yale phd theatre

• Skip to Content
• Catalog Home
• Institution Home

Yale College Programs of Study 2024–2025

• Yale University Publications /
• Yale College Programs of Study /
• Subjects of Instruction /
• Theater and Performance Studies

Current Edition: YCPS Archive . Click to change.

Theater, dance, and performance studies.

• Summary of Requirements

Director of undergraduate studies:  Hal Brooks , Rm. 102C, 220 York St., 432-1310; theaterstudies.yale.edu ; dance studies ; musical theater

The mission of the program in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) is to cultivate adventurous artists and scholars with a serious commitment to craft and extensive understanding of the contexts in which cultural productions emerge. Introductory, term, and capstone courses reiterate the core learning objectives of the program: collaboration, craft, the integration of practice and theory, interdisciplinarity, and new work development.

Students are encouraged to gain experience in an array of disciplines including theater, dance, performance studies, musical theater, intermedia arts, and design. As research in theater, dance, and performance studies is interdisciplinary in scope and global in perspective, students are expected to take courses in cognate disciplines such as history, philosophy, anthropology, political science, film, art, and literature. The major provides a solid education in the humanities, as well as preparation for graduate studies or for careers in theater, dance, and the performing arts.

Faculty members are affiliated with a range of departments; their diverse expertise lends breadth and depth to course offerings and enables students to devise a course of study that reflects their developing interests. Faculty affiliated with the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale (DGSD) regularly teach Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (THST) courses, and students have ample opportunities to interact with graduate students in the various departments of DGSD. Courses and events across the TDPS curriculum provide opportunities for students to attend performances by professional companies and artists and learn from discussions, workshops, and lectures offered by prominent guest artists and scholars.

Special features of the program are its production seminars, independent studies, research- and writing-based senior theses, and production-based senior projects. Production seminars, taken with the permission of the instructor, offer immersive, semester-long performance research and development, culminating in public productions. Independent studies, taken under the supervision of a faculty adviser, give students the freedom to pursue individual and group-generated projects and to investigate areas of scholarship not offered elsewhere in the curriculum. Independent study courses are typically open only to juniors and seniors in the major. Production-based senior projects  as well as research- and writing-based senior theses  are described in the Senior Requirements section.

In addition to the theater, dance, and performance studies curricula, three programs are integrated into the mission of the major.

The Dance Studies curriculum features studio and seminar courses that cover the practice, history, and theory of diverse dance forms and movement phenomena. Students are guided in physical techniques and movement research across a wide range of temporal, geographic, and cultural sites, linking dance to the other arts, the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, and they explore the fluid and fraught relationship between movement and language. Contact: Emily Coates , Director of Dance.

The Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater examines American Musical Theater as a unique art form, one informed and influenced by changing cultural and socio-economic conditions as well as musical tastes and styles. Shen courses combine a grounding in skill-based study with history, analysis, and theory. The faculty consists of scholars and working professionals, including composers, directors, lyricists, librettists, directors, and performers. Additionally, the Shen Curriculum supports a co-curricular program that includes the Fridays at Five series of master classes and  voice lessons in musical theater technique.  Contact:  Daniel Egan , Coordinator of the Shen Curriculum.

Computing and the Arts  is an interdepartmental major designed for students who wish to work at and across intersections between computing and theater, dance and/or performance studies. Through a mix of practical and theoretical exploration, students consider how the live body on stage is reconfigured, reimagined, and reified through technological intervention. Contact: Elise Morrison ,  affiliated faculty in Computing and the Arts.

The Theater, Dance, and Performing Studies department also supports three substantial co-curricular initiatives: the Performance Studies working group, the Yale Playwrights Festival, and the Yale Dance Lab.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for the major are THST 110 and THST 111 .

Requirements of the Major 

T he major consists of ten term courses beyond the introductory prerequisites.  Of the ten required term courses, students must take two courses in each of four domains: Artistic Practice, Interarts, Histories, and Performance Theory, one related elective and one senior requirement course. Most courses are listed in more than one domain, though they may count for only one domain requirement for a given student. Students may take term courses concurrently with prerequisite courses.

Artistic Practice Domain ( YC THST: Artistic Practice ) This domain encompasses techniques and compositional strategies in theater, dance, musical theater, design, and intermedia performance. Practice-based courses emphasize the knowledge of doing, moving, creating, devising, composing, designing, and craft. Courses move through existing aesthetic practices and histories as a means of cultivating individual and collective expression and new creation. Skills: heightened attention to energy, time, and space; the artist’s self-knowledge and body; fluency synthesizing movement and language in compositions; and innovative approaches to researching history and culture through performance.

Interarts Domain ( YC THST: Interarts ) This domain invites students to experience art-making between disciplines and within interdisciplinary forms. Courses in this area may draw connections and inspiration between established artistic disciplines, such as theater and dance, or reach beyond the program, putting the performing arts in conversation with ideas and approaches in diverse fields including film, visual art, new media, psychology, and science. Ideally, students use the Interarts requirement to explore disciplinary practices outside of their main track and comfort zone, expanding the boundaries of methods, resources, and questioning that feed into their creative practice. Skills: collaboration; interdisciplinary research and creation; and the integration of methods and systems of knowledge drawn from diverse fields. 

Histories Domain  ( YC THST: Histories ) This domain includes courses in which the scope of study is defined by period, genre, and/or geographic region, in which students research past practices, texts, performances, and cultures. Courses in Histories may also ask students to employ performance-based research methods to analyze, discover, reconstruct, or intervene in diverse global, local, and personal historical narratives. Skills: engaging with material from disparate time periods, geographies, and cultural forms; methods of archival research and oral histories; and reenacting historical performance and adaptation in new forms.

Performance Theory Domain  ( YC THST: Performance Theory ) Courses in this domain introduce students to foundational theories of performativity and theatricality as applied to a range of cultural contexts and global histories. Theory courses bring together intersecting literatures of feminist and queer theory, linguistic theory, critical race studies, dance studies, and anthropology that together form the theories and methods of Performance Studies and Dance Studies as fields of study and practice. These courses may also invite students to respond to and use theoretical concepts in the creation of live art. Skills: facility with performance studies analysis; application of theory to dramatic texts and embodied practices; and investigating dynamic relationship between archives and repertoires.

Credit/D/Fail  Courses taken Credit/D/Fail may not be counted toward the requirements of the major in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. 

Courses graded P/F   Courses taken Pass/Fail may not be counted toward the requirements of the major in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.

Searchable attributes :  YC THST: Artistic Practice ,  YC THST: Interarts ,  YC THST: Histories ,  YC THST: Performance Theory

Senior Requirements 

Majors  are  held to   the senior  requirements  that were in place when they  declared their  major .   However, with approval from the director   of  undergraduate studies (DUS), the following senior requirement options, updated for the academic year 2024-2025,   may be  fulfilled by students who declared the   major  in a prior term.

Majors satisfy the senior requirement in one of three main ways: a substantial senior essay written in an upper-level seminar, THST 491 , or THST 492 .

With the approval of the DUS, a student may take a one-term, upper-level seminar as a senior seminar. In such cases, the expectations for the final thesis will be substantially higher than for other students not taking the class as a senior seminar. Participation and enrollment in a production seminar may similarly fulfill the senior requirement. 

