Theatre Arts & Performance Studies

Sock & Buskin

Sock & Buskin - a unique board of students, faculty and staff that select the TAPS Department's production season.

The mission of S&B is to bring faculty, staff, and students together in the spirit of collaborative learning and artistry and to engage in open conversations among members of the Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies and larger Brown community in order to select and produce the works of the mainstage theatre season. Throughout this process, S&B values include collaboration, curiosity, experimentation and expansiveness, mentorship and sharing knowledge, creativity, diversity, education, and creating challenging theatre.

The board seeks to select and produce theatrical projects that provide rich sites of collaboration and learning among students, faculty, and staff. In the discussion, planning, and production of theatre at Brown, S&B privileges providing educational opportunities for student theatre artists and producers, regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Each year, the Sock & Buskin board chooses a season consisting of 2 mainstage theatrical shows, two mainstage dance performances, and the Writing is Live Festival to be produced during the following academic year. The board also produces a 3rd show, the “senior slot.” Senior slot, determined by faculty who select from proposals submitted by junior concentrators, is a mainstage show running for one week and is open to juniors who wish to direct or write a full production of their choosing in their senior year.

2024 - 2025 Season

Connect

  • You can keep up to date by following Sock & Buskin on Instagram.
  • Meetings are open to all members of the Brown Community. Tuesday's at 12:00 PM, Lyman Hall, 007.
  • New Member Applications Open through October 1st
    • Interest Form: Please fill out if you would like to be connected with a board member to assist in completing your application or if you need an application extension. (Due 9/24)
  • Abby Schindell '25, Membership Represnetative
  • Alex Haynes, TAPS Staff, Technical Director - John Street Studios
  • Alex Nurkin, TAPS Staff, Academic Events and Facilities Manager
  • Ari Cleveland '25, Community Engagement Chair
  • B Reo, TAPS Staff, Lecturer, Production Director and Stage Manager
  • Brianne Shaw, TAPS Staff, Communications & Audience Services Manager
  • Caroline Cahill '25, on leave Fall '24
  • Connie Crawford, TAPS Faculty, Adjunct Lecturer
  • Ella Piscatello '27, Literary Vice-Char, Associate Community Engagement 
  • Gillian Gordon '26, Publicity Chair
  • Jayna Brown, TAPS Faculty, Chair, Professor, Theatre Arts & Performance Studies
  • Julia Jarcho, TAPS Faculty, Head of Playwriting, Associate Professor
  • Kym Moore, TAPS Faculty, Professor, DUS
  • Lottie Doughty '26, Vice-Chair
  • Navaiya Williams '25, Co-Chair
  • Nathan Winoto '25, Literary Chair
  • Patricia Ybarra, TAPS Faculty, DGS, Professor, on leave Fall '24
  • Renee Surprenant Fitzgerald, TAPS Faculty, Lecturer
  • Reyna Alper '25, Audition Coordinator, Publicity Associate
  • Sarah dAngelo, TAPS Faculty, Associate Professor, Associate Chair
  • Shannon Constantine, PhD Candidate
  • Sophia Decherney '25, Literary Chair
  • Tabitha Grandolfo '25, Co-Chair

Suggest a Play

To suggest a play for our season please send an email to sockandbuskin@gmail.com.

History

Cast of Gross Indecency, 2011
Cast of Gross Indecency, 2011

Sock & Buskin was founded in 1901 by Professor Thomas Crosby of the Brown University English Department. There has since been an unbroken record of seasons, first at the Providence Opera House and various theatres in downcity Providence, then in Rockefeller Hall, and finally in 1931 at the Faunce House Theatre, which was restored and reopened as Stuart Theatre in 1993. When the Isabelle Russek Leeds Theatre and Ashamu Dance Studio were built in 1979, they joined the Stuart Theatre and together became the Catherine Bryan Dill Center for the Performing Arts.

In 1927, Sock & Buskin, which was at the time an all-male organization, began using actresses in its productions. Soon Komians, the all-female theatrical group from Pembroke college, merged with Sock & Buskin to create the co-ed group that exists today.

Jared Bellot in Dead City, 2011
Jared Bellot in Dead City, 2011
When Sock & Buskin isn't reading plays in the Becker Library, they support production staff by running auditions, assisting construction of sets and costumes, and publicizing Sock & Buskin events around campus. It's a great way for students to get involved in the department and learn about the different aspects of producing theatre. Tuesday meetings are open to the public and visitors are welcomed.