Department of Theatre & Dance
2023-2024 Season

Our 2023-24 season theme, “In a New Light,” is inspired by the many shifting perspectives contained in our dramatic offerings. Light not only illuminates the view, but it informs — and even transforms—depending upon whether it is bounced back to the eye (reflection) or bent and changed as it passes through a new medium (refraction). Reflection is an important aspect of theatre’s function after all, the theatre has held up a mirror to society for centuries. However, refraction is analogous to something perhaps even more significant to theatre’s power... the potential for transformation that reveals new perspectives, sparks empathy, and— hopefully — lights the way for a better world.

These ideas shine brightly in the words of Barbara Jordan, herself a beacon of change and hope as the first Black woman to serve as a Texas State Senator, and the first Black woman elected to Congress from the deep South.*

"We are more than a melting pot, we are a kaleidoscope, where every turn of history refracts new light on the old promise."