Theatre Studies Majors

Portfolio building

Students in Theatre Studies Major work to create a portfolio in their theatre concentration - performance, directing, stage management, design, or writing including, but not limited to:

audition monologues and songs
video reels from past productions
voiceover reels, podcast examples
professional writing (scripts, cue books, critiques, etc)
sketches and photographs of designs

Theatre History

Theatre Studies Majors research and explore the world of the theatre throughout history. Through several projects, students will present their research periods of Theatre History, notable practitioners, and various styles.

Repertoire

2024-2025 Theatre Majors have read the following plays this year (so far!):

Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller

Eurydice - Sarah Rule

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard

Radium Girls - DW Gregory

Mr. Burns - Anne Washburn

Stop Kiss - Diana Sun

The Wolves - Sarah DeLappe

The Bald Soprano - Eugene Ionesco

All in the Timing - David Ives

Top Girls - Caryl Churchill

Peter and the Starcatcher - Rick Elice

Mother Courage and Her Children - Bertolt Brecht and Margarette Steffin

Technical Skills / Design

In preparation for this year's (2025) winter series, the theatre majors created white models: to-scale foam core models of our space. We used them multiple times over the rehearsal month, shuffling around set and design pieces to model out audience sight-lines, furniture spacing, and where the lights would hit. The process, including measuring the space, coming up with a viable scale with the amount of material we had, and the gluing and cutting process was one of the best experiences in the Theatre Major curriculum and was so useful in both designing and explaining the set before it was even built.

Description written by Christina Jin (2025 Theatre Major)

Criticism / Theory

Theatre Majors dive into methods for improving as an actor, including physicality, analyzing intention, and experimentation. These skills are not only essential for acting but for directing as well. If the director doesn't know what they want, the actors won't either. Theatre Majors learn that directing is quite intensive and that directors are involved with design and the crew as well, instead of just the actors. Communication and planning are key.

In addition to theory, passages of books about theatre criticism are analyzed. They discuss the value of theatre (besides being fun) and how empty/soulless theatre makes it harder for new shows to succeed. Also, The Empty Space by Peter Brook served as a partial inspiration for the 2025 winter series play "A Shakespearean Review" by Luke Niehaus.

Description written by Luke Niehaus (2025 Theatre Major)

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