U nder the supervision of a faculty adviser, a student may undertake a one-term senior project in either the fall or spring semester by enrolling in THST 491 which culminates in a production as part of the curricular production season. Depending upon an individual student’s preparation, coursework, and research objectives, a senior enrolled in THST 491 may direct, design, or devise a theatrical production, create a documentary film or digital media production, perform a role, choreograph a dance piece, or design an original work of performance art. Seniors engaging in production-based senior projects ( THST 491 ) must complete an essay (15-25 pages in length). For a production-based project to be considered for inclusion in the TDPS curricular season, a proposer must have previously served as a producer of a TDPS curricular production (or partner with someone who has).

U nder the supervision of a faculty adviser, a student may undertake a one-term senior research project in either the fall or spring semester by enrolling in THST 492 which culminates in a full-length essay (35-50 pages in length), a writing portfolio or other work of performance-based writing (plays, screenplays, etc.).  In THST 492 students' research falls into one of these three areas: 1) Literature, History, Theory, and Criticism 2) Writing Performance-based Art and Media, and 3) Performance Research, Analysis and Design. Seniors pursuing this thesis path are permitted to use their curricular thesis research to support their extracurricular work in a production that is organized and funded through the Creative and Performing Arts process or other approved entities.

To ensure that their coursework aligns with their goals, students should begin discussing senior project ideas and plans with the DUS at the start of their junior year. Senior Project orientation meetings for all juniors are held once in the fall and twice during the spring semester, with research and production proposals due the Friday before spring break.

TDPS majors in their junior and senior years are required to meet with the DUS at the beginning of each of their final four terms.  Students in their first and second years of study who may be interested in the TDPS major are encouraged to meet with the DUS once a semester to discuss goals, learn about opportunities, and ask questions.

Courses REQUIRING INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION

With the exception of THST 110 and THST 111 , many courses in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies are limited enrollment courses that may require a short statement of interest, writing sample, or audition in order to obtain instructor permission to register. When there are more applicants for a course than can be admitted, priority is given to juniors and seniors who have declared a major in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies or first-year students and sophomores who have completed one or both prerequisite courses ( THST 110 and THST 111 ). Undergraduate students in all years of study and in all majors are encouraged to apply to courses in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.

Courses IN THE DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE

Majors in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies are eligible to take DGSD courses in design, theory, dramaturgy, and theater management, with permission of the instructor, the DUS, the DGSD Registrar, and "blue form" approval submitted by their academic dean to the Registrar's Office. Undergraduates may not, however, enroll in acting or directing courses offered by the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Students enrolling in DGSD courses should note that a maximum of four term courses from the professional schools (of which DGSD is one) may be offered toward the bachelor's degree. Students also should note that the academic calendars of DGSD and of Yale College differ. The DGSD calendar should be consulted for scheduling. A student interested in taking a course at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale should begin by seeking the permission of the instructor and contacting their academic dean.

SUMMARY OF MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Prerequisites  THST 110 , 111

Number of courses  10 term courses beyond prereqs (incl senior req)

Distribution of courses  2 courses in each of four domains: Artistic Practice, Interarts, Histories, Performance Theory; plus 1 related elective.

Senior requirement  Senior seminar with substantial final essay, THST 491 , or THST 492

Requirements

10 courses (10 credits), including the senior requirement, but not the prerequisites

• 2 courses from each of 4 domains (Artistic Practice, Interarts, Histories, Performance Theory)
• 1 related elective
• Senior seminar with substantial final essay, or THST 491 , or THST 492

Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies offers courses in performance history and theory as well as performance practice: acting, directing, playwriting, design, dramaturgy, dance, musical theater, and digital media performance. It involves the study of performance techniques, new work development, creative and critical approaches to analysis, and the study of performance as a medium of artistic, cultural, social, and political expression. 

In the fall, first-year students interested in the major should make an appointment with the program's director of undergraduate studies (DUS), Hal Brooks. They should take  THST 110  and THST 111 , a two-semester sequence that introduces students to collaborative performance making and research practices as well as to the disciplinary breadth housed within the major. Both courses integrate practical, experiential immersion with conceptual and theoretical frameworks. This course sequence is open to all students and is a requirement of the major. First-year students are also encouraged to take Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies first-year seminars.

FACULTY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROGRAM OF THEATER AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES

Professors  James Bundy ( School of Drama, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), David Chambers ( Adjunct ) ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), *Toni Dorfman ( Adjunct ) ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ( Practice ) ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), Joan MacIntosh ( Practice ) ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, School of Drama ), *Lawrence Manley ( English ), *Deb Margolin ( Practice) (Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), Donald Margulies (Adjunct) (English, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), *Charles Musser (Film & Media Studies, American Studies, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), Tavia Nyong'o ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, American Studies ), *Marc Robinson (School of Drama, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, English ), Shane Vogel ( African American Studies, English, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), Gregory Wallace (Practice) (School of Drama, Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies)

Associate Professor  Emily Coates ( Adjunct ) ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, School of Drama )

Assistant Professors  Elise Morrison ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies ), Amanda Reid ( Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies )

Lecturers  Hal Brooks, Lacina Coulibaly, Daniel Egan, Grant Herreid, Iréne Hultman, Annette Jolles, Michael Korie, Bronwen MacArthur, Elijah Martinez, Lynda Paul, Emmanuele Phuon, Kelsey Rainwater, Nathan Roberts, Renee Robinson, Michael Rossmy, Brian Seibert, Dexter Singleton, Sohina Sodhu, Shilarna Stokes, Daniel Ulbricht, Daniela Varon.

*Member of the Executive Committee for the program.

See  visual roadmap  of the requirements.

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

Download Overview (PDF)

The PDF will include content on the Overview tab only.

Download 2023-24 YCPS PDF

All pages in YCPS Catalog.

Theater and Performance Studies

Search form

With gift from david geffen, yale’s drama school goes tuition-free.

Present and future students at Yale University’s drama school will no longer pay tuition, thanks to a landmark $150 million gift from entertainment executive and philanthropist David Geffen, the university announced today.

The donation — the largest on record in the history of American theater — makes the school the only institution of its kind to eliminate tuition for all degree and certificate students, removing financial barriers to access.

In recognition of the gift, Yale School of Drama is now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University .

“ David Geffen’s visionary generosity ensures that artists of extraordinary potential from all socioeconomic backgrounds will be able to cultivate their talent at Yale,” said Yale President Peter Salovey, who announced the news with James Bundy, the School’s dean. “It is exciting to think about what will be made possible by increasing access to the premier theater education at the David Geffen School of Drama. Our students help drive creativity and innovation across all fields — during their time at Yale and after they graduate. So, David’s transformative gift will have a ripple effect in our community and around the world. Dean Bundy and I are grateful for the trust David places in Yale through this exceptional commitment, and we hope students from every quarter will see that theater education at Yale is a possibility for them.”

Graduate education in theater at Yale dates to 1925. The Geffen School is one of the only graduate-level professional conservatories in the world that provides training in every theater discipline: acting, design, directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, technical design and production, and theater management. It enrolls about 200 students across 10 distinct degree and certificate programs.

