The Department of Dramatic Arts and its theatre production arm, the Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), combine to create an exciting center for excellence in the dramatic arts. Each year young theatre artists from across the United States choose to pursue education, training, and production experience through undergraduate and graduate study in the Department of Dramatic Arts and CRT. The goal of the department is twofold. First, it aims to provide the finest possible professional training through classroom and studio instruction. Second, it aims to supplement and enrich that classroom and studio training by providing maximal opportunities for students to obtain professional level production experience through active participation in plays produced by the Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) is the production organization of the Department of Dramatic Arts. Through CRT, the Department produces a subscription series of plays and musicals during the academic year, as well as a separate series of plays during the summer. In mounting and producing plays, CRT operates in a manner that is essentially identical to a typical regional repertory theatre and it does so with similar artistic aspirations. In fact, CRT seeks to maintain active, working associations with regional repertory theatres whereby co-sponsored productions may originate at CRT and tour to the co-producing professional theatres. The CRT's contract with the Actor's Equity Association permits our acting majors, both graduate, and undergraduate, to participate in the Equity Candidacy Program through which many of them are eligible for union membership upon their graduation.

The Department of Dramatic Art supports the University's core values encouraging diversity and equal educational and employment opportunities throughout the University community.  These values are articulated in the University’s Policies and by the Office of Diversity & Equity.