Experiential Learning Opportunities

With close faculty mentorship, students perform, design, tech, and manage two musicals, two drama shows, and four dance concerts annually. In addition to our main season, there are also numerous opportunities for students to work as directors, choreographers, designers, technicians, performers, dramaturgs, and managers through numerous student directed productions throughout the year. 

Each year, additional performance and production opportunities arise as the result of interdisciplinary collaborations, faculty research and creative activities, and visiting guest artists. As a result, Theatre and Dance students are exposed to a breadth of artistic styles, forms, and techniques, from classical to cutting edge. Past guest artists include: Bill T. Jones, Jose Limon Co., Momix Dance Co., Pilobolus, avant-garde theater pioneer Richard Foreman, Broadway director Marcia Milgrom Dodge, and Beijing Olympic Designer Han Lixun. 

Musicals and Drama Shows auditions occur the semester prior to production (Fall shows audition in the spring before; spring shows in the fall before). Students must have completed at least one semester at UB and be in good academic standing to be cast. Any undergraduate student at UB is eligible to audition. Musicals and plays are credit bearing courses; students must register for a 3 credit course in order to participate. 

Zodiaque Dance Company auditions at the start of the fall semester. Company members perform in both the fall and spring shows. Zodiaque is a credit bearing course; students register for 4 credits of DAC 337 or DAC 338.  

Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase, MFA Dance Concerts, and ChoreoLab audition in the fall semester. These dance performance opportunities have varying credits for course enrollment. 

Dancer’s Workshop is a student organization that offers non-credit performance opportunities to the university at various levels of ability and interest. Auditions are held in the spring semester. 

Design and production positions are all assigned to UB students, and there are many opportunities for interested undergrads from all majors to be involved, from building sets to run crew and everything in between. Students generally need to have taken TH 106: Intro to Technical Theatre with TH 135 or TH 136 prior to working on productions. However, you do not have to be a Theatre and Dance major to participate. Design and production positions are credit-bearing courses; credits vary depending on position. 

Want to get involved? Email td-theatredance@buffalo.edu for more information on being part of the backstage experience at UB. 

UB Theatre and Dance’s Literary Ireland program is a 16-day discovery of Ireland’s plays and places led by award-winning UB professor and Program Director, Maria S. Horne, and Associate Program Director, Chelsea L. Horne. This intensive experiential program integrates the study of dramatic literature with focused research on the Dubliner experience. The course explores themes of identity, nationalism, and revolt, emphasizing the tradition of tragi-comedy. While the program is jam-packed, there will also be free time to relax and enjoy Dublin and the truly magical Irish countryside on your own. This 3-credit course satisfies the SUNY General Education requirement for the Arts and it fulfills a component of the UB Curriculum Global Pathways.

During the Winter Session, UB Theatre and Dance takes students on a guided discovery journey of London’s artistic and cultural world led by award winning UB professor and international expert Maria S. Horne.  This intensive program integrates, in a comprehensive way, the study of culture and performance with focused research on its relationship with architecture, fine arts, history, music, rituals, urban design, and the contemporary landscape. 

Study Abroad Advisor  
Office of International Student and Scholar Services  
210 Talbert Hall  
(716) 645-2258.

For further information visit UB Study Abroad. 

UB students are active participants in numerous international and national conferences and research presentations, alongside faculty and staff. Students regularly attend American College Dance Festival, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology Conference. Students have also presented their research as part of the Undergraduate Research Council. They also participate in a host of opportunities through the International Artistic & Cultural Exchange Program.