The Department of Theatre Studies at the University of the Peloponnese aims to provide its students with theoretical and practical knowledge in the arts of theatre and performance. It combines academic methodology and theoretical knowledge with dramatic practice, and offers its students all the necessary skills that will help them have a successful academic or artistic career. The graduates of the Department are qualified theatre experts, according to the Presidential Decrees 105/2009 and 125/2000. As theatre experts and as stage professionals, they will be involved in the promotion, development and dissemination of the art and culture of theatre and performance.
Students of the Department receive a sound education in theatre studies, as they attend, during the first four semesters of their degree, core courses that ensure they gain all the essential skills and knowledge in theatre and the arts. During the four final semesters of their studies, they take specialised courses according to the two informal streams of the Department, ‘Theatre Studies’ and ‘Theatre Practice’, as well as free elective courses. Students also attend mandatory courses in Theatre Pedagogy and yearly courses in one foreign language and the corresponding theatre terminology. Finally, before graduation and as part of the Internships Programme, students have the opportunity to work in cultural or educational institutions outside the University.
The graduates are capable of utilizing their knowledge in theatre studies and of being actively involved in the field of theatre and the performing arts, in education and in the broader area of culture. More specifically, they can pursue a career in the following professions as:
1) teachers (after receiving the appropriate teachers’ training certificate): theatre pedagogues, animators, teachers of drama, theatre studies, the history and theory of drama at all levels of the educational process (primary and secondary education, secondary arts schools, continuing education schools, state and private professional colleges, educational institutes and other centres for lifelong learning, drama schools, schools for directing, dance and cinema, music schools, etc.).
2) members of theatre organizations: theatre experts, curators of programmes and activities of theatre and the performing arts in state and private theatre organizations (state theatre institutions, the national theatre, various public theatre organizations all over Greece, sponsored and free theatre, festivals, etc.).
3) specialised advisors on cultural issues: cultural resources managers, advisors on arts programming and production, managers of artistic activities in state and private institutions (Ministries, the local authorities, festivals, theatres, museums, centres for arts, culture and education, archives and libraries, research institutions and centres, social organizations, the media, etc.).
4) journalists, columnists and reporters for cultural issues, editors, drama and art critics: in the media and in publishing (the daily and periodic press, the electronic press, radio, television, publishing houses).
5) artists and stage professionals: producers and experts in artistic events, production assistants, set design and costumes assistants, video artists, performers, technicians, animators, etc. in companies, venues and institutions of theatre production and expression, in social spaces and sensitive social groups as well as in the field of tourism.
The graduates of the Theatre Studies Department have also the appropriate background and have acquired the necessary academic and artistic knowledge so that they may continue their studies and embark on a postgraduate degree or doctoral research in Greece or abroad, with a view to pursuing an academic career in higher education and in state or private research, cultural or academic institutions. Finally, after graduation, they may become members of the Hellenic Theatre Studies Association.

Dr Eftichis Pirovolakis
Assistant Professor
Departmental Coordinator