Harvard University

Harvard College does not offer a standalone theatre major, but instead features a comprehensive Theater, Dance & Media (TDM) concentration. This interdisciplinary program integrates historical, theoretical, and practical training in live and digital performance arts, enabling students to explore acting, dramaturgy, design, theatre history, media, and critical inquiry within a rigorous liberal arts framework.

TDM students engage in both studio practice and academic scholarship. Coursework includes acting method, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, design and technical production, and performance studies, complemented by classes in dramatic literature, performance theory, and media criticism. The curriculum emphasizes creative exploration grounded in critical analysis, encouraging students to become reflective makers and thinkers.

Undergraduate opportunities extend beyond the classroom through vibrant student-led theatre organizations. The Harvard–Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) produces around ten shows per year—ranging from licensed plays in the Loeb Proscenium and black box theatre to the annual First-Year musical in Agassiz Theatre. Other groups, including improv-comedy troupes, offer a robust extracurricular performance culture and foster a student-driven creative community.

Harvard students also benefit from the presence of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), a professional regional theatre housed on campus at the Loeb Drama Center. A.R.T. produces high-profile seasons, hosts visiting artists, and partners with academic programs to enrich classroom and extracurricular performance opportunities. Undergraduate students often participate in workshops, masterclasses, and attend performances at A.R.T. as part of their artistic development.

Graduates of the TDM concentration leave Harvard with both artistic experience and critical insight—well prepared for careers or graduate study in fields such as performance, design, dramaturgy, direction, or media. With its interdisciplinary ethos, student-led culture, and connection to a world-class professional theater, Harvard’s theatre training fosters creativity, intellectual growth, and lifelong engagement with performance as both art and inquiry.