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The School of Theatre and Dance participates with the faculties in art, music, and philosophy in an interdisciplinary program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Fine Arts. Students engage a core curriculum of 15 hours that emphasizes interdisciplinarity among the arts: four required courses include a colloquium that explores disciplinary formation and types of interdisciplinary engagement; arts histories; arts in a contemporary context; and philosophical aesthetics. An additional approved topics or aesthetics course completes a student’s core program. Work within the disciplinary track of theatre ordinarily involves required coursework along with an individualized curriculum that allows the candidate to pursue a professional goal relating to personal interests and competencies. (This degree is detailed in the catalog section that introduces the Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts.) The residence requirement for the doctoral program with major in Fine Arts is fulfilled by satisfactory completion of 18 semester hours of graduate coursework during one 12-month period.

Concentrations. Doctoral students whose disciplinary track is theatre can choose two of the following concentrations: acting/directing, arts administration, design, history/theory/criticism, playwriting. Work toward the degree is both scholarly and practical, requires a minimum of 60 semester hours at the graduate level beyond the master’s degree, includes a rigorous comprehensive examination, and culminates in a dissertation that allows a choice of several avenues of research created through traditional research, professional problems, or an internship.