UC Berkeley Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies

UC Berkeley Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies Teaching performance as a mode of critical inquiry, creative expression, and public engagement

The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) teaches performance as a mode of critical inquiry, creative expression, and public engagement. Through performance training and research, we create liberal arts graduates with expanded analytical, technical, and imaginative capacities. As a public institution, we make diversity and inclusion a key part of our teaching, art making, and public programming.

Still looking for a summer class? ☀️📚TDPS has spots available in Summer Sessions C & D!📱 Theater 118: Performance, Telev...
06/11/2026

Still looking for a summer class? ☀️📚

TDPS has spots available in Summer Sessions C & D!

📱 Theater 118: Performance, Television, and Social Media
🗣️ Theater 5: Public Speaking & Presentation Skills
🎭 Theater 10: Fundamentals of Acting I
💃 Theater 105: Movement for Actors

Whether you’re looking to build confidence speaking in front of an audience, strengthen your acting skills, explore performance in television and social media, or develop your physical expressiveness as a performer, there’s a TDPS course for you this summer.

✨ Theater 10 does not require an audition during the summer session.
✨ Theater 105 will only be offered this summer and will not be offered during the academic year.

Learn more and at the link in our bio or visit tdps.berkeley.edu/summer.

As the Class of 2026 turns their tassels at today’s departmental graduation, we want to celebrate all that they’ve accom...
05/18/2026

As the Class of 2026 turns their tassels at today’s departmental graduation, we want to celebrate all that they’ve accomplished! 🎓✨ Class of 2026, we are so proud of your creativity, dedication, and care over the last four years.

This year’s season of (UN)reliable Narrator brought stories of climate and grief, monsters and mischief, and whimsy and play into our performance spaces. Thank you to every student, artist, collaborator, and audience member who made this season so meaningful. Swipe through to see photos from the season, many submitted by and featuring members of our graduating class!

Congratulations, graduates—we can’t wait to see what you do next! Wishing you all a happy summer from TDPS! ☀️

TDPS celebrated the incredible work of our emerging scenic, costume, and lighting designers, alongside our outstanding s...
05/14/2026

TDPS celebrated the incredible work of our emerging scenic, costume, and lighting designers, alongside our outstanding stage managers, at this year’s Design Showcase. Organized by Dominique Fawn Hill, Ray Oppenheimer, Arnel Sancianco, and Rebecca J. Ennals, the showcase highlighted the creativity, collaboration, and artistry of the next generation of theatermakers.

Thank you to everyone who came by to support our students and celebrate their work!

✨ Costume Designers
Sophia Chen
Amanda Hayami
Madison Ix
Avery Jones
Daniel Lopez

💡 Lighting Designer
Molly Windsor-Marshall

🎨 Scenic Designers
Jackie Chiang
Winter Winter Felton-Priestner
Anne Celine O’Riordan
Geoffrey Eduardo Toribio
Gilberto Avila Toledo

🎭 Stage Managers
Daniel Lopez
Caitlin Porter
Nori Quist
Penelope Venturini

📸 Photos by Alexander Rony

TDPS celebrated the incredible work of our emerging scenic, costume, and lighting designers, alongside our outstanding s...
05/14/2026

TDPS celebrated the incredible work of our emerging scenic, costume, and lighting designers, alongside our outstanding stage managers, at this year’s Design Showcase. Organized by Dominique Fawn Hill, Ray Oppenheimer, Arnel Sancianco, and Rebecca J. Ennals, the showcase highlighted the creativity, collaboration, and artistry of the next generation of theatermakers.

Thank you to everyone who came by to support our students and celebrate their work!

👗 Costume Designers
Sophia Chen
Amanda Hayami
Madison Ix
Avery Jones
Daniel Lopez

💡 Lighting Designer
Molly Windsor-Marshall

🎨 Scenic Designers
Jackie Chiang
Winter Winter Felton-Priestner
Anne Celine O’Riordan
Geoffrey Eduardo Toribio
Gilberto Avila Toledo

🎭 Stage Managers
Daniel Lopez
Caitlin Porter
Nori Quist
Penelope Venturini

📸 Photos by Alexander Rony

Reminiscing on our week with artist-in-residence Sam Aros-Mitchell! Last month & welcomed dancer & choreographer Sam A...
05/13/2026

Reminiscing on our week with artist-in-residence Sam Aros-Mitchell!

Last month & welcomed dancer & choreographer Sam Aros-Mitchell () as the fourth artist-in-residence of the Indigenous Performing Arts Residency (IPAR) program. Sam led students through an energetic master class and offered a lecture- performance for the general public.

Here are photos and videos from both events, held in Bancroft Dance Studio. Playing with light and breath work, Sam graced us with thought-provoking movement and generous teachings during this memorable week!

ABOUT IPAR:
The Indigenous Performing Arts Residency is a multi-year collaboration between the Dept of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies and the Arts Research Center to strengthen relationships with Indigenous community partners and create ongoing support for Indigenous performing artists, so that Native stories can be told on our campus now and into the future.

Images: © Laurie Macfee, Arts Research Center 2026

Check out TDPS Staff/Alumna Megan Lowe’s () epic vertical dance production at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with sho...
04/30/2026

Check out TDPS Staff/Alumna Megan Lowe’s () epic vertical dance production at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with shows May 15-17!

🎟️ Get Tickets via bio link.
✨ Discounted Tickets available to Students!

“Air Between Us” is a new vertical dance adventure from Megan Lowe Dances, where performers climb, float, and fall in a choreography shaped by gravity, trust, and interdependence. What unfolds is both breathtaking and intimate: bodies moving through air, gathering and separating, revealing how the space between us can hold tension, tenderness, and connection.

❗️Fun Fact: the General Manager for YBCA, Chris Griffin, is also a TDPS alumnus. TDPS celebrates the successes of our alumni!

📷 Bill O’Such of and in rehearsal for Megan Lowe Dances’ “Air Between Us” at YBCA, 2026

On our beloved Ben's birthday - love and remembrance ❤️
08/19/2025

On our beloved Ben's birthday - love and remembrance ❤️

Shotgun Player’s current production, The Magnolia Ballet, is directed by TDPS graduate student AeJay Antonis Marquis! Th...
08/12/2025

Shotgun Player’s current production, The Magnolia Ballet, is directed by TDPS graduate student AeJay Antonis Marquis! The show closes this Saturday, August 16. Let this be your sign to see it while you can!

About the show: By Terry Guest, The Magnolia Ballet is a tale of four men: a son, a lover, an ancestor, and a father. They dance in the sticky heat of a rural, Southern Gothic landscape fraught with secrets and possibilities. With expansive poetry and whispered prose, this piece births resilience underneath the bloom of fresh magnolias.⁠
⁠
About AeJay:⁠
AeJay Antonis Marquis Creates Art That is Black, That is Q***r, That is Pleasure, That is Pain, That Deconstructs to Reconstruct. They are an educator, theatre maker, dance dreamer, arts advocate and scholar. Calls Berkeley Rep, Marin Shakes, Playwrights Foundation, Magic Theatre, BACCE, UC Berkeley, and Shotgun Players Intellectual and Creative Homes. Come Be Brave with us!

Can you believe it's already been two months since graduation? We hope all our graduates are having auspicious and joyfu...
07/25/2025

Can you believe it's already been two months since graduation? We hope all our graduates are having auspicious and joyful summers.

The fall semester is just around the corner... Returning students, we'll be seeing you soon!

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