The School’s graduates include actors Meryl Streep ’75 M.F.A., Frances McDormand ’82 M.F.A., Angela Bassett ’80, ’83 M.F.A., Paul Giamatti ’89, ’94 M.F.A., and Lupita Nyong’o ’12 M.F.A.; playwrights David Henry Hwang ’83 M.F.A., Lynn Nottage ’89 M.F.A., and Tarell Alvin McCraney ’07 M.F.A.; and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts Rocco Landesman ’76 D.F.A, among many other luminaries of the arts.

David Geffen is among the most enterprising and influential figures in American entertainment and a philanthropist whose vigorous support advances health, education, arts and culture, and civil liberties, among other causes. For nearly six decades, he has identified and nurtured performers and creative projects that have defined American culture through music, film, and theater. The founder of Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and Geffen Pictures, he also co-founded the film studio DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. In 2010, Geffen was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2011 the Grammy Salute to Industry Icons honored him with the President’s Merit Award in recognition of his significant contributions to the music industry.

“ It’s an honor to partner with Yale University to create the first tuition-free drama school of its kind in the nation,” said Geffen, who taught a course at Yale in the late 1970s. “Yale is well known for having one of the most respected drama programs in the country. So, when they approached me with this opportunity, I knew Yale was the right place to begin to change the way we think about funding arts education. Yale already provides some of the best professional training available to actors, writers, directors, designers, and theater managers from diverse backgrounds. Removing the tuition barrier will allow an even greater diversity of talented people to develop and hone their skills in front of, on, and behind Yale’s stages. I hope this gift will inspire others to support similar efforts to increase accessibility and affordability for arts education at colleges and universities across the country.”

The Geffen School of Drama will eliminate tuition for all degree and certificate students, starting with those enrolled for the fall semester that begins in August, and including returning students. (The School did not admit a new class for fall 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but added a fully subsidized fourth year for all enrolled students.)

“ David Geffen’s gift will be transformative for us at the School and for the American theater at large,” said James Bundy ’95 M.F.A. , the School’s Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean and its leader since 2002. “Full tuition support of our training will help us attract talent from the broadest possible spectrum of potential applicants, and it sends a clear message that Yale is a place where a stimulating mix of gifted students can devote their energies first and foremost to artistry. This will lead to a fuller representation of our society in every aspect of professional practice.

“ It is a special joy that this new era dawns as stages at Yale and across the world prepare to resume live, in-person productions after a long pause during the pandemic: more than ever we need the healing and revelatory power of the performing arts and their special ability to transmit and celebrate the human spirit.”

Like the School itself, Yale Repertory Theatre, the professional theater in residence at Yale University, suspended live performances during the pandemic. Both will again welcome in-person audiences in the months ahead. The Rep’s new season will include three productions, beginning in January 2022 with a new production of “Today is My Birthday,” a critically acclaimed comedy about loneliness in the age of connectivity, written by playwright Susan Soon He Stanton ’10 M.F.A. and directed by Mina Morita.

Geffen’s gift to the university continues a relationship begun more than four decades ago. In the 1978-79 academic year, during a break from the entertainment industry, he led a semester-long seminar at Yale called “The Music Industry and Arts Management.” An overview course, it addressed topics such as organization, recording, publishing, production, distribution, finance, and publicity.

After returning to business, Geffen built rosters of superstar recording artists, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Hole; produced the films “Beetlejuice,” “Interview with the Vampire,” and “Risky Business,” to name a few; and helped bring to Broadway the Tony Award-winning musicals “Cats,” “M. Butterfly,” and “Dreamgirls.”

Geffen also became a leading philanthropist. He has provided major support for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, for example, as well as for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Geffen Playhouse, and the arts education programs of Spelman and Morehouse Colleges.

His gift to Yale transforms financial aid at the Geffen School of Drama in perpetuity.

President Salovey said Yale is also committed to pursuing additional fundraising for projects that will further strengthen the School, including significant investments in facilities.

“ I am incredibly excited for what’s to come,” Salovey said. “We would also like to be able to build a new home for the School, including a state-of-the-art facility for theater education and production. I am committed to making sure the students David Geffen will help us attract and support have the facilities they need for the full expression of their creativity.”

As Yale prepares for that work, the David Geffen School of Drama will be training the dramatists of the future.

“ For nearly 100 years, Yale has helped develop some of the finest theater makers and cultural leaders in the world,” Provost Scott Strobel said. “Before people like Meryl Streep, Paul Newman, and Lupita Nyong’o became household names, they trained on our campus and honed their craft as part of our supportive, impassioned community. This historic commitment ensures that the drama school’s next act will expand on that tradition.

“ A defining feature of great art is its ability to engage, entertain, and educate wide audiences. The Geffen School of Drama has a similar mission — to teach us about our world and so to better it. This gift will further that mission and the School’s commitment to equitable access so that our future drama students and scholars continue to exemplify and raise standards of global professional practice.”

Arts & Humanities

Campus & Community

Media Contact

Karen N. Peart: [email protected] , 203-980-2222

In Farr Lecture, Yale’s Peter Aronson reflects on serendipity

Cynthia Zarin’s new novel weaves memories of winter

H5N1 bird flu: What you need to know

Words for Change: Yale students join global call to launch a new humanism

• Show More Articles

The Far Country

April 26 – May 18, 2024

Buy tickets Limited availability

• See What’s On
• Subscriptions
• Gift Certificates

Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel Street. Photo by T. Charles Erickson, 2018.

Yale Repertory Theatre , the internationally celebrated professional theatre in residence at David Geffen School of Drama, has championed new work since 1966, producing well over 100 premieres—including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists—by emerging and established playwrights. Seventeen Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and 10 Tony Awards. Yale Rep is also the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Established in 2008, Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre has distinguished itself as one of the nation’s most robust and innovative new play programs. To date, the Binger Center has supported the work of more than 70 commissioned artists and underwritten the world premieres and subsequent productions of more than 30 new plays and musicals at Yale Rep and theatres across the country.

Get in Touch   Support Us

Our Mission

David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre train and advance leaders in the practice of every theatrical discipline, making art to inspire joy, empathy, and understanding in the world.

Our Core Values

We expand knowledge to nurture creativity and imaginative expression embracing the complexity of the human spirit.

We put people first, centering well-being, inclusion, and equity through anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices.

Collaboration

We build our collective work on a foundation of mutual respect, prizing the contributions and accomplishments of the individual and of the team.

We wrestle with compelling issues of our time. Energized by curiosity, invention, bravery, and humor, we challenge ourselves to risk and learn from failure and vulnerability.

