Facilities & Location

The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) is housed within the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, along with the UMD School of Music and the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library.

The Clarice is a state-of-the-art performing arts center (318,000-square-feet) with six performance venues and eight theater and dance rehearsal studios, numerous classrooms, production labs, a costume shop, a light lab, a CAD lab and a café. The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library provides traditional and virtual resources that support the exploration and study of the performing arts.
 
Faculty and students of TDPS also benefit from engagement with research initiatives across the UMD campus, including at the Brain and Behavior Institute (BBI), the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH), the Center for Global Migration Studies, the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, the Latin American Studies Center and the Arts and Humanities Center for Synergy.

Located in College Park, MD, TDPS offers students an unparalleled opportunity for engagement with the rich cultural resources offered throughout the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. corridor. Deeply woven into the fabric of each academic program within the school is a curriculum focused on possibilities for professional development offered on campus and through our active partnerships with local and global communities as well as cultural heritage institutions of the region.

Our regional partnerships include the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Imagination Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Olney Theater, Everyman Theatre, Round House Theatre, Mosaic Theater, Dance Exchange and Dance Place.