Since 1925, our diverse community has been privileged to teach, learn, question, and create on a campus at the heart of one of the world’s leading universities, supported by the extraordinary philanthropy of its alumni and friends. Evolving into the largest and most comprehensive professional theater conservatory in the English-speaking world—the only one offering instruction in every discipline of the art form—David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University provides an abundant array of opportunities to interrogate and model artistic and managerial practice, on a path toward greater mastery.
The singular partnership of the School with Yale Repertory Theatre promotes the translation of aesthetic sensibilities into the language of the stage, with a particular emphasis on playwriting and the interpretation of new and extant texts. The application of theory to practice through collaboration in production is a central tenet of training here, and the integration of the School and Yale Rep—where students regularly serve in professional positions of significant responsibility—forges a relationship analogous to that of a medical school and a teaching hospital.
Thus, ours is a multigenerational project in which robust creativity and respectful critique are valued both intrinsically in real time and as habits of mind and body to be refined in a variety of lifelong pursuits. Our intention is to foster inclusive professionalism through which we model both accountability to each other and keen attention to our respective interests and responsibilities. We treasure the expressive discourse that arises as we share our work in-house and with audiences in greater New Haven, and we celebrate faculty, staff, students and technical interns who lead even as they are learning because we know that leadership is practice and not merely a job title or perceived hierarchy. Eventually, graduates of the School apply their training variously to careers in professional theater, opera, dance, film, television, radio, and other media, as well as in teaching, scholarship, philanthropy, public policy, and less obvious fields too numerous to mention.
As is true of any school or theater, the most consequential decisions made in our community are these: who comes here to teach, who comes here to learn, and who comes here to work. In every case, we recruit those who are leading practitioners and those who show potential for leadership and provide them with resources to energize their bravest and most responsible choices here at Yale and in the wider world.
This bulletin is the most fully expressed introduction to our work that we can offer you. It is designed to reflect key premises of our training and practice, including the vast majority of the curriculum and the most significant policies of the School and Yale University: it comprises both our imperfections and our considered efforts to bring about much-needed change. We challenge ourselves to reassess and rebuild our ways of working, in the context of a global pandemic, financial upheaval, and our keenly felt moral obligation both to acknowledge our history and to take steps to dismantle racism, anti-blackness, and other forms of oppression in our pedagogy and theater making. We strive to build an increasingly inclusive art form joyfully recognizing our shared humanity, celebrating differences, and honoring the intersectionality of identities and cultures.
In an introductory document, we cannot presume to capture the breadth and possible influence on you of opportunities here in greater New Haven, including courses and programs at the other world-class graduate and professional schools and in Yale College; the cultural communities, institutions, restaurants, and shops; and the natural beauty of New England and its shoreline, in every season of the year.
So, we outline here what you might experience when you come to visit, and especially should you come to teach, learn, or work at David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre. And whenever and however you do engage with our community, we look forward to welcoming you in the unique fellowship of live theater.
James Bundy
Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean and Professor of Drama, David Geffen School of Drama
Artistic Director, Yale Repertory Theatre