Yale Repertory Theatre Staff

James Bundy

Artistic Director

Florie Seery

Managing Director

Chantal Rodriguez

Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Programs

Carla L. Jackson

General Manager

Artistic Staff

Resident Artists

Playwright in Residence: Tarell Alvin McCraney

Resident Directors: Lileana Blain-Cruz, Liz Diamond, Tamilla Woodard

Dramaturgy Advisor: Amy Boratko

Resident Dramaturg: Catherine Sheehy

Set Design Advisor: Riccardo Hernández

Resident Set Designer: Michael Yeargan

Costume Design Advisors: Oana Botez, Ilona Somogyi

Resident Costume Designer: Toni-Leslie James

Lighting Design Advisors: Alan C. Edwards, Stephen Strawbridge

Projection Design Advisor: Shawn Lovell-Boyle

Sound Design Advisor: Jill BC Du Boff

Voice and Text Advisor: Grace Zandarski

Resident Fight and Intimacy Directors: Kelsey Rainwater, Michael Rossmy

Stage Management Advisor: Narda E. Alcorn

Associate Artists: 52nd Street Project, Kama Ginkas, Mark Lamos, MTYZ Theatre/Moscow New Generation Theatre, Bill Rauch, Sarah Ruhl, Henrietta Yanovskaya

Artistic Management

Production Stage Manager: James Mountcastle

Senior Artistic Producer: Amy Boratko

Associate Producer: Kay Perdue Meadows

Artistic Fellows: Jisun Kim, Madeline Pages

Casting: James Calleri, Erica Jensen, Paul Davis

Senior Administrative Assistant to the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director: Josie Brown

Senior Administrative Assistant for Directing, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Playwriting, and Stage Management: Laurie Coppola

Senior Administrative Assistant for Design: Kate Begley Baker

Senior Administrative Assistant for the Acting Program: Krista DeVellis

Library Services: Erin Carney

Production Staff

Production Management

Director of Production: Shaminda Amarakoon

Production Manager: Jonathan Reed

Production Manager for Studio Projects and Special Events: C. Nikki Mills

Technical Director for Yale Rep: Neil Mulligan

Technical Directors for David Geffen School of Drama: Latiana “LT” Gourzong, Matt Welander

Electro Mechanical Laboratory Supervisor: Eric Lin

Scene Shop Supervisor: Eric Sparks

Senior Lead Carpenter: Matt Gaffney

Lead Carpenters: Ryan Gardner, Doug Kester, Kat McCarthey, Sharon Reinhart

Carpentry Intern: Isaac Lau

Paint Shop Supervisor : Ru-Jun Wang

Scenic Artists: Lia Akkerhuis, Nathan Jasunas, Kathleen Kennan

Paint Interns: Nicole Goldstein, Laam Tsang

Properties Supervisor: Jennifer McClure

Properties Craftsperson: David P. Schrader

Properties Associate: Zach Faber

Properties Stock Manager: Mark Dionne

Properties Intern: Destany Langfield

Costume Shop Manager: Christine Szczepanski

Senior Drapers: Clarissa Wylie Youngberg, Mary Zihal

Interim Senior Draper: Susan Aziz

Senior First Hands: Deborah Bloch, Patricia Van Horn

Costume Project Coordinator: Linda Kelley-Dodd

Costume Stock Manager: Jamie Farkas

Craft Artisan: Juliann Kroboth

Costume Interns: Amani Jaramoga, Annie Wang

Lighting Supervisor: Donald W. Titus

Senior House Electricians: Jennifer Carlson, Linda-Cristal Young

Electricians: Katie Brown, Alary Sutherland, Ryan White

Sound Supervisor: Mike Backhaus

Senior Lead Sound Engineer: Stephanie Smith

Sound Intern: Robert Salerno

Projections

Projection Supervisor: Anja Powell

Stage Operations

Stage Carpenter: Janet Cunningham

Lead Wardrobe Supervisor: Elizabeth Bolster

Lead Properties Runner: William Ordynowicz

Light Board Programmer: Sabrina Idom

Front of House Mix Engineer: Abe Joyner-Meyers

Administration

General Management

Associate Managing Directors: Jake Hurwitz, Chloe Knight, A.J. Roy

Assistant Managing Director: Ramona Li

Senior Administrative Assistant to the Managing Director and General Manager: Sarah Masotta

Management Assistant: Victoria McNaughton

Company Manager: Fanny Abib-Rozenberg

Assistant Company Managers: Kavya Shetty, Mithra Seyeti

Development and Alumni Affairs

Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs: Deborah S. Berman

Deputy Director of Operations for Development and Alumni Affairs: Susan C. Clark

Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs: Jacob Santos

Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Affairs: Mikayla Stanley

Senior Administrative Assistant to Development and Alumni Affairs: Jennifer E. Alzona

Development Associate: Delaney Kelley

FINANCE, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Director of Finance and Business Administration/Lead Administrator: Nicola Blake

Human Resources Business Partner: Trinh DiNoto

Director, Yale Tessitura Consortium, and Web Technology: Janna J. Ellis

Manager, Business Operations: Martha Boateng

Business Office Analyst: Shainn Reaves

Digital Communications Associate: George Tinari

Business Office Specialists: Moriah Clarke, Karem Orellana-Flores

Business Office Assistant: Asberry Thomas

Digital Technology Associates: Edison Dule, Garry Heyward

Senior Administrative Assistant to Business Office, Digital and Web Technology, Facility Operations, Human Resources, Tessitura: Monique Moore

Database Application Consultants: Ben Silvert, Erich Bolton, Bo Du

Marketing, Communications, and Audience Services

Director of Marketing: Daniel Cress

Director of Communications: Steven Padla

Senior Associate Director of Marketing and Communications: Caitlin Griffin

Associate Director of Marketing and Communications: Samanta Cubias

Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications: Andrew Aaron Valdez

Senior Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications: Mishelle Raza —on leave

Interim Senior Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications: Rachel Zwick

Marketing and Communications Assistant: Mithra Seyedi

Production Photographer: Joan Marcus

Art and Design: Paul Evan Jeffrey/Passage Design

Videographer: David Kane

Director of Audience Services: Laura Kirk

Assistant Director of Audience Services: Shane Quinn

Subscriptions Coordinator: Tracy Baldini

Audience Services Associate: Molly Leona

Customer Service and Safety Officers: Ralph Black, Jr., Kevin Delaney, Ed Jooss

Box Office Assistants: Pilar Bylinsky, Jordi Bertrán Ramírez, Emma Fusco, Sydney Raine Garick, Jordan Graf, Kenneth Murray, Elliot Lee, a.k. payne

Accessibility Assistant: Prentiss Patrick-Carter

Ushers: Calum Baker, Danielys Batista, Tracy Bennett, Maura Bozeman, Logan Carr, Josh Ellis, Gerson Espinoza Campos, Megan Foster, Lydia Gompper, Celete Kato, Şeyma Kaya, Di’Jhon McCoy, Keenan Miller, Bonnie Moeller, William Romain, Jana Ross, Mao Shiotsu, Jonathan Singleton, Nicole Stack, Larsson Youngberg

Theater Safety and Occupational Health

Director of Theater Safety and Occupational Health: Anna Glover

Assistant Director of Theater Safety: Kelly O’Loughlin

Associate Safety Advisors: Joy Chen, Luanne Jubsee

Director of Facility Operations: Nadir Balan

Associate Director of Operations: Brandon Fuller

Operations Assistant: Kelvin Essilfie

Arts and Graduate Studies Superintendents: Jennifer Draughn, Francisco Eduardo Pimentel

Custodial Team Leaders: Andrew Mastriano, Sherry Stanley

Facility Stewards: Ronald Douglas, Marcia Riley

Custodians: Tylon Frost, Willia Grant, Cassandra Hobby, Melloney Lucas, Shanna Ramos, Jerome Sonia

Photo Credits

Katherine Romans and Michele Selene Ang in a scene from THE BRIGHTEST THING IN THE WORLD by Leah Nanako Winkler, directed by Margot Bordelon, Yale Repertory Theatre, November 25-December 17, 2022. Photo © Joan Marcus.

