Department of Theater Arts

Value Statement and DEI Resources

Please scroll down for an ongoing list of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion resources culled from various sources. We invite you to share resources with us by emailing Eileen Phelan, Communications and Engagement Coordinator.

Mission

Through rigorous learning, skill training and aesthetic practice, the Brandeis Department of Theater Arts fosters a creativity that connects to scholarship and scholarship that is responsive to the individual and to the community. As artists, practitioners and scholars, we create new work and ideas, challenge our students to enact change, build connections and value diversity.

Pillars of the Department

  • Creativity: The use of imaginative ability and flexible thinking to generate original ideas and surprising connections in all our work. Creativity serves as context for all of our other values.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Distinct experiences and backgrounds (racial, ethnic, gender expression, gender identity, sexuality, economic, disability, religious, and social) enrich and enliven our conversations, scholarship, and creative expression. Through our curriculum, season planning, and the composition of our community, we strive to challenge discrimination, the marginalization of minorities, and the legacy of racism that has been inherent in the American theater tradition.
  • Scholarship (knowledge, craft): The theoretical and experiential understanding of theater. Our goal is to provide students with the ability to use that understanding in the creation and appreciation of theater within a larger social context. Our students learn by doing.
  • Aesthetic: The deeply personal way in which we create and understand art. Our goal is to encourage our students to develop a sense of individuality and identity that guides their artistic endeavors through training, encouragement, and example.
  • Risk-Taking: The act of doing something uncertain in order to make new and exciting discoveries; success requires failure. Through coaching and mentorship, we encourage our students to make bold decisions, take chances and challenge assumptions about themselves and our world. By creating opportunities within a supportive environment for personal risk, we increase opportunities for personal achievement.
  • Collaboration: The process of working with others in a shared venture. The collaborative process values individual expertise and perspectives and elevates the work we produce as a community by interweaving our singular voices and abilities. Students, faculty and staff work together in an inclusive environment that embraces feedback, criticism and flexibility.
  • Rigor: The expectation that students learn and work at a high level. We challenge our students to engage in their scholarly and creative work with commitment, curiosity and depth.
  • Professionalism: The qualities, skills and conduct that mark a person with training in theater. Through example, instruction and high expectations, we strive to prepare our students for participation in both academic and professional environments.

Resources

Black Studies Center at Brandeis

The Black Studies Center is a fully cross-searchable gateway to Black Studies covering scholarly essays, periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more. Includes the Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, the Black Studies Periodicals Database (previously known as International Index to Black Periodicals), and Black Literature Index.

Websites

Articles and Essays

Books

Black Playwrights 

Women Playwrights

The following list was offered in Adrianne Krystansky's Playwrighting Course:

Ongoing Resources for Jewish History and Publications