About
We create and produce high-caliber, professional, artistic creations on stage, telling human stories that connect audiences and performers in our increasingly mediatized world. We model and practice professional theater-making at every level of our teaching and production process.
As part of a large public university, we remain committed to accessibility and opportunities for all students.
Our excellent, high-caliber faculty marry the theoretical with the practical, guiding students to discover theatrical skills as well as life skills that serve them in the world of theater and beyond. The expertise of our faculty often engenders artistic projects and opportunities for our students, and they have opportunities to practice their budding professional skills and make artistic creations in official and less official spaces.
The spirit of mentorship permeates our department, and we tailor our teaching and advising to the specific needs and strengths of our students. We build teams in everything we do, teaching students the art of collaboration, working in groups, and tackling projects from start to finish.
As a large public university, we remain committed to accessibility and opportunities for all students. In our undergraduate program, we cultivate complete theater artists who have chances to bloom within and across our three major areas of study: Dramaturgy, Performance, and Design. Our students pride themselves on their take-charge, “can-do” approach to their work, and they take ownership of their projects. For students who cannot commit to the full requirements of the major, our minor offers a valuable opportunity to learn about theater-making.
While a liberal arts approach guides our undergraduate program, our fully-funded graduate MFAs in Dramaturgy, Directing, Lighting Design, Scenic Design & Technology and Costume Design offer students pre-professional training, a variety of teaching opportunities and mentoring, practical and theoretical skills, and many opportunities to test and hone these skills in our annual season and our small graduate classes.
Our Multicultural Theater Certificate provides students with an understanding of the history, representation and creative processes of people of color, as well as the cultural context of multicultural theater in this country.
Our greatest achievement is in our graduates. They use their Theater skills and training creatively in their careers or go on to do professional theater work and inspire us as the next generation of thinking artists, creative problem solvers, and enterprising citizens.
