDonald, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine;
Professor Emeritus: Ancient Greek and Roman Drama and their Modern Versions, Irish Drama, Japanese Drama.

John Rouse, Ph.D., Stanford University;
Associate Professor Emeritus: Modern and Contemporary European Theatre, Bertolt Brecht, Critical Theory.

Janet Smarr, Ph.D., Princeton University;
Professor: Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, especially in Italy and France, Women’s Studies and Literary Theory.

To apply to the UC Irvine Doctoral program, a completed application and application fee ($135 for U.S. Citizens and lawful U.S. Permanent Residents, and $155 for all other applicants) is required.  The application fee must be submitted online (checks will not be accepted). All graduate applications are submitted electronically and must be supported by appropriate academic transcripts from each college/university attended, three letters of recommendation and two writing samples. Unofficial transcripts must be submitted online with the graduate application. Official transcripts must be provided only after a candidate has been accepted by the program and formally admitted to the university. All letters of recommendation and writing samples must be submitted online.

Submission of the Statement of Purpose is mandatory. Submission of the Personal History Statement is optional. The Department of Drama has no word/character minimum or maximum length requirements for these statements.

Please know that the GRE is no longer a requirement for admission. 

The deadline for the submission of your application fee and completion of your application, including submission of all unofficial transcripts, letters of recommendation, writing samples, and test scores is January 13.

Please remember that incomplete application files will not be considered.

Submission of English Language Proficiency Scores

For those international applicants that are required to successfully complete an English language proficiency exam (TOEFL or IELTS) to be considered for admission, please know that:

The TOEFL is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

• Please select institution code 4859 to have your official score sent to UCI. No department code is needed.
• We only accept scores submitted electronically by ETS.
• Test results that are two years old or older are not acceptable.
• We do not accept MyBest scores; you must submit all individual test scores.
• Results of institutional (non-ETS) administrations of the TOEFL are not acceptable.
• We will accept the TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition test.  The same minimum score applies.
• We do NOT accept the TOEFL ITP Plus test for China or the TOEFL Essentials test.
• For more information, please visit their website at www.ets.org/toefl. 

TOEFL Score Requirements for Admission Consideration:
An overall minimum score of 80.

As an alternative to the TOEFL, you may submit scores from the Academic Modules of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

• We only accept scores submitted electronically by the IELTS test center. No paper Test Report Forms will be accepted.
• Test results that are two years old or older are not acceptable.
• We will accept the IELTS Indicator test.  The same minimum score applies.
• An institutional code is NOT required. Please contact the test center directly where you took the IELTS test and request that your test scores be sent electronically using the IELTS system. All IELTS test centers worldwide are able to send scores electronically to our institution. 
• For more information, please visit their website at www.ielts.org.

IELTS Score Requirements for Admission Consideration:
An overall minimum score of 7 for admission, with a score of no less than 6 on any individual module.

Find out more:         

          :: Apply Electronically
          :: Graduate Division website
          :: Graduate Housing
          :: Financial Aid
          :: Information for International Applicants
          :: Application Fee Waivers