We are the combined department for Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. The study of theater at Barnard is the study of world theatre. We are part of that world. We recognize that theater in all cultures borrows from other cultures, and has analogues across time. A working knowledge of how theater is and has been created and performed around the world is essential to the development of a theater artist in the twenty- first century.
Theater is the art form which brings together all the arts.
The Barnard Theater Department seeks to introduce students to the many aspects of theatre, separately and in combination, with equal respect for the theoretical and the practical. Courses in theater history, drama, design, playwriting, acting, directing, and critical theory all lead to understanding how live theater is created, and how it is experienced by both its makers and its spectators. Theater is the most social of the arts, and its successful realization requires collaboration among theater workers, and between spectator and performer. Students are required to collaborate in class and in production, and to become conversant with several aspects of the work. There is also the expectation that students will participate fully as audience members in department productions.