In IPTD, “interdisciplinary” research encompasses a broad range of opportunities. It can involve the use of theoretical tools with previously untried evidence, combinations of methodologies, and intersections of social history with theatrical events spanning a wide range of national, historical, and contemporary contexts. Every student negotiates this uniquely, depending upon their background, academic goals, and their research needs.

Projects that emerge from this interdisciplinary perspective vary, as students have combined a range of scholarly inquiries into their work. Recent projects include Black Liberation drama; dance scoring in postmodern dance; the politics of gender in North Korean propaganda operas; post-Soviet Russian drama; nation, race, and community in African-American funerary commemorations; Zimbabwean theatre for development; spatial and labor practices in Toronto theatre; new media adaptations of Shakespeare; and sonic modernity in the theatrical avant-garde. These are just a few indicative instances of the expansive range of scholarship topics emanating from students in this program. Investigative paradigms from traditional literary or theatre historical perspectives are welcome, as are interventions from performance theory, a wide range of critical theory, social science fields, and the full spectrum of arts and the humanities.

Find more information on past dissertation projects on Alumni and Careers.