Welcome!
The Department of Theater and Dance fosters an inclusive, vibrant and stimulating environment that encourages creative self-expression and critical thinking. Undergraduate programs include intensive, conservatory-style training for actors and dancers, as well as general degrees with a focus on Dance, Design, Directing, Playwriting, Theater and Community and Theater and Performance Studies. The department's nationally recognized and highly ranked graduate program offers a diverse array of interdisciplinary approaches to performance research within a global orientation. The department provides a lively forum for faculty to integrate teaching and research, at the cutting edge of their areas of expertise.
Land Acknowledgment
The University campus is located on Indigenous land, and it is important that staff, students, and faculty understand the significance of observing protocols in recognizing the traditional custodians of the land at university events and ceremonies. It demonstrates the respect the university has for the Chumash people, the history and culture of the community, and all Native Americans as America’s First Peoples.
A History of UCSB Theater and Dance
The history of UC Santa Barbara's Department of Theater and Dance is the story of two artistic traditions that grew independently before joining together to create one of the nation's leading university performing arts programs. While the Department of Theater officially emerged in the 1960s, dance had already established deep roots on campus nearly two decades earlier. Together, these parallel histories reflect UCSB's longstanding commitment to artistic innovation, performance, scholarship, and creative collaboration.
The Origins of Dance (1946)
Long before theater and dance became one department, dance was already flourishing at UCSB.
While the Program in Dance was absorbed into the Department of Drama in 1964, its roots, like most departments in the U.S. were in Women’s Physical Education. Founded in 1946 in a World War II Quonset hut, a building crafted out of corrugated metal with no heat and a feeling of being outside while inside. It contained the offices of Elizabeth Sehon, Chair of the Women’s P.E. Department and Jean Bellinger, dance instructor. There was also a piano where Emma Lou O’Brien improvised for dance classes. Located downtown on the northeast corner of the Riviera Campus, DANCE boasted a basketball court and women’s gym, an auditorium with a splintered wooden floor, and a series of early modern dance artists with training in Euro-American forms of performance. In 1948, Patricia Elaine Sparrow was elected Dance Chairman with annual dance concerts choreographed and performed by Sparrow and other dance teachers. By 1949, Dance had a Chair, Harriet Hankins, and continued as a separate entity until being conjoined with Theater, today Theater and Dance, in 1964.
What began in a modest Quonset hut would evolve into a nationally respected dance program, one that today balances conservatory-level artistic training with interdisciplinary scholarship and creative exploration.
The Emergence of Theater (1964)
Theater at UCSB followed a different path. Prior to the creation of a standalone department, dramatic arts courses were offered through the Department of Speech, reflecting a common model at American universities during the mid-twentieth century.
In 1964, the Department of Drama was formally established under the leadership of Dr. Theodore W. Hatlen, with assistance from Dr. Stanley L. Glenn, creating a dedicated home for theatrical performance, production, design, and scholarship. Dr. Hatlen's influence on the department was so profound that its primary performance venue now bears his name.
As theater continued to grow, so did its academic ambitions. Under department chair Dr. William Reardon, the graduate program expanded in 1967 to include the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), establishing UCSB as a center for both artistic practice and theater research.
One Department, Two Histories
By the late 1960s, theater and dance had come together to form what is now the Department of Theater and Dance. The merger united two distinct artistic traditions—one rooted in dramatic performance and theatrical production, the other in movement, choreography, and embodied expression—creating an interdisciplinary environment that continues to define the department today.
That collaborative spirit remains central to the department's identity, encouraging students and faculty to work across disciplines while developing their own artistic voices.
Growth and Innovation
Over the following decades, the department expanded both academically and artistically.
In 1983, UCSB introduced its Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting, offering conservatory-style actor training within the context of a major research university. The program has since produced graduates working throughout theater, film, television, voice acting, and arts education.
Dance also continued to flourish, expanding into one of the university's signature programs. Today, students may pursue both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Dance, studying choreography, performance, somatic practices, history, and theory alongside opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
A Living Laboratory for Performance
The Department of Theater and Dance has long believed that education happens not only in classrooms, but on stage.
Each season, students collaborate with faculty and guest artists to produce a wide range of performances, including mainstage theater productions, dance concerts, student-directed works, new play readings, and experimental performances. These productions provide hands-on experience in acting, directing, design, choreography, stage management, technical theater, dramaturgy, and production.
The department's facilities—including Hatlen Theater, the Performing Arts Theater (PAT), the Studio Theater, rehearsal studios, design labs, costume and scene shops, and production spaces—support every stage of the creative process.
Today
Today, UCSB's Department of Theater and Dance continues to combine rigorous artistic training with the intellectual breadth of a leading public research university.
Students participate in a wide variety of curriculum while working alongside accomplished faculty, guest artists, and visiting scholars. Whether creating new work, reimagining classics, advancing performance research, or engaging with communities beyond campus, students become part of a tradition nearly eighty years in the making.
From its beginnings in a corrugated-metal Quonset hut overlooking the Riviera Campus to its vibrant stages and studios today, the Department of Theater and Dance continues to celebrate curiosity, collaboration, and the transformative power of live performance.