Mission

With an evolving curriculum and culture, the USC School of Dramatic Arts seeks to train artist-creators who connect, catalyze, and collide the traditional arts of theatre and storytelling with the digital and entrepreneurial age and the ever-changing social and political landscape. By developing students who can navigate and influence multiple dramatic arts platforms, from the traditional to the cutting edge, the school seeks to be a standard bearer in redefining what it means to train a dramatic artist for the twenty-first century.

Vision

We build toward the future of our disciplines with clarity, passion and rigor as we draw upon the theatrical conventions of the past to create in the present moment. Our faith in the value of stories—which inform and define our lives, our cultures, and our societies–is unshakeable. The school’s mission—to educate and train artists and creators who imagine and manifest these stories in every media–will enrich us all.

Values

Diversity
Accountability
Clarity of Vision
Accessibility
Creativity
Inclusion
Communication
Balance (home/work)
Students First
Transparency
Wellness

Commitments

We, as theatre artists, embody respect and kindness in our artistic endeavors building pathways toward the citizen-artists and humanitarians we strive to become.

We train ourselves and our students to stretch our empathic imaginations.

We prepare and innervate our students to not only engage with the industry but to also push the field to new horizons.

We model empathy by practicing it freely and by teaching why it matters.

We will prioritize the health and well-being of our cultural climate and our community.

We develop artists who will be active listeners and lifelong learners in the global community.

We acknowledge that cultural evolution is an on-going process, and that there is a continuous need for growth.

We emphasize theatre’s ability to serve as an archive for the whole human experience. To truly share these diverse stories with honesty and care, we
will put inclusion, equity, mutual respect, transparency, and collaboration at the forefront of all our endeavors.

We approach theater as intentional civics, embracing the citizen, artist, and scholar.

We honor theater as a brave, open space, and we continue to embrace discomfort.

We challenge what theater and art has been and where it should go, so as to fully represent the breadth of what humanity is.

We seek to engage with the saboteur and to cultivate the sage in each one of us through the transformative power of theatre.

We aim to build a knowledge base and an appreciation of dramatic arts, dramatic literature, and performance in multiple cultural, historical, and
interdisciplinary contexts as well as a proficiency in contemporary developments within the field.

We do not tolerate racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, racial, religious, gender, or disability bias, discrimination, or inequitable
treatment across our identities or against members of our community. We strive to build awareness, liberate cultural histories, and to cultivate
respect for the contributions of all people.

We are equity-minded and will consistently interrogate and examine our systems, policies, practices, and protocols to ensure equity and to address specific needs of individuals across myriad identities within our school. We are dedicated to increasing opportunities for diverse voices to be heard and through this action, to shape the future trajectory of our artistic discipline.