The Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies is excited to offer a dynamic lineup of new and returning courses for the 2025–26 academic year. These courses invite students from across the University of Toronto to explore performance through diverse lenses—whether it’s the playful vulnerability of clowning, the resonant power of voice, the rich legacy of Black dance in Canada, or the vibrant expressions of African and diasporic popular culture. Each course blends theory and practice, encouraging students to engage deeply with performance as a creative, cultural and critical act.
DRM375H1 S Clown
Clown is way of entering deeply and personally to the notion of play. This is a highly practical introduction to explore what it means "to play" in theatre, embodying the deceptively complex world of clown. We’ll investigate principles of clown including availability, invention, subversion and risk. We’ll explore the effects of tempo, space, the relationship to audience and more. Working primarily with solo and duo exercises, we’ll use the smallest mask in the world… the red nose. This work introduces students to a performance style that is deeply personal. It encourages improvisation, inventiveness, complicity and a heightened sense of what it means to play.
Instructor: Leah Cherniak
Prerequisite: DRM101Y1
Recommended Preparation: DRM200Y
Recommended Co-requisite: DRM300Y
S term: Thursdays, 2–5pm; tutorial Thursdays 5pm–6pm
DRM377H1S Vocal Presence in Performance
A practice-based exploration of voice in relation to performance. Through an exploration of the connections between breath, voice, impulse, emotion, character and text, students learn to use their voice in informed and efficient ways in practice, performance and other contexts to develop confidence and a wide expressive range.
Instructor: TBD
Prerequisite: DRM101Y1
Recommended preparation: DRM200Y1
S term: Thursdays, 10am–1pm
DRM308H1 F Dancing Black in Canada
This course explores the role of dance within Canada’s Black population with a focus on 1900- 1970. Both social and theatrical dance for the stage will be explored within the contexts of legislation, immigration, transnational relations, social and cultural heritage, media reception, and representations of Blackness. We will consider the influence of this era on social, street, and theatrical dance in the late 20th and 21st century.
Instructor: Seika Boye
Prerequisite: DRM101Y1 or any 4.0 FCE
S term: Thursdays, 10am–1pm
DRM386H1F Contemporary African and Diasporic Popular Culture
This course will focus on contemporary African and diasporic performances, including digital and viral productions in dance, music videos, and other online cultural products and communications. Questions of race, gender, generation and other social categories of cultural production will inform our analyses of these performances and their cultural and symbolic value in the present broader global landscape of performance, politics, humour, and culture-making. The course will highlight how African and diasporic myriad artistic productions navigate and shape global cultural landscapes, by delving into aspects of cultural appropriation, appreciation, and hybridization.
Instructor: Izuchukwu Nwankwọ
Prerequisite: DRM101Y1 or any 4.0 FCE
F term: Wednesdays, 6pm–9pm
PLEASE NOTE: Priority enrolment is given to drama students until July 23. As of July 25, other A&S students can begin to enrol. Beginning July 30, other St. George campus students can enrol in this section. UTM/UTSC students can enrol in this section starting August 6.
For more information about our courses, visit current undergraduate courses.