Welcome to The Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin! This self-guided tour allows visitors to explore the Winship Drama building without scheduling an official appointment. If you have any questions after the tour, please contact our Undergraduate Admissions Coordinator at tadadmissions@utexas.edu. In addition to the self-guided tour, we have a virtual video tour available online. We recommend watching the video before or after your self-guided tour for more information regarding each space.
There is an elevator in the Winship Lobby near the restrooms when you walk inside the building.
Please do not enter any of the studio or classroom spaces. You may enter the Oscar Brockett Theatre and the Payne Theatre if the doors are unlocked.
Let's get started!
Stop One: Winship Lobby
The celebrated entrance at the front of the Winship Drama Building will bring you to the lobby. The wooden panels open up into a box office, where tickets for shows produced by The Department of Theatre and Dance are available to our community. This is also where our Building Monitors are located for evening hours. Restrooms, water fountain and elevator are located to the left next to the staircase. Turn right to continue your tour!
Stop Two: Atrium
The atrium serves as the hub of our building. This common space is used by students, faculty and staff from 8a.m. - 10p.m. daily to work on projects and catch up in between classes and rehearsals. Community engagement teams build installations in this space when there are shows in the Oscar Brockett Theatre, located through the large doors underneath the awning. The skylights create a warm environment for our community to gather and collaborate. Continue to the right towards the end of the hallway.
Stop Three: Studio 1.134
This black box studio is primarily used for classes, rehearsals, and shows produced by our faculty or student organizations. This is also a popular venue for work curated during the Cohen New Works Festival. The space offers a lighting grid and flexible seating arrangements. Next, exit the studio and take the ramp towards the Atrium to the Oscar Brockett Theatre.
Stop Four: Oscar Brockett Theatre
(Check to see if door is unlocked. If unlocked, enter with caution. Sometimes lights are off or students/staff may be working in the space.)
The Oscar Brockett Theatre is one of our main stage venues. The space seats approximately 250 people and offers flexible seating arrangements to accommodate specific set designs. This space creates an intimate experience for our audience to connect with the work, and you can see both theatre and dance works produced in this venue. For our next stop, exit the theatre and take a left towards the Main Office. Continue down the hallway until you reach the end, dance studio 1.172.
Stop Five: Studio 1.172
(Note: No street shoes allowed in this space.)
Studio 1.172 is equipped with marley flooring, ballet barres, mirrors on two sides, a piano, a sound system, and a curtain to pull for performances. This space is primarily used for dance technique classes, auditions, and rehearsals, but is sometimes utilized as a performance venue. Our dance technique classes usually host between 15-25 dancers and include multiple genres, ranging from ballet, contemporary, house and hip hop, tap, pointe, partnering, flamenco, afro-contemporary, and etc. We bring in guest artists from multiple disciplines to secure a well-rounded dance training for our students.
To continue the tour, please exit the studio and turn down the hallway to the right towards the scene shop.
Stop Six: Scene Shop
The scene shop is used as a load-in space for our two main stage theaters, the Oscar Brockett Theater and the Payne Theater. You can see backstage of both theaters if you stand in the center of the shop. We build our sets in the Texas Performing Arts scene shop just a couple of blocks away. Many of our students work in the shop part time during the semester to learn valuable skills about building and designing set structures, amongst other projects. You can learn more about the Texas Performing Arts Fabrication Studio by checking out their YouTube page.
To continue the tour, please re-trace your steps to the Winship Lobby. From the Lobby, take the staircase or elevator to the "T" level to reach the Payne Lobby.
Stop Seven: Payne Lobby/Payne Theatre
The Payne Lobby is the welcome center for our second main stage venue, the Payne Theatre. When a show is being produced in the Payne Theatre, the community engagement team sets up an installation in the lobby for patrons to interact with before or after the show. The lobby is also used as an informal meeting or rehearsal space during the day, and on evenings when there is not a show in the theater.
Go through the large wooden doors on the right to enter the theatre. Note that sometimes the lights in the hallway are turned off, so please have your phone light on and ready before you enter the doors. You will go around the corner and enter the first doorway on the left into the house. Do not go down the staircase.
The Payne Theatre is our second main stage venue and seats approximately 450 people. The large proscenium stage is a nice contrast to the intimate black box style of the Oscar Brockett Theatre, creating an opportunity for students to gain experience working in multiple types of spaces. There is a full orchestra pit at the front of the stage, large wings on each side, and a double fly system that allows our designers to explore multiple scenic options. The control booth is located across from the stage, directly above where you are standing.
To exit the theatre, turn right and retrace your steps back to the Payne Lobby. Remember to turn on the flashlight on your phone if you have one.
Take the staircase or elevator to the 2nd level to continue your tour.
Stop Eight: Lecture Hall 2.112
This is the only traditional lecture hall located within the Winship Drama building. This classroom seats 48 people and includes a projection system. Most of our Theatre and Dance classes occur in our studio spaces, however, Theatre History and Dance History are examples of classes that take place in this classroom. Even some of those larger classes only have a capacity of about 35 students, which means each student has the opportunity to develop a close working relationship with our faculty members. This room is also often used as a rehearsal and performance venue for faculty or student projects.
To continue the tour, please head down the hallway to the right.
Stop Nine: Studio 2.116 or 2.120
(Note: No street shoes allowed in these studios.)
Studios 2.116 and 2.120 are used for classes like Movement Lab, Voice Lab, and Projects in Dance Performance and Repertory. These spaces are also used for rehearsals and are equipped with sprung, marley flooring and a stereo system.
Continue down the hall to the right and around the corner.
Stop Ten: Draft Lab
The draft lab is where students create renderings for lighting, scenic, costume and integrated media design. Continue down the hallway towards the Costume Studio.
Stop Eleven: Costume Studio
Costumes for all of our main stage productions are made in-house in our costume studio. We have a community of staff members, graduate, and undergraduate students who design and construct the costumes for each show. Students can apply to work in the costume shop as stitchers, craft assistants, office/shop assistants, wardrobe crew chiefs, or costume stock workers.
Stop Twelve: Studio 2.180
Studio 2.180 serves as a classroom, rehearsal space, and performance venue for faculty and student curated work. The lighting grid, sound booth, and flexible seating make it an admirable option for students to practice their craft in a black box style theatre.
This concludes our tour!
Thank you for visiting the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. If you have any follow-up questions after this tour, please contact our Undergraduate Admissions Coordinator at tadadmissions@utexas.edu. To exit the building, retrace your pathway to the staircase and elevator you used to access the second floor. You may exit through the glass doors in the Payne Lobby, or you can take the stairs/elevator to the first floor and exit through the celebrated entrance in the lobby.
Hook 'em Horns!!!
