Get Involved!

Get Involved!

The Department of Performance, Play & Design offers a number of exceptional opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in a variety of productions.

AGPM students can showcase their work the Open Studios and Games Showcase. For more information, click on the link below or to the left here. You may also contact AGPM Advising: agpmadvising@ucsc.edu.

Any UCSC student interested in theater or dance will find opportunities for actors, dancers, choreographers, directors, playwrights and tech and design work. For more information on courses, or opportunities offered by the department, please click on the links below or to the left here. You may also contact Theater Arts Undergraduate Advising: theater-ugradadv@ucsc.edu.


Theater Arts & Dance

Students dressed up for auditions

Auditions for Theater Arts and Dance Productions

This Fall, the department will stage both upper and lower division productions. Any UCSC student is welcome to audition.The productions can fulfill different requirements for students pursuing a Theater Arts or Dance degrees.

UCSC Theater Department's 2018 production of A Raisin in the Sun featuring Adilah Barnes as Mama. Directed by Don Williams. Photo: Steve DiBartolomeo.

African American Theater Arts Troupe

The only one of its kind in the UC system, the African American Theatre Arts Troupe (AATAT) stages a production each year in winter quarter in collaboration with the department.

Barnstorm Theater with a banner reading "The Arts"

Barnstorm Theater Company

Barnstorm is a student-run production company that was established in 2004 by the UCSC Theater Arts Department.

A woman receives an ultrasound in a stage play: In the Waves by Kathryn Wahlberg

Dharma Grace Award

The Dharma-Grace Foundation Creative Writing Award Fund supports the production of an outstanding script written by an undergraduate junior or senior student in good academic standing.

New Play Festival graphic.

New Play Festival

The PPD New Play Festival will launch in Spring 2025!

Rainbow Theater production

Rainbow Theater

Rainbow Theater is the only multicultural theater arts troupe in the entire UC system.

Poster art for a dance showcase

Random: With a Purpose
Student Dance Showcase

Random with a Purpose is a student-directed, student-choreographed, student-performed, student-produced dance showcase staged annually by the department.

Technical work being performed on Mainstage set.

Production Opportunities for Theater Designers

All designers and assistant designers are assigned to department shows via the Tech Grid, posted in the A-building hallway near the Green Room.


Art & Design: Games + Playable Media

Students collaborating in the Game Design Studio
Undergrad Matty Hill (left) and Ryan Hueckel (right), working in the Games Design studio.

AGPM Open Studios and Games Showcase

At the end of every quarter students share their work at Open Studios. At the end of each year we celebrate the work of the UCSC student games community with the Games Showcase where artists, designers, and game-makers come together to share work, exchange ideas and inspire one another.


Art & Design Games +
Playable Media Major Advising

For general questions, please starts with the AGPM Peer Advisors,
available via email: 
agpmpeer@ucsc.edu.

Schedule an advising appointment with the AGPM Academic Advisor through 
Navigate Slug Success.

Many questions can also be answered by email: agpmadvising@ucsc.edu.

Theater & Dance Advising

Schedule an advising by appointment with the
Theater Arts advisor through
Navigate Slug Success for the
Theater Arts Major, Theater Arts Minor, or Dance Minor.

Many undergrad questions can also be answered by email:
theater-ugradadv@ucsc.edu

Graduate students are invited to email about the Theater Arts M.A.:
theatergradprogram@ucsc.edu


Explore Our Department

Last modified: Mar 06, 2025