PhD in Theatre - Asian Theatre in Honolulu United States | University of Hawaii at Manoa

Renowned globally as the premier university-based hub for Asian performance studies and practice, our Asian Theatre program draws students from across Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and North America. Students benefit from a comprehensive curriculum led by three dedicated faculty members, supplemented by guest workshops covering diverse Asian theatrical traditions. A highlight of the program is our immersive training residencies, where students receive extended, focused instruction from celebrated masters in traditional forms. These residencies include semester-long courses in movement, vocal techniques, and instrumentation, plus personalized coaching for specific roles and instruments. Our curriculum regularly features Chinese, Japanese, and Indonesian theatre, with additional rotating Asian cultures. Frequently taught forms include jingju, kabuki, kyogen, noh, randai, and wayang kulit. Each residency concludes with a Kennedy Theatre Mainstage production of a major play performed in English. These residencies create a distinctive, interdisciplinary learning experience by bringing professional training directly to campus. They have yielded exceptional productions that rank among the finest Asian theatre performances outside their home countries. Since 1923, our program has staged world-premiere English adaptations of traditional and contemporary works from China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, India, and Thailand, alongside innovative productions inspired by Asian theatrical research.
Our program offers the most extensive Asian theatre curriculum in the U.S., with undergraduate and graduate courses covering history, theory, literature, and performance (including acting, directing, and puppetry), plus individualized study options. Our distinguished faculty are internationally acclaimed for their research, creative projects, and residency leadership. To date, we've graduated over ninety masters and doctoral alumni now working across six continents as educators, administrators, and theatre practitioners.
Committed to community engagement, we regularly present educational performances and lectures at schools and cultural venues. Selected productions have toured Hawaiian islands and the U.S. mainland. Our English adaptations have gained recognition in their source countries—three jingju productions toured China by invitation, while our randai performances (the only traditional presentations outside Indonesia) were invited to Sumatra.