Performance Studies
Performance is everywhere — we study how it works.
What does it mean 'to perform', and what does performance do? Located in the heart of New York City's vibrant art scene, Performance Studies at NYU is dedicated to the analysis and study of cultural enactments of all kinds, and to understanding how they can produce meaningful change. Combining an interdisciplinary range of approaches including feminist, queer, and trans theory, race and ethnicity studies, and other modes of analysis, with an equally diverse range of research methods, Performance Studies offers graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to explore and think critically about the world-making power of performance in theater, performance art, dance, sound/music, visual and installation art, activism, and online, as well as in the performance of 'everyday life'.
The Department of Performance Studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts was established in 1980 as the first of its kind, and is ranked #1 for doctoral programs in Theater and Performance Studies by the National Research Council. Our B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programs are taught by internationally-recognized faculty in fields ranging from experimental and protest theater, feminist, queer, and trans theory, dance studies, sound studies, performance curation, and race and ethnicity studies.
Situated in New York City as we are...we are surrounded by the institutions that do performance. [We] wondered: how can we bring that to our curriculum?
Events

Apr. 3
¡Coyuntura!
Dont Rhine from the sound art collective Ultra-red and Manolo Callahan & Annie Paradise from the Center for Convivial Research and Autonomy (CCRA) will be in conversation at PS!
News
-
Aliza Shvarts' (PhD '20) Work Included in ARTnews' 100 Best Artworks of the 21st Century
Shvarts' work was selected by editors based on its relevance to contemporary movements and tendencies and its ability to embody a sensibility distinct to this century.
-
Alex Tatarsky (MA '19) Receives 2025 Triple Canopy Fellowship
Over the course of their fellowship, Tatarsky will develop a series of performances that take the form of quests, including a journey to the country’s capital of magic, Las Vegas, to learn from the professionals.
-
BA Alum Penelope Gould Presents Lost Grrrl Found in March
The DIY punk show/musical will be performed at Pianos in New York City on March 21st, 2025.