View Program

Yale Repertory Theatre photo © T. Charles Erickson, 2018.

It looks like you're trying to zoom in on this page. For best results: use the most recent version of your browser, disable your browser's 'zoom text only' setting, and use your browser's default font size settings.

To zoom in, use [Ctrl] + [+] in Windows, and [Cmd] + [+] on a Mac. To zoom out, use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + [-] in Windows and [Cmd] + [-] on a Mac.

Yale University

Additional Navigation

Graduate & professional study.

Yale offers advanced degrees through its Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and 13 professional schools. Browse the organizations below for information on programs of study, academic requirements, and faculty research.

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Yale’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences offers programs leading to M.A., M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in 73 departments and programs.

School of Architecture

The Yale School of Architecture’s mandate is for each student to understand architecture as a creative, productive, innovative, and responsible practice.

School of Art

The Yale School of Art has a long and distinguished history of training artists of the highest caliber.

Divinity School

Yale Divinity School educates the scholars, ministers, and spiritual leaders of the future.

David Geffen School of Drama

The David Geffen School of Drama graduates have raised the standards of professional practice around the world in every theatrical discipline, creating bold art that engages the mind and delights the senses.

School of Engineering & Applied Science

The Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science is at the cutting edge of research to develop technologies that address global societal problems.

School of the Environment

The School of the Environment is dedicated to sustaining and restoring the long-term health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people.

Jackson School of Global Affairs

The Jackson School of Global Affairs trains and equips a new generation of leaders to devise thoughtful, evidence-based solutions for challenging global problems.

Yale Law School hones the world’s finest legal minds in an environment that features world-renowned faculty, small classes, and countless opportunities for clinical training and public service.

School of Management

School of Management students, faculty, and alumni are committed to understanding the complex forces transforming global markets and building organizations that contribute lasting value to society.

School of Medicine

Yale School of Medicine graduates go on to become leaders in academic medicine and health care, and innovators in clinical practice, biotechnology, and public policy.

School of Music

The Yale School of Music is an international leader in educating the creative musicians and cultural leaders of tomorrow.

School of Nursing

The Yale School of Nursing community is deeply committed to the idea that access to high quality patient‐centered health care is a social right, not a privilege.

School of Public Health

The School of Public Health supports research and innovative programs that protect and improve the health of people around the globe.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is composed of the departments and academic programs that provide instruction in Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Centers & Institutes

A number of our centers and institutes offer additional opportunities for graduate and professional study.

• Program Information
• Plan of Study

Production Opportunities

• Application Requirements
• Design Showcase

David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre require all students, technical interns, faculty, staff, and guest artists to follow Yale University's COVID vaccine policy, which strongly recommends vaccines. The Yale policy is subject to change pending changes to public health conditions. Additionally, community members will be asked to comply with any masking or testing policies set forth by the School, Yale Rep, or Yale University, should they arise.

The purpose of the Design program is to develop theater artists who are accomplished, committed, daring designers of costume, lighting, projection, set, and sound for the theater. The program encourages students to discover their own process of formulating design ideas, to develop a discriminating standard for their own endeavors, and above all to prepare for a creative and meaningful professional life in the broad range of theater activities.

The Design program is committed to dismantling racism by engaging in an ongoing examination of the policies and practices of the program and the profession in general in order to expose biases and systemic advantage/oppression where they exist and to build a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment through anti-racist practices.

All students in degree and certificate programs receive full tuition scholarships.

67% of current students receive need-based aid for living expenses.

Students apply theory to professional practice in production work at the School, Yale Rep, and Yale Cabaret.

Affinity Groups

Coalition-building and networking among students who share common interests, goals, and/or a self-identified background.

Student Perspectives

Imaging Choir Boy Together: Designers Anna Grigo, Daniela Hart, and Stephen Marks

Creating the Production Process for the Team with the Team

Brittany Bland (’19) with Wendall Harrington (Faculty) at a projection design installation at Yale University Art Gallery, 2017. Photo by Joan Marcus.

CHOIR BOY by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Faculty), directed by Christopher D. Betts (’22), Yale Repertory Theatre, 2022. Photo © Joan Marcus.

AFFINITY by Rebecca Adelsheim and Alex Keegan, based on the novel by Sarah Waters, directed by Alex Keegan. David Geffen School of Drama, 2022. Photo © T. Charles Erickson.

TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare, directed by James L. Fleming. David Geffen School of Drama, 2021. Photo © Leigh R. Busby.

SHE KILLS MONSTERS by Qui Nguyen, directed by Adrienne D. Williams. David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, 2021. Photo © T. Charles Erickson.

Costume Figure Drawing with Oana Botez. David Geffen School of Drama, spring 2022. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Toni-Leslie James with design students in classroom. David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, 2019. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Program News

The Burry Fredrik Foundation has announced scenic designer Omid Akbari as the recipient of the 2024 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship and its $10,000 award.

Suzan-Lori Parks’s new play will also include work by Riccardo Hernández (’92, Co-chair of Design) and Alan C. Edwards (’11, faculty).

Course Detail

Film and Media Studies Program

Oksana chefranova.

Oksana Chefranova is an Associate Research Scholar in Film and Media Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Cinema Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Her dissertation on Evgenii Bauer, one of the most imaginative, prolific, and aesthetically-innovative director of early cinema, was awarded the Jay Leyda Prize for excellence and originality of research. Before joining the Yale faculty, she taught classes at NYU on American avant-garde film, Surrealism, international silent cinema, and academic research & writing. At Yale, she teaches a core curriculum seminar Close Analysis of Film among other courses.

Currently, Oksana is working on her first book, From Garden to Kino: Evgenii Bauer, Cinema, and Genealogy of Built Environments in Russia Circa 1900 . Offering a promenade through gardens, artificial ruins, fairgrounds, exhibition pavilions, theater stages, and film settings, the book examines a rich history of built environments in Late Imperial Russia through the prism of artistic output of Evgenii Bauer, whose movement across different media reveals a vital context surrounding the arrival of cinema. Grounded in rigorous archival research, the book redraws the map of early cinema as it analyzes the practices of designing milieu and image-making between 1878 and 1917, while arguing that the built environment traverses boundaries between the world of nature and culture, encapsulates philosophical and narrative systems, and serves as an epistemic tool for understanding paradoxes of modernity at the crisscross of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The research for this project was supported by the Andrew Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) of Social Science Research Council and the Torch Fellowship (NYU). 

Recently, Oksana contributed a chapter “On Genealogy of Translucent Screen and Rehabilitation of the Ephemeral” to the volume Apparitions: The (Im)materiality of Modern Surface (Bloomsbury Press, 2019, Forthcoming) and a chapter “Breathing Faces, Twinkling Eyes: On Cinematic Visage in Russian Films of the 1910s” to Corporeality and Early Cinema: Viscera, Skin, and Physical Form (Indiana University Press, 2018). Her other projects and research interests focus on history and theory of camera movement, experimental film and art practice, landscape across media, cinema & contemporary visual arts, and new approaches to film style and aesthetics.

