Theatre Minor Curriculum

All Theatre minors complete the following foundational courses:

• THEA 110 - Beginning Acting

  • This course is an introduction to the discipline of acting. Using a variety of exercises and projects that encourage curiosity, imagination and personal growth, we will explore levels of awareness and connection used in acting: relation to self, others, the text, and the audience. Basic practices of actor skill training will be explored including body and vocal awareness and development, discipline, concentration, focus, script analysis, action, and working in an ensemble. Each fall, one section of this course will be reserved for theatre majors and minors. Attendance at Theatre Program productions is required.

• THEA 130 - Stagecraft
  

  • This course introduces the student to a basic understanding of the technical aspects of the theatre including stage drafting and construction, scene painting, stage rigging, and basic stage electricity. The course emphasizes safety and standard backstage operations and will familiarize students with the roles and responsibilities of the stage manager, technicians, and running crew: prop master, dressers, sound and light board operators, and stage technicians.

• THEA 270 - Rehearsal and Performance: Acting

  • Provides students with hands-on experience in the rehearsal and performance process as cast members in Theatre Program productions. Students participate in auditions, rehearsals, and public performances, developing skills in acting, collaboration, and ensemble work. Emphasis is placed on character development, rehearsal discipline, and the integration of performance techniques within a fully realized production.

• THEA 271 - Rehearsal and Performance: Crew Lab

  • Offers students practical experience in the technical and production aspects of Theatre Program productions. Students work as members of a production crew, contributing to areas such as scenic construction, lighting, sound, costumes, props, or run crew. The course emphasizes collaboration, problem-solving, and the execution of a live performance from a technical perspective.

• ENGL 215 - Introduction to Dramatic Literature
  • This course provides an introduction to the practice of reading and understanding the dramatic text as the basis for production. This class introduces a methodology for investigating a given play's overall structural and aesthetic elements including (but not limited to) its plot, characters, use of imagery, language, and theme.

These courses introduce key concepts in performance, theatre history, dramatic literature, and production, forming the foundation for more advanced work in the minor.

Students complete one additional hands-on production experience:

Choose one:

• THEA 270 - Rehearsal and Performance: Acting

  • Provides students with hands-on experience in the rehearsal and performance process as cast members in Theatre Program productions. Students participate in auditions, rehearsals, and public performances, developing skills in acting, collaboration, and ensemble work. Emphasis is placed on character development, rehearsal discipline, and the integration of performance techniques within a fully realized production.

• THEA 271 - Rehearsal and Performance: Crew Lab

  • Offers students practical experience in the technical and production aspects of Theatre Program productions. Students work as members of a production crew, contributing to areas such as scenic construction, lighting, sound, costumes, props, or run crew. The course emphasizes collaboration, problem-solving, and the execution of a live performance from a technical perspective.

• THEA 272 - Rehearsal and Performance: Advanced Lab for Designers, Stage Managers, Dramaturges

  • Provides advanced, hands-on experience for students taking on leadership and creative roles in Theatre Program productions. Students serve as designers, stage managers, or dramaturges, contributing to the conceptual development and execution of a production. Emphasis is placed on artistic collaboration, leadership, communication, and the integration of design and research within the rehearsal and performance process.

This requirement ensures that all Theatre minors engage directly in the process of creating live performance, whether onstage or behind the scenes.

Students choose 6 credit hours of electives based on their interests.

Theatre Courses

• THEA 101 - Experiencing Theatre

  • This course is a survey of the individual components of theatre such as acting, directing, playwriting and design. Students will engage in a variety of projects and hands-on experiences, will read plays, attend live theatre productions, and discuss and analyze this work. The course includes the study of different genres of theatre and theatre from different cultures. Attendance at Theatre Program productions is required.

• THEA 245 - History of Musical Theatre

  • This class is a survey of the development of musical theatre as a performing art form in America. In addition, by looking at musical theatre from multiple perspectives - historical, cultural, political, social, aesthetic - the class will explore the ways in which musicals both reflect and embody values, tastes and trends in the cultures and eras from which they spring. The focus will be primarily on the stage, but the influence and interplay between Broadway and Hollywood will also be discussed.

