The MA and PhD programs in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies emphasize our collective interest in theatre, dance, performance, and cultural politics. For us, this means teaching classes that explore performance both on stage and in everyday life in order to highlight the cultural, political, material and ideological dimensions of performance practices both past and present. Studying performances across a broad range of cultural contexts in theatres, galleries, rituals, the media, the streets, the political arena, mass spectacles, interpersonal interactions etc. helps to capture the potential performance has to frame critically-nuanced responses to public events, and thus to model politically and ethically engaged forms of public life.