Complementing her academic work, Oksana has also been a curator in theater and multimedia in the  Museum of Malyi Theater (Moscow, Russia) and a film curator in Moscow, New York, and Yale University. Embracing in her curatorial work both historical figures and recent tendencies, she looks at the present state of cinema as expanded and reshaped by diverse forms and contexts of new media environment and, through this expansion, addresses the dynamism and complexity of contemporary cinema. One of her continuous scholarly and curatorial interests is international women filmmakers, specifically the global explosion of films by female directors over the past decade.

Research Interests

Silent cinema & visual culture circa 1900; built environments and atmosphere; history and theory of camera movement; media archaeology; experimental film; cinema in the gallery; new media art; contemporary world cinema.

Education History

Ph.D., Cinema Studies, New York University,  Awarded Distinction 

M.A., Cinema Studies, New York University

B.A. and M.A., History of Art, Moscow State University

Department of Music

Musical theater, selected course offerings:.

Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater

A number of electives in Musical Theater are offered on a regular basis.  They include:

Music 185/Theater Studies 236:  American Musical Theater: History and Context Professor Daniel Egan. Critical examination of relevance and context in the history of the American musical theater. Historical survey combined with text and musical analysis; non-musical historical trends and how they interact in the musical theater of a given era.

Music 228:  Musical Theater Performance I Professor Annette Jolles. The structure and meaning of traditional and contemporary musical theater repertoire. Focus on ways to “read” a work, decipher compositional cues for character and action, facilitate internalization of material, and elicit lucid interpretations. For singers, pianists and directors.

Music 229:  Musical Theater Performance II Professor Andrea Burns. A guided exploration of central elements in musical theater performance. Discussion of specific aspects of musical theater including choreography, music direction and originating new works, will be followed by their application in performance.

Music 230:  Composing for Musical Theater. Professor Joshua Rosenblum. Introduction to elements of music- and lyric-writing for theater songs. Focus on the development of compositional proficiency in the musical theater idiom and on the refinement of each student’s compositional voice.

Music 330:  Musical Theatre Composition II. Professor Scott Frankel. Intermediate and advanced projected-oriented studies in composition of musical theater.

Music 472:  Stephen Sondheim and the American Musical Theater Tradition Professor Daniel Egan. The musical theater of Stephen Sondheim, both as a popular phenomenon of the contemporary Broadway stage and in relation to models and forms employed in the past.

Theater Studies 414a/Drama 77a:  Lyric Writing for Musical Theater  Professor Michael Korie A practical introduction to the art and craft of libretto/lyric writing for musical theater and opera. Study and analysis of books of musicals and libretti/lyrics for opera from Da Ponte to Hammerstein to today. Exercises in writing one-act musical books, lyrics to “trunk” songs. The possibility of collaboration with student composers.

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Yale Rep announces 2024-25 season featuring new plays and updated classics

The Yale Repertory Theatre has returned to its roots for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

The theater is back to producing five main-stage shows for the season after doing four in the 2023-24 and 2022-23 seasons and just three in 2021-22.

The season will open with the world premiere of “Falcon Girls” by Hillary Bettis, directed by May Adrales, from Oct. 10 through Nov. 2.

“Falcon Girls” is a semi-autobiographical play about a group of teens on a horse judging team hoping to make the national finals.

Bettis is the playwright and screenwriter whose variation on Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” “The Queen of Basel,” was done at TheaterWorks Hartford last year.

Adrales graduated nearly 20 years ago from the Yale School of Drama and has taught there and at other universities. She directed the acclaimed 2016 New York premiere of Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone.”

Theater review: Themes of bigotry, culture shock gently explored in ‘The Far Country’ at Yale Rep

Whitney White’s “Macbeth in Stride,” running Dec. 5-14, is brought to Yale by a co-production team of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company and Brooklyn Academy of Music.

White adapted the show, which is a soul/pop concert take on Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth exploring Black female power.

The play, which premiered in 2021, is co-directed by Taibi Mager and Tyler Dobrowsky with choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, who did the dance moves for “Girls” at Yale Rep in 2019.

“Eden,” by renowned 20th century Black playwright Steve Carter, is at Yale Rep Jan. 16 through Feb. 8, 2025. The play is a sort of “Romeo & Juliet” drama of a Black Southern youth who falls in love with a Caribbean immigrant woman.

“Eden” is directed by New York director/actor Brandon J. Dirden.

“The Inspector,” scheduled for March 7-29, 2025, is a new version of Nikolai Gigol’s classic social satire “The Inspector.”

The play is adapted and directed by Russian-born theater artist Yura Kordonsky, who currently teaches at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and has previously taught in Connecticut at Wesleyan University and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Mara Vélez Meléndez’s “Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members,” on April 25 through May 17, 2025, was produced off-Broadway in 2022. That production at the Soho Rep was promoted as “a drag show about decolonizing places and people.” The Yale Rep describes it as “a revenge saga giving existential drag extravaganza.”

This new production will be directed by Javier Antonio González.

Most of the shows in the season run for around three weeks, while “Macbeth in Stride” runs for 10 days.

The Yale Repertory Theatre was founded in 1966 as a professional regional theater which serves as a training ground for students in Yale’s graduate drama programs. There have only been four artistic directors in the theater’s 58-year history. The artistic director also serves as dean of the drama school.

Yale Rep’s founder Robert Brustein, who left in 1979, died earlier this year at the age of 96. Since 2002, the artistic director has been James Bundy.

Season subscription deals are available. For more information on the upcoming 2024-25 Yale Repertory Theatre season, go to yalerep.org.

Recommended Stories

How to watch the microsoft build 2024 keynote live on may 21.

Microsoft is streaming its Build 2024 keynote on Tuesday. Here's how to watch -- and what to know about the lower-profile event the day before.

Report: David Fletcher, former Shohei Ohtani teammate, placed bets with same bookie as Ippei Mizuhara

This scandal refuses to end for MLB.

Celtics C Kristaps Porzingis reportedly expected to miss start of Eastern Conference finals

The Celtics are optimistic the big man will return at some point in the series.

Doctor Who: Boom review: All hail the conquering hero

It's the first classic of the Disney+ era.

Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery

The Korean star signed a $113 million deal with the Giants last offseason.

PGA Championship: Will Zalatoris says group of players considered asking for postponement after death, Scottie Scheffler arrest

It was a surreal day at the PGA Championship.

Chiefs' Wanya Morris, Chukwuebuka Godrick arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession

Kansas City Chiefs players Wayna Morris and Chukwuebuka Godrick were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession, according to a Johnson County Sheriff.

Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit review: A cash-back business card with simple rewards

This business card comes with a generous welcome bonus and earns a flat 1.5% cash back on every purchase

K-pop group NewJeans is at the center of messy feud: What to know

Breaking down the ongoing K-pop drama between ADOR CEO Min and Hybe.

Memorial Day 2024 deals on road trip essentials

Check out these great road tripping Memorial Day deals on pet harnesses, power stations, coolers and more.

