Theater and Dance Department
The Theater and Dance Department at Macalester College prepares the next generation of performers, directors, choreographers, designers, researchers, technicians, and playwrights. Our department offers small academic and studio courses in which students are closely mentored by expert faculty. In our class schedule, you will find a variety of theater and dance courses at all levels. We encourage students without previous experience to try a beginning course in acting, dance, design, or playwriting.
Macalester College is in a privileged location for students interested in the arts. The Twin Cities have the second highest number of theater companies per capita in the United States, after New York City, and Theater and Dance Department courses commonly bring students to on and off-campus theater and dance productions. Many Theater and Dance alumni continue to work and produce art in the Twin Cities, where the Minnesota State Arts Board provides crucial funding and support to artistic work. Current students often have the opportunity to meet influential local alumni, leading to exciting and unique opportunities for internships, mentorship, and collaborative projects.
Faculty
Jill Lile, Randy Reyes, Bob Rosen, kt shorb, Marciano Silva dos Santos, Cláudia Tatinge Nacimento (on sabbatical '25-'26) and Mina Kinukawa (Chair)
Staff
Tom Barrett, Brian Fox, Wu Chen Khoo, Stacey Palmer, Jennifer Ponder
Visiting Artists & Faculty
Barbra Berlovitz, Dan Dukich, Rae Fox-Charles, Alayna Jacqueline, Krista Langberg, Tim Lord, Cheng Xiong
Office
Isaac Gregory
Skylar Hellman
Sophie Okite
Cem Ozil
Alisha Pan
Production Assistants
Emelia Brinkley
Julian Ricco
Costume Shop
Francesca Barroso
Marguerite Baxter
Clara Brine
Claire Emison
Jayling Goolsby
Theo Jacobsohn
Aries La Riviere
Khue Le
Scene Shop
Ian Birchall
Nora Bower
Emelia Brinkley
Jace Compton
Ruby Smith
Clara Hammer
Thomas Rice
Avery Sinclair
Sam Stephen
Emery Todd
Front of House
Mulham Dalla
Peter Gran
Isaac Gregory
Skylar Hellman
Grey Henry
Briana Moya
Sophie Okite
Cem Ozil
Alisha Pan
Jianna Sims
Emery Todd
Edward Yan
The Ruth Easton Endowment supports equity among our majors and minors by annually funding their participation in professional workshops on campus, attendance to professional conferences and to performances in the Twin Cities, academic year and summer internships in the Twin Cities, academic awards, and the Late Summer Residency with professional artists at Tofte Lake Center. These experiences have effectively complemented the learning experiences that the Theater and Dance Department curriculum can offer and prepared our majors and minors to successfully enter the creative economy and workforce.
The Theater and Dance Department is grateful to the Ruth Easton Endowment for the Dramatic Arts for its support of many Theater and Dance Department activities. Ruth Edelstein Easton, Macalester Class of 1921, was born and raised in North Branch, Minnesota. After graduation, Ruth studied for a year at Macalester before leaving the Midwest to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles. From there, she moved to New York City, where a friend introduced her to producer Oliver Morosco. Soon after, Ruth was on Broadway, acting with stars such as Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks, Ethel Barrymore, Judith Anderson, Walter Huston, and Al Jolson. She was also actively involved in radio dramas, performing in such shows as “The Rudy Valle Hour” and “The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour.” Later inheriting the fortune of her brothers—Dave and Jack Edelstein, who invented a paper-coating process considered the predecessor of plastic wrap—Ruth donated both time and money to acting programs throughout the country. She served as a benefactor for many Twin Cities theaters, including the Ordway, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and the Playwrights’ Center. When Ruth Edelstein Easton passed away in 1998, the Ruth Easton Endowment Fund was her gift to the Theater and Dance Department at Macalester. The Ruth Easton Fund facilitates the Theater and Dance Department's relationship with the Twin Cities arts community in a myriad of ways, including support for arts residencies and internships at local arts organizations for our majors and minors, and hosting national and international guest artists on campus.