Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies at U of T

09/01/2026

🎭 Applications Open: 2027 Alumni Performance Project

The Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies invites recent alumni to apply for the 2027 Alumni Performance Project — a unique opportunity to create, collaborate, and present original theatre work as you begin your professional artistic journey.

The project is open to alumni who completed a Drama Specialist, Major, MA, or PhD between June 2021 and June 2026.

📅 Application deadline: October 13, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.

Visit our website to learn more about the project, review eligibility requirements, and access the online application form:
🔗 cdtps.utoronto.ca/resources/alumni-performance-project

08/27/2026

Welcome back to the 2026-27 academic year!

08/26/2026

🎭🤖 What happens when performance, movement and artificial intelligence intersect?

Recently, BMO Lab Director David Rokeby led a motion capture exercise with Gaia Micciancio (drama minor, CDTPS) and Martin Austin (PhD student, CDTPS) in the lab's new home in the Laidlaw Wing at University College.

Wearing a motion capture suit, Gaia demonstrated a series of dance movements that were tracked by sensors 100 times per second. The captured data were then mapped onto a digital avatar projected onto a screen, creating a real-time visualization of dynamic human movement.

The session is part of Beyond the Pose: Towards an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Dynamic Human Movement, a research project that seeks to improve how machine learning systems can better represent and respond to the full range of human movement.

🔗 Learn more: https://bmolab.artsci.utoronto.ca/?p=4284


Photo 1: Gaia Micciancio and Martin Austin
Photo 2: Martin Austin and Gaia Micciancio
Photo 3: David Rokeby and Gaia Micciancio
Photo 4: Gaia Micciancio
Photo 5: Gaia Micciancio, Martin Austin, David Rokeby

08/20/2026

🎭 Work-study student opportunities at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies!

Looking for a flexible, paid job on campus this academic year? We're hiring work- study students for the 2026-27 academic year!

Available Positions:
📣 Communications & Events Assistant (Job ID #265252)
📋 Drama Centre Student Administrator (Job ID #265090)
🎭 Theatre Operations Assistant (Job ID #265595)

Position Details
💰 Pay rate: $17.60/hour (increasing to $17.95/hour effective October 1, 2026)
⏰ 6 to 15 hours per week (depending on the position)
📅 Employment period: Sept. 8, 2026 to Mar. 27, 2027*
📄 Application requirements: Cover letter and résumé

*Start dates may vary depending on the position.

How to Apply Visit clnx.utoronto.ca and search by the Job ID or job title to view the full posting and submit your application.

⚠️ Application deadlines vary by position, but we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Join the CDTPS team, gain valuable professional experience, and contribute to the vibrant theatre and performance studies community at U of T!

08/19/2026

Congratulations to CDTPS alum Matthew Kevin Wong on being named the new Artistic Director of Factory Theatre!🎉

Introducing Factory Theatre’s new Artistic Director, Kevin Matthew Wong! We are thrilled to welcome Kevin, an internationally touring theatre creator, producer, and cultural leader, as he steps into this role leading Factory into a new chapter of rigorous, uplifting, and intimate performing arts at 125 Bathurst. 
 
Kevin’s appointment marks a new chapter for Factory Theatre that reimagines the institution as a world-class home for creativity while connecting Toronto with the world. Under Wong’s leadership, the company’s artistic vision will encompass theatre, dance, music, cabaret, film, Theatre for Young Audiences, devised performance and multidisciplinary creation. 

Kevin comes to Factory following seven years at Why Not Theatre, most recently as Executive Producer and Artistic Associate. There, he helped shape the company’s national and international work while leading a portfolio of large-scale and touring projects. Wong’s own creative work has been presented across Canada and internationally - his acclaimed Benevolence series explores Hakka identity, migration, guesthood and cultural inheritance across theatre, film and installation. 

Check out the link in our bio for the full announcement! 
 
Photo credit: albert hoang, based in toronto

08/13/2026

CDTPS Alumni Spotlight: Marlis Schweitzer (MA 1999, PhD 2005) 🎭

What does a career in theatre and performance studies look like after graduation?
In our latest Alumni Spotlight, we catch up with CDTPS alumna Professor Marlis Schweitzer, who shares reflections on her time at the Centre, the experiences that influenced her career, and the work she's pursuing today as a leading scholar in the field.

Read the full interview and learn more about Marlis's journey from graduate student to academic leader:

🔗 cdtps.utoronto.ca/news/alumni-spotlight-marlis-schweitzer

07/23/2026

📖 Book Launch: Fifty Key Performance Artists

Join us for the launch of Fifty Key Performance Artists, co-edited by CDTPS Professor T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko and Adriana Disman.

This groundbreaking volume offers a critical introduction to some of the most influential and innovative performance artists from the post-Second World War emergence of the genre to the present day. The collection highlights artists whose contributions have often been underrecognized within English-language scholarship while tracing the development of performance art through body art, live art, public interventions, durational performance, emerging technologies, and social activism.

📅 Friday, September 11, 2026
🕑 2–5 PM
📍 Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse
79 St. George St., Toronto, ON

As performance studies scholar Dominic Johnson notes, the book is a "vital resource for students, scholars and anyone interested in how performance art shapes cultures, identities and activisms."

Please RSVP in advance to attend this event. Visit: https://www.cdtps.utoronto.ca/events/fifty-key-performance-artists-book-launch

T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko
Adriana Disman

07/21/2026

The Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies congratulates PhD student Ming-Wei Chen on receiving the Man Family Graduate Scholarship in Asian Studies, awarded through the University of Toronto's Asian Institute.

Valued at $4,083, the award recognizes Ming-Wei's impressive research on the societies and modern histories of countries affected by the Japanese Empire in Asia. The Asian Institute award committee also highlighted his academic success and contributions to the field.

The scholarship supports Faculty of Arts and Science graduate students and helps offset research and travel costs.

Please join us in congratulating Ming-Wei on this well-deserved recognition.
Learn more about the scholarship: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/ai/man-family-graduate-scholarship-asian-studies

07/16/2026

🎭 CDTPS welcomes Coleen Shirin MacPherson

The Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies is pleased to welcome acclaimed theatre artist, playwright, director and educator Coleen Shirin MacPherson as instructor of DRM403 Mainstage Show for the 2026–27 academic year.

Based in Toronto, MacPherson is the artistic director of Open Heart Surgery Theatre and has developed award-winning work that has toured across Canada, Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom and Egypt. Her recent production Erased received three Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations and was named one of the Toronto Star's Top 10 productions of 2024.

Students in DRM403 will benefit from her extensive experience in playwriting, directing, devising and physical theatre, as well as her work with organizations including Theatre Passe Muraille, Stratford Festival, Cahoots Theatre and Luminato Festival.

Please join us in welcoming Coleen to the CDTPS community!
🔗 Read more: cdtps.utoronto.ca/news/cdtps-welcomes-coleen-shirin-macpherson-mainstage-instructor

07/13/2026

🎉 Congratulations to CDTPS PhD candidates Jacob Pittini and Hillary Sunberg!

We're delighted to share that Jacob Pittini and Hillary Sunberg have each been awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) for the 2026-27 academic year.

The OGS program recognizes exceptional academic achievement and research excellence among graduate students across Ontario. Each scholarship is valued at $15,000 and supports students in pursuing innovative research.

We are proud to celebrate Jacob and Hillary's accomplishments and look forward to seeing their continued contributions to the field of drama, theatre and performance studies.

👏 Join us in congratulating them on this well-deserved achievement!

Learn more about the OGS program: sgs.utoronto.ca/awards/ontario-graduate-scholarship/