PhD Students Nghiem Huynh and Jillian Stallman Named Prize Teaching Fellows

The Department is proud to announce that the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) has named two economics PhD students Prize Teaching Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year: Nghiem Huynh and Jillian Stallman .

The award, which recognizes outstanding talent in teaching, is one of the highest honors that a graduate student can attain at Yale.

Nghiem and Jillian are part of a group of ten PhD students that GSAS named Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year. Recipients are nominated by their undergraduate students and the faculty members they assist while serving as Teaching Fellows.

In their nominations, students said the following of Nghiem and Jillian:

• Nghiem teaches with passion and it is clear that he cares deeply about what he is teaching. His excellence in skill and passion for the subject makes his sections fly by. I strongly believe Nghiem deserves recognition for his teaching.
• Jillian has been hands down the best teaching assistant I ever had. She cared so much about us and was so dedicated to making sure we all were learning and had a strong understanding of the material.

"Doctoral education is more than just a journey from knowledge acquisition to knowledge creation," said Lynn Cooley, Dean of the Graduate School. "It is fundamentally about equipping scholars with the ability to share their insights broadly—to impact society positively through education. Reviewing the nominations, I am profoundly impressed by the innovative and engaging ways in which our teaching fellows have made complex ideas accessible and exciting to their students."

Read the full announcement here , and scroll down to hear from Nghiem and Jillian, as well as the students who nominated them, about the award.

Nghiem Huynh

Nghiem was awarded a Prize Teaching Fellowship for teaching ECON 116, Introductory Macroeconomics in Spring 2024 based on student nominations and a letter of support from the supervising instructor.

I am incredibly honored and grateful to receive this prize, particularly because it is based on nominations from my students. I take a great deal of inspiration from them. Seeing them in class, eager to learn despite many challenges, empowers me to work alongside them in understanding the material and finding joy in the process. I am also thankful for the mentorship of my supervisors, Professor Fabrizio Zilibotti and Dr. William Hawkins, who have helped me develop my teaching skills this semester. Finally, I am grateful for my PhD advisors, Sam Kortum, Mark Rosenzweig, and Lorenzo Caliendo, who are exceptional teachers and mentors, inspiring me to learn and teach economics effectively.

— Nghiem Huynh

In their nominations, Nghiem’s students mentioned:

• Nghiem is a fantastic section leader. He breaks down the lecture information into chunks that are easy for students to understand, and his sections have taught me how to approach macroeconomics in an analytical way. Nghiem also teaches with passion and it is clear that he cares deeply about what he is teaching. His excellence in skill and passion for the subject makes his sections fly by. I strongly believe Nghiem deserves recognition for his teaching and contribution to Yale Economics teaching.
• Nghiem is my section leader, and he’s exellent. It’s clear that he’s passionate about economics, and it comes through during section. His explanations clarify concepts that I have difficulty grasping during lecture, and when I don’t understand something, Nghiem always offers two or three other ways of seeing why an answer is correct. He always emphasizes why an answer is correct, not just how to get it.

Jillian Stallman

Jillian was awarded a Prize Teaching Fellowship for teaching ECON 412, International Environmental Economics in Fall 2023 based on student nominations and a letter of support from the supervising instructor.

I'm deeply touched that my students thought highly of me enough to nominate me for a teaching prize. I didn't know that a prize like this even existed and I think it's lovely that Yale has a place to recognize the relationships we build with our students. We were fortunate to have this delightful, thoughtful group of students, and having a smaller class (around 30) makes a big difference in how personal our interactions can get. Sam Kortum, who I have been deeply grateful to get to interact with and learn from as the main instructor, structured this class in a neat way that set the foundation for a healthy but challenging learning environment. For starters, it was a combination of international and environmental economics, and the conversations we had in class were thoughtful, deep-dive takes on topical subjects. We began the semester with a number of challenging problem sets where the students did need to come to me for help, so we all got to know each other. The students then turned their focus more towards a research project in the latter half, but had milestones throughout the semester where they got regular feedback. This let the students get exposure to the research process, and also opened up the possibilities for them to interact with us in a way that had everyone learning, ultimately resulting in these nifty final projects.

— Jillian Stallman

In their nominations, Jillian’s students mentioned:

• Jillian is the very best. I had never before had a TA who was as effective a teacher and as willing to help as Jill. Her enthusiasm for and her grasp on the subject reminded me of why I wanted to study economics in the first place. She will be one of the teachers that I remember for a very long time.
• Jillian is an incredible TA, and I don’t know how I would have gotten through the course without her (and I know I’m not the only one). She is so insanely engaged, so smart, so clear, so sweet, responsive, such a hard worker – everything. So grateful to have had her this semester.

10 PhD Students Named 2023-24 Prize Teaching Fellows

Ten PhD students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) have been named Prize Teaching Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year: Camille Angelo (Religious Studies), Carissa Chan (Microbiology), Grayson Hoy (Chemistry), Nghiem Huynh (Economics), Kimberly Lifton (Medieval Studies), Benjamin Schafer (History), Jillian Stallman (Economics), Audrey Tjahjadi (Anthropology), Alexa Williams (Chemistry), and Novak Yang (Immunobiology). 

The Graduate School has awarded the teaching prizes annually since 2000. Recipients are nominated by their undergraduate students and the faculty members they assist while serving as Teaching Fellows.

"Doctoral education is more than just a journey from knowledge acquisition to knowledge creation," said Lynn Cooley, Dean of the Graduate School. "It is fundamentally about equipping scholars with the ability to share their insights broadly—to impact society positively through education. Reviewing the nominations, I am profoundly impressed by the innovative and engaging ways in which our teaching fellows have made complex ideas accessible and exciting to their students."

Biographies of the winners are included below.

Camille Leon Angelo (Religious Studies)

Camille Leon Angelo is a sixth-year PhD student in the Department of Religious Studies in the subfields of Eastern Mediterranean and West Asian Religions and Ancient Christianity. Her work examines materiality, sexuality, and space in late antiquity through new materialist, feminist, and queer lenses. She is a field archaeologist and has excavated in the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus. Her current research primarily engages archaeological, papyrological, and epigraphic evidence, related to late antique Egypt. Her past projects have analyzed the archaeological remains of several early Christian sites in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, most notably Dura-Europos, to elucidate sensory experiences in late antiquity.

Carissa Chan (Microbiology)

Carissa Chan is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Microbiology. Her research investigates how bacterial pathogens adapt to infection-relevant stresses, thus promoting survival inside mammalian host cells and disease. She has served as a teaching fellow for Physiological Systems for the past three years, including two as head teaching fellow. Each year, Carissa is inspired by the dedication and level of engagement from students in the class as they cover fascinating topics about the human body from fundamental cellular physiology to complex interactions between organ systems. Working with undergraduate and graduate students in Physiological Systems and sharing her excitement for science with them has been one of the highlights of her time at Yale.

Grayson Hoy (Chemistry)

Grayson Hoy is a first-year PhD student in the Chemistry Department. His research focuses on using super-resolution infrared microscopy to study metabolism in living cells to better understand metabolic dysregulation. Before Yale, he attended William & Mary, where he learned how transformative professors and mentors can be from a student’s perspective. Inspired by his undergraduate researcher professor, Dr. Kristin Wustholz, and other teachers throughout his life, Grayson aims to create a supportive learning environment where students feel empowered and excited by chemistry. 

