The Ph.D. Program in Comparative Literature with an Emphasis in Drama

The Ph.D. in Comparative Literature with an Emphasis in Drama allows students with the requisite expertise in a language other than English to complete work in Theater Studies at the Ph.D. level. Students take courses, complete comprehensive exams, and write dissertations in the domains of Theater History, Dramatic Literature, Dramatic Theory, and Performance Studies. The program is closely linked with the Performing Arts Department, which provides opportunities to interested and qualified students for both academic and practical work in theatrical production. Candidates follow the same language requirements as Ph.D. students in the General Program of Comparative Literature: four graduate-level courses in a language and literature other than English, and reading knowledge of a second foreign language.

The program draws on Humanities faculty at Washington University who specialize in drama or regularly teach courses concentrating on dramatic literature.

Core Faculty

Robert Henke, Chair of Performing Arts Department; Professor of Drama and Comparative Literature. Research Specialties: Italian and English early modern drama. Teaching Areas: comparative approaches to early modern drama, dramatic theory, Shakespeare, introduction to comparative literature.

Henry I. Schvey, Professor of Drama and Comparative Literature. Research Specialties: modern American drama, German expressionist drama. Teaching Areas: modern drama, drama and the visual arts, Shakespeare, thematically-based comparative courses (war, gender, madness).

Pannill Camp, Assistant Professor of Performing Arts. Research Specialties: eighteenth-century drama, theater and philosophy, dramatic theory, theater architecture. Teaching Areas: eighteenth-century French theater, European avant-garde, performance studies, Japanese traditional forms.