A performer centerstage and spotlit standing on a gray podium looking out, with an ensemble of performers encircling and looking in, on a stage with black ladders, a sheet made to look like water, and white script writing on the ground.
Simon Wheeler
Exploring and combining disciplines in exciting ways

Academics

The Department of Performing and Media Arts provides opportunities for students to explore theatre, film and dance as distinct art forms, or to combine these disciplines in exciting ways.

Whether students choose to major, minor or enroll in select classes, they can integrate work in acting and film, theatre and television, dance and light, new media and sound. The major is both flexible and rigorous, giving students multiple options in designing their own program of study. In consultation with a faculty advisor, they also develop a focus in their area of interest. The departmental curriculum offers a robust selection of courses, from introductory to advanced levels and from both creative and critical perspectives.

Explore Academic Opportunities

Undergraduate Major Graduate Program Courses Independent Study Internships Cornell in Los Angeles PMA at Sundance CUeLINKS - Cornell in Hollywood
David Feldshuh with students
Screenshot from Long Road Home

Undergraduate Study

PMA offers a variety of major and minor opportunities in the performing arts. Students build a solid foundation in a broad spectrum of rubric areas – exploring relationships between dance, movement, live theatre and media arts  – while choosing a primary area of interest. 

Undergraduate Opportunities

From creating, designing or directing an event to organizing an alumni visit or working and studying in Hollywood and Europe, PMA offers amazing learning opportunities outside a traditional classroom experience.

A person reading a book
Aerial view of the Kiplinger Theatre stage

Graduate Study

Our program is focused on preparing students for careers as researchers and professors with concentrations in drama and theatre, theatre history and aesthetics, and performance studies. Students can earn a PhD and the joint MA/PhD.

Graduate Opportunities

Students work closely with Cornell's Society for the Humanities and The School for Criticism and Theory, interdisciplinary centers of intellectual exchange that draw scholars and artists from around the world. Cornell PMA also has an active student organization community offering support as graduate students grow.

  • A premier research library 
  • Cinema & Media Studies Reading Group – Discuss recent academic articles and books that have contributed to the field of media studies as well as screen films that have historical or artistic significance.
  • Association of Graduates in Theatre – Share research interests, socialize and network. Ongoing yearly events include The Roundtable and the Play Reading Group.
Professor Samantha Sheppard

The ability to see the world critically and then shape what you see into words into various forms, is so powerful. You may not want to be in media but you may have a podcast. You may be doing something else. You may be commenting on something online. Your words are powerful and you can hold people accountable to their words.

— Samantha Noelle Sheppard,  Associate Professor

PMA Events

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PMA News

Headshots clockwise for Luke Pebler, Rachel Raimist, Maureen "Mo" Ryan, and Henry Russell Bergstein

Professional Directions: Film and TV Event Series

Join PMA for a series of four Professional Directions events, on October 8, October 15, November 5, and November 12, from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm, in Room 220, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Guest speakers will join virtually on Zoom and will include film and television editor Luke Pebler, documentarian and television director…

IMAGINE! in a thought bubble on a blue background

PMA Professor Austin Bunn Gives Talk at Kitchen Theatre Company

PMA Professor Austin Bunn gave a public talk called IMAGINE! Dialogues on the Power of the Imagination and the Public Good, on Friday, October 2 at 5:30pm at the Kitchen Theatre. Part of the 25th anniversary celebration for Ithaca City of Asylum, Bunn will be joined by journalist and memoirist (and former Ithaca City of…

Students in two lines on the steps of a campus building, in orange shirts and holding signs saying "every child matters"

Films to watch for Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30

Cornell Cinema and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program recommend films for Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30 that examine Indigenous residential and boarding school histories. The Cornell University initiative highlights Indigenous resilience, truth and reconciliation, and includes a remembrance walk beginning at Caldwell Hall.

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