• THEA 246 - Special Topics in the Theatre

  • This course focuses on a specialized insight into the craft of theatre. Some offerings may include performance, style, genre, criticism, design, film or media. This course may be repeated for theatre elective credit as the topic changes each semester offered.

• THEA 291 - Dance

  • An introduction to movement techniques, improvisation/composition, performance, experiential anatomy, and history of 20th-century American dance. Students are introduced to different dance forms, such as jazz, street, hip-hop, musical theatre, lyrical dance, and different world dance forms. Flexibility, strength, coordination, rhythm, and dance terminology are developed. Concepts of time, space, energy, and choreographic form are presented through improvisation and become the basis for a final dance public presentation. Readings, research, and reflective and critical writing about dance performances and personal dance experience are also part of the course. This course may be repeated for theatre elective credit as the topic changes each semester offered.

• THEA 346 - Theatre Workshop

  • This course focuses on a specialized skills in the theatre. Topics may include audition strategies, solo performance, stage makeup, stage combat, etc. This course may be repeated for theatre elective credit as the topic changes each semester offered.

• THEA 430 - Community Based Theatre

  • In this course, students work together to create and produce a play or theatre piece organized around a mutually agreed upon community issue. In the process of devising a theatre piece to address the selected issue, students will research and integrate multiple perspectives and ideas related to the selected topic, learn strategies for the creation of dramatic material, discuss the ethics of community based theatrical work, and engage in a public performance of their completed dramatic work. This course fulfills the general education requirement for fine arts.

• THEA 444 - Internship

  • Theatre Internships provide students with the opportunity to learn by working with professional and semi-professional theatre companies. Internships must be applied for in the semester prior to enrollment and application includes on-campus interviews with faculty and off-campus interviews with members of the host theatre company. Theatre Internships are reserved for theatre majors and minors. Junior class standing and other prerequisites apply based on the nature of the internship and the requirements of the host organization.

• THEA 270, 271, 272 (repeatable)

English Courses (Dramatic Literature)

• ENGL 320 - Creative Writing: Playwrighting
  • This course will assist students in understanding the elements of writing a play. Through readings and working with elements of playwriting, students will gain experience in writing monologues, dialogues, scenes, and short plays. Students will develop an understanding of dramaturgical concepts such as plot, character (emotion, needs, conflict, motivation, character development), structure, theme, and dialogue. Students will also read and discuss each other's work.
• ENGL 341 - Shakespeare
  • More than 400 years after his death, William Shakespeare remains one of the world's most studied authors and produced playwrights. His dramatic works have been widely adapted across various media and what is known about his life inspires constant debate. In this course, we will study a sampling of Shakespeare's works and explore their meaning, both in their own time and in ours. In a given semester, the class could focus on one genre (tragedies, histories, comedies), a survey of the Bard's plays and non-dramatic poetry, a historical period, a recurring theme or character-type, or film or other adaptations of his plays. Whatever the emphasis, we will examine his work from a variety of critical perspectives and study the plays in performance.
• ENGL 435 - LGBTQ Drama
  • English 435 studies dramatic literature, primarily from the 20th and 21st centuries, featuring diverse gay, lesbian, and transgender characters and themes. In a given semester, the course may survey changing theatrical representations of sexual orientation, or focus on a specific topic, such as "the closet," homophobia, or AIDS. Selections will vary from semester to semester, but playwrights may include Mart Crowley, Jane Chambers, Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, Susan Miller, or Richard Greenburg. Regardless of content, the course will examine the milieus (social, religious, cultural, political) that inspired the dramatists and with which they and their works often clashed. Whenever possible, the class will discuss the films of assigned or related texts and productions of gay and lesbian theatre staged by local or touring companies. This course can be used toward the Women and Gender Studies minor.

Electives allow students to deepen their experience in areas such as acting, design, technical theatre, directing, and dramatic literature.