Nghiem Huynh (Economics)

Nghiem Huynh is a doctoral candidate in Economics at Yale University, graduating in May 2024. His research evaluates the effects of government policies on regional and gender inequality. Nghiem holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from New York University Abu Dhabi.

Kimberly Lifton (Medieval Studies)

Kimberly Lifton is a PhD candidate in the Medieval Studies program. She studies how Burgundy, England, and France's relationships with the Ottoman Empire materialized in manuscripts during the fifteenth century. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright, FLAS, and the Dhira Mahoney Fellowship. In the classroom, she works to develop compassionate pedagogy for neurodiverse students. 

Benjamin Schafer (History)

Benjamin Schafer is a PhD candidate in American History. He studies urban and social history in the late-twentieth-century United States.  His dissertation, “Life and Death in Rust,” is a study of poverty and inequality in post-industrial Buffalo, NY, his hometown, from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. Prior to Yale, Ben received an AB, magna cum laude with highest honors; Phi Beta Kappa, in History with a secondary in African American Studies from Harvard College, where he was awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes Senior Thesis Prize, the David Herbert Donald Prize in American History, and the Rev. Peter J. Gomes Prize in Religion and Ethnicity. He also holds an MPhil in Economic and Social History from Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. He works as a research assistant for Professors Elizabeth Hinton and Vanessa Ogle and has previously worked as a researcher for Professor Fredrik Logevall (Harvard) and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. He has been a teaching fellow for Professor David Engerman (Fall 2023, The Origins of U.S. Global Power) and Professor Marco Ramos (Spring 2023, The History of Drugs in America).

Jillian Stallman (Economics)

Jillian Stallman is a PhD student in the Economics Department interested broadly in the intersection of economic development, environmental economics, and political economy. She's writing her dissertation about cooperation over freshwater resources in developing countries using a combination of economic theory, surveys and administrative data, and remote-sensing measurements. Jillian spent her undergraduate years at Williams College, where she worked most semesters as a teaching assistant to her peers in courses ranging from macroeconomic development to multivariable calculus to introductory Chinese. After graduating, she spent several years travelling in, among other places, China, Chile and Senegal, operating under the belief that she would have a difficult time ultimately doing research about places and people she hadn't lived around for a good while.

Audrey Tjahjadi (Anthropology)

Audrey Tjahjadi is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Anthropology focusing on human evolutionary genetics. She is interested in how local environments have shaped the evolution of diet-related adaptations in Southeast Asian and Oceanic populations, particularly in genes involved in fatty acid metabolism. Outside of research, Audrey is also involved in science communication and outreach through Yale graduate student organizations. 

Alexa Kim Williams (Chemistry)

Alexa Williams is a PhD student in Materials Chemistry. She completed her BS in Chemistry in 2021 at Montclair State University in New Jersey. At Yale, her research explores the fundamental reactivity of H-terminated silicon nanoparticles and aims to inform broader studies on silicon-based hybrid materials for CO2 reduction. This work is part of the CHASE solar fuels hub.

Xuan (Novak) Yang (Immunobiology)

Novak Yang is a third-year PhD candidate in Dr. Lieping Chen’s laboratory at the Department of Immunobiology. He received his BS in Biology and MS in Cancer Biology and Translational Oncology degrees at Emory University, and was the first to accomplish this in a “3+1” timeline at Emory. Prior to joining Yale, Novak was trained by Dr. Haian Fu and Dr. Andrey Ivanov at the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, with a primary focus on cancer-associated protein-protein interactions and high-throughput drug discovery. He has multiple first-author and co-author publications, and is the recipient of American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Travel Award and Program Committee Blue Ribbon Pick, and Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) Tony B. Academic Travel Award. Novak was recruited to Yale Immunobiology in 2021 as a Gruber Science Fellow. His research focuses on the discovery of actionable targets in the tumor microenvironment that drive the resistance to current immunotherapies, and pre-clinical development of innovative therapeutic strategies that normalize anti-tumor immunity for cancer patients.

• Yale Bone Center Faculty
• Yale Diabetes Center Faculty
• Yale Endocrine Neoplasia Clinic Faculty
• Clinical Programs
• Winter 2023
• Spring 2023
• October 2023
• January 2024
• Clinical Track
• Clinical/Research
• Customizing Your Education
• Current Fellows
• Type 1/Childhood-Onset
• Type 2/Adult-Onset
• Bone & Mineral Metabolism
• Clinical Trials

INFORMATION FOR

• Residents & Fellows
• Researchers

Jennifer Sherr, MD, PhD

Contact information.

• Appt 877.925.3637
• Clinic Fax 203.764.6748

Patient Care Locations

• Yale Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism 1 Long Wharf Drive, Ste Suite 3 New Haven, CT 06511
• Yale Pediatric Specialty Center Park Avenue Medical Center 5520 Park Avenue, Ste 102 Trumbull, CT 06611 Fax : 203.737.7635

Mailing Address

• Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes

One Long Wharf Drive Suite 503

New Haven, CT 06520

United States

Related Links

• Insulin Pumps Give Kids Better Control of Type 1 Diabetes
• Yale Children's Diabetes Program

Patient Care

Research & publications, appointments.

Jennifer Sherr MD, PhD ’s passion for the care of those with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is quite personal, as she was diagnosed in 1987. From the time of her diagnosis, she was determined to become a pediatric endocrinologist. She completed her undergraduate and medical school training through an accelerated Joint BA/MD program at Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She then completed both her pediatric residency and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at Yale. While she always wanted to care for those with T1D, her eyes were open to the meaningful impact that clinical research has. She thus embarked on further training through the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Investigative Medicine Program, a PhD program designed to develop the next generation of physician scientists. Dr. Sherr has been devoted to clinical research since 2006. Her thesis examined the mechanisms responsible for the loss of the glucagon response to hypoglycemia and its relationship to residual beta-cell function. She is an expert in the field of diabetes technology and has worked on trials of continuous glucose monitors and automated insulin delivery systems. She has previously worked on projects with the type 1 diabetes exchange (T1DX) and was selected as the first Junior Pediatric Faculty Member to the T1DX Steering Committee, serving in that role from 2016-2017. Working in an NIH-funded consortium, she is co-leading the Yale site to characterize glycemia across pregnancy. In 2021, she took on the role of lead investigator at Yale for the TrialNet consortium, a group whose purpose is to prevent progression to stage 3 diabetes and preserve residual beta cell function in those who are newly diagnosed with this condition. As a Professor in the department of pediatrics, her goal in both the clinical and research realm is to reduce the burden of living with type 1 diabetes, for both her patients and herself.

Education & Training

• PhD Yale Graduae School of Arts & Sciences, Investigative Medicine (2011)
• Fellowship Yale University School of Medicine (2009)
• Residency Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital (2006)
• MD UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School (2003)
• BA Rutgers College, Biology (2000)

Honors & Recognition

Professional service, departments & organizations.

• Diabetes Program
• Diabetes Research Center
• Yale Medicine