Performance and Technology (PERF-UT 304)

On blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Ello, Tumblr, email, SoundCloud, YouTube, and more, we are constantly performing using technology. Performance Studies has long been concerned with technology, but it is only recently concerned with questions brought to the fore by new technologies and new technological practices, particularly on the Internet. This survey course requires us to consider the relationship between Performance Studies as a discipline (one that incorporates performance theory, critical theory, feminist theory, queer theory, and other theoretical genres) with technology, particularly the Internet. Open to Non-Majors.

Performance Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Introduction to Performance Studies (PERF-GT 1000)

Performance Studies (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


PERF-GT 1000-000 (6689)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-GT 1000-000 (6690)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-GT 1000-000 (6691)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-GT 1000-000 (6692)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-GT 1000-000 (22097)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

Performance Studies: An Introduction with Richard Schechner (PERF-UT 200)

Performance Studies — An Introduction explores the wide world of performance – from theatre, dance, and music to ritual, play, political campaigns, social media, and the performances of everyday life. Performance studies also ranges across cultures — Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas. And it spans historical periods from the art of the paleolithic caves to YouTube and the avant-garde. This course is devised by Richard Schechner, one of the pioneers of performance studies, in dialogue with more than a dozen expert scholars and artists. Performance Studies — An Introduction puts students in dialogue with the most important ideas, approaches, theories, and questions of this dynamic, new academic field. Performance Studies — An Introduction is a “flipped” course: students will read and watch lessons online, blog about the material, and participate in a weekly interactive seminar guided by Professor Erin B. Mee — a theatre director and scholar — who has worked with Schechner for years.

Performance Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


PERF-UT 200-000 (15424)
01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Thu
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Mee, Erin

Introduction to Performance Studies (PERF-UT 101)

This course is an introduction to the field of performance studies. In this course, performance will be broadly construed to include aesthetic performance (performance art, theater, music, dance, and visual culture) and everyday presentations of self. We will study the history of the field and its relation to other fields (anthropology, theatre studies, philosophy, dance studies, feminism, political science, critical race theory, legal studies, etc.) and ask questions of how the study of performance can help us to understand contemporary questions of aesthetics, politics, and social culture. We will study the theory and history of the field as grounded in documented performances in addition to attending live performances in New York City. This course will place particular emphasis on political performance (in the US and abroad), queer, and minority performance.

Performance Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2020)


PERF-UT 101-000 (15700)
09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Tue
11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-UT 101-000 (15829)
09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Thu
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-UT 101-000 (15830)
09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Thu
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by


PERF-UT 101-000 (16102)
09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Thu
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by