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Northwestern School of Communication

Major in Performance Studies

In the Department of Performance Studies we explore performance in all its forms, extending and deepening understandings of how people embody worlds and imagine socio-political possibilities through action and inquiry. Students majoring in performance studies engage performance both as an object of study—something to be documented and analyzed—and as a method of study—something to be experienced and enacted. Our courses are a rehearsal for taking risks in the world-at-large, a workshop for generating feedback and dialogue through bodily expression, and a laboratory for testing ideas through action.

Our programs of study offer four key learning areas: (1) creative process, in which students develop an experimental creative practice informed by critical analysis; (2) performance analysis, in which students analyze how social-cultural relations are constructed in everyday life, arts spaces, and digital worlds; (3) performance research, in which students make art, go to exhibits, festivals, and shows, interview communities, dig through archives, and scour digital content; and (4) cultural competence, in which students strive to dismantle socio-cultural biases through self-reflection, critical theory, and performance-based inquiry.

Studying and Performing

Students majoring in Performance Studies take classes in the department that apply one or more of the above learning areas to specific topics and issues, including but not limited to adapting documentary, non-fiction, and other materials into embodied performances, gender and sexuality studies, Black studies, queer and trans of color critique, and working with and in digital cultures. Many of our students take classes, in adjacent fields of study, including theatre, dance, and music, as well as and across the university, where their Performance Studies major strengthens their pursuits in psychology, , anthropology, history, political science, Latin-American Studies, and radio/television/film. 

Outside the classroom, students have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of creative projects. The department sponsors ongoing “performance hours” featuring student-directed productions; end-of-term “salons” inviting students to showcase their coursework-based projects; opportunities to collaborate with graduate students; and other platforms to present their research and practice. We actively encourage students to develop their creative work and bring it to a wider audience. We also support and create student opportunities to gain exposure to Chicago’s world-renowned arts landscape. 

Learn More

For policies and advising, see Office of Undergraduate Programs and Advising  

Visit the major's Academic Catalog listing to see specific requirements, which include: 

  • Major requirements specify that students must take and pass 12 courses, including:
    • 2 introductory PERF_ST courses
    • 2 advanced PERF_ST courses
    • Additional courses must one that fulfills the department diversity requirement and one production/studio lab course.
  • Additional requirements, including distribution requirements, elective requirements and writing proficiency.  

Departmental Honors Program

Performance Studies majors may apply in their junior year to participate in the Departmental Honors Program. The Honors Program is intended to provide highly qualified students an opportunity to complete a substantial research investigation into a creative and/or academic project; to introduce students to graduate-level, faculty-mentored research; and to provide formal honorary recognition to students who have excelled in course work and in an independent research activity.

Requirements

Students pursuing the honors program begin by proposing a thesis topic and enlisting a faculty member to serve as advisor. Students then:

  1. Complete a literature review or comparable activity that assesses creative and/or academic work that precedes and is relevant to the thesis topic.
  2. Implement the proposed research plan.
  3. Attend quarterly review meetings with the faculty advisor.
  4. Complete the research-based project in a format and scale determined in advance consultation with the faculty advisor (e.g. present a performance); or write a thesis (at least 30 double-spaced pages in length).
  5. Defend the thesis during an oral examination, before a committee consisting of the faculty advisor, a secondary faculty reader, and at least one other faculty member.

Frank Galati Prize

The Frank Galati Prize recognizes excellence in undergraduate essays by Performance Studies majors. All Performance Studies undergraduate majors are eligible to submit an essay to this annual competition.

Appropriate essay topics include the full range of issues explored in Performance Studies courses:

  • the adaptation and staging of texts;
  • performance art, dance, theatre, and sound/music;
  • performance theory and criticism;
  • cultural studies and ethnography;
  • and the practice of everyday life.

Essays first developed for courses in other departments are also appropriate for submission.

About Jack Galati

The prize celebrates the significant contributions to Northwestern’s Performance Studies Department of Professor Galati, who retired in 2006 after over three decades of teaching. Honored internationally for his creative work as director, actor, playwright, and screenwriter, Professor Galati adapted and directed the Tony-Award-winning Broadway production of The Grapes of Wrath and directed the Tony-Award-winning Ragtime. He has received numerous Joseph Jefferson Awards for his work in Chicago theatre, where he is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre and an Associate Director of the Goodman Theatre.