Monday September 2, 2024
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff of CDTPS:
A very warm welcome to all, whether you are returning or newly joining the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies. Each year I have been at the Centre (this coming year will be my 3rd), I have learned more about the people and the culture of the place. I am proud to work among faculty who are, themselves, always striving, learning from their research, their pedagogy, their creative work, and their students. And I see students everywhere—graduate and undergraduate—in every nook and cranny of our building, creating together, sharing readings, meeting to support one another and to socialize. And behind the scenes is a group of staff members working hard to make CDTPS events, performances, rehearsals, meetings, conferences, exhibits, colloquia, and guest lectures run smoothly and to ensure classes, seminar sessions, and studio practices can proceed unhindered. Together, a creative and intellectual culture can thrive when we all contribute to it and remain aware of how many among us are facilitating our learning. As we know, the world continues to struggle, in so many ways. But I remain impressed by, and grateful for, the ways in which I often witness students, faculty and staff showing up for each other.
If you are new to our programs this year, you will soon learn how vibrant a place this is. So please join in all the activity; come to watch the many extra- and co-curricular student-led programming events happening throughout the year, the course-related directing, playwriting, acting, digital experimentation, curation and performance work, the Mainstage Show, the special events and salons hosted by our research centres, labs, and institutes, the guest lectures and curricular invitations to enhance our undergraduate and graduate curricula, the end-of-term open doors of classrooms inviting audiences in to see culminating student work. Please also remember to reach out to staff, to your instructors, our associate directors, and to me anytime for support or guidance, with simple or not-so-simple questions.
I wish everyone a terrific start to the 2024-2025 academic year; I hope it is your best yet!
Warmly,
Kathleen
Kathleen Gallagher
Director, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies