Just like our Callboards outside our main Theatre Office, you can find all of the information you need about advising, auditions, TPP, upcoming events, finals, faculty contacts, and much more right here!  Please check back often, because this site will be updated frequently with new events and information.

If you have any questions, please contact Ashley Preston O'Toole in the Theatre Department at aotoole@salemstate.edu. 

Ashley will be making another giant, fun, wonderful slideshow this year to celebrate YOU!  We already have all of the Department production photos on file, but please feel free to upload your favorite theatre memories, candid photos, group shots, and student group events to the photo albums linked below.  Senior Slideshow photo submissions will be open through Friday, April 24, 2026 so Ashley has time to put it all together for you by the Theatre Department Awards Ceremony on Monday, May 4. 

Photo Album Links:

• Candids & Group Shots

• ACTF/USITT/Study Abroad Trips

• Student Theatre Ensemble Events and Candids

• Urban Art Theatre Events and Candids

• Yes Andys Events and Candids

The Center for Creative and Performing Arts is offering a limited number of mini-grants for spring 2026.  Applications will be accepted from January 28 through April 1, 2026.  These grants are available to full-time students in good academic standing majoring or minoring in art + design, dance, music, theatre or creative writing concentrators. Students can apply for up to $200 total for the academic year to offset expenses to support networking opportunities in their creative field, supplies/tools specific to doing work in their academic discipline, attendance at special events/workshops, and opportunities to submit work to external publications/exhibitions. 

Guidelines:

• Students must be in good academic standing

• Applications are limited to students who are full time majors or minors in: art + design, dance, music, theatre, or concentrators in creative writing. 

• Completed online application using this google form, email requests will not be accepted.

• All communication must be via Salem State student email addresses. 

**Funding awards are paid primarily on a REIMBURSEMENT basis, although CCPA may be able to pay vendors directly. Supporting financial documentation must be provided for all requests in order to receive funds. 

Questions can be directed to Karen Gahagan at kgahagan@salemstate.edu 

Examples of types of requests that would fit this grant:

• Student membership in professional or trade organizations (this includes arts associations or other arts focused cooperatives)

• Registration fees or travel costs for conferences /workshops

• One-time events off campus that are not otherwise tied to the applicant’s academic departments.

• Specialized equipment or expenses necessary to do work in the applicant’s discipline and as part of their degree progress here at Salem State. Examples include but are not limited to:  professional makeup kits, professional accompanist fees, costumes for performers (not otherwise provided by your department), subscriptions to literary magazines, art supplies, senior capstone project support. 

• Submission fees to contests, publication opportunities, exhibitions 

Things this grant will not fund:

• Fundraisers, charity benefits 

• Fees for Student Services

• Presentation of performing groups from outside the University

• Receptions (including flowers, gifts, food, drinks)

• Books

Take a Paws Study Break
Berry Library | First Floor Periodicals/Zine Area

Join us for a study break with...
The Great Danes of the Service Dog Project!
Wed. April 8
10am-12pm

AND

Luna the Goldendoodle!
Wed. April 22
12:30pm-1:30pm

For a safe event without distractions for our therapy dog teams, please no animal visitors unless you’re a service animal accompanied by your human.

Friday, April 10, 2026
5:00pm
Mainstage Theatre

Required for all Board Ops, Props Run Crew, Scenic Run Crew, and Wardrobe Run Crew members. This is your opportunity to see the show before tech!

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler

From an Adaptation by Christopher Bond
Directed by Peter Sampieri 

For mature audiences.

PERFORMANCES:
Friday, April 17 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 18 at 7:30pm
Sunday, April 19 at 2:00pm
Friday, April 24 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 25 at 7:30pm
Sunday, April 26 at 2:00pm
Monday, April 27 at 10:00am (High School Matinee performance)

VENUE:
Sophia Gordon Center- Mainstage Theatre
356 Lafayette Street, Salem, MA 01970

TICKETS:
Admission is FREE for current Salem State students, faculty and staff with university ID.
$15 general/$10 seniors/free for all students with student ID and under 18.

SWEENEY TODD is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. (www.mtishows.com)

SAVE THE DATE:

Repertory Auditions for the Fall 2026 Salem State University Theatre Department productions, BECKY NURSE OF SALEM and CORNERS GROVE will be held on Tuesday, April 21. (For a repertory audition, you audition for multiple shows at the same time, with the same audition material.)

BECKY NURSE OF SALEM
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Julie Kiernan
October 16-18 & 23-25, 2026
Sophia Gordon Center- Mainstage Theatre
Part of the Salem 400 Celebration!

“Out of work and out of love, Becky Nurse is an ordinary but strong-willed grandmother just trying to get by in post-Obama America. She’s also the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Rebecca Nurse, who was infamously executed for witchcraft in 1692 – but things have changed for women since then, haven’t they? Desperate to raise her troubled teenaged granddaughter right (and hoping to hook up with an old flame), Becky visits a local witch for help. But those spells and potions don’t work out exactly as planned.”

“Becky Nurse of Salem” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.

www.concordtheatricals.com

CORNERS GROVE
By Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
Directed by Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
November 20-23 & December 4-6, 2026
Sophia Gordon Center- Mainstage Theatre

“A nod to Our Town, this new play shifts Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece into the twenty-first century, to a small town about forty miles south of San Francisco. George, Emily and their friends are determined to live their lives on their own terms and to shed versions of themselves they’ve outgrown, whether that be their high school sweetheart or their gender identity. Life has only spun forward, and the only way for the residents of Corners Grove to keep up is to embrace the unknown and commit to their own truths.”

CORNERS GROVE is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service.

www.concordtheatricals.com

REPERTORY AUDITIONS:
DATE: Tuesday, April 21, 2026
TIME: 4:30pm-10:00pm
LOCATION: SGRR (SG208, on the 2nd floor of the Sophia Gordon Center)

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

• Provide two copies of your theatre resume.

• Provide two copies of your headshot or a recent photograph.

• Prepare two memorized monologues. The monologues should both be contemporary (from plays written in the past 25 years) but should be contrasting styles (such as comedic vs. dramatic.) Each monologue should be about one minute long, for a combined audition package time of two minutes total. 

CALLBACKS:
Callbacks will be held on Wednesday, April 22 and Tuesday, April 28. More information will be provided on the morning of Wednesday, April 22.

NOTES:

1. Auditions are open to all current Salem State University students and community members.

2. All returning BFA Performance students are required to participate in repertory auditions for Theatre Department productions.

3. Scripts of Becky Nurse of Salem, Corners Grove, and Our Town are available in the Theatre Office Play Library. Please email aotoole@salemstate.edu for reading copies. 

4. Learn more about Auditioning Basics and Theatre Resumes on the Auditions page.

Break a leg!

Wednesday, April 29, 2026
11:00am-3:00pm
Theatre Office (Administration Building, Room #2)

Celebrate the end of the academic year with the Peer Mentors! All first-year theatre students and Theatre Arts Peer Mentors are invited to join Ashley and Prof. Ginger Eckert in the Theatre Office for cake!

Monday, May 4, 2026
5:00pm-7:00pm
Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
356 Lafayette Street, Salem, MA

Open to all! Join us as we announce the 2026 Theatre Award and Scholarship recipients and celebrate the Class of 2026! Featuring a special performance by the Yes Andys improv troupe!

Dressy/formal attire is encouraged but not required. 

Graduation Portraits
Friday, May 8, 2026
Sophia Gordon Center for the Creative and Performing Arts

Sign-Up Link: 2026 graduates, check your Salem State email After April 16 for messages from SSU Commencement to access the portrait sign-up link.

In the week before commencement ceremonies, graduates can make an appointment to pose for portraits in their regalia and celebrate safely with guests. Students will be able to cross the theatre stage in their cap and gown and have photos taken by professional photographers. Guests are welcome to attend to photograph the graduate and pose for group photos. 

Choose your time and date to cross the ceremonial stage in cap and gown with your guests in attendance and able to photograph you up close! Sign up with friends or classmates from other programs who may graduate in a different commencement ceremony.

CONGRATULATIONS to all of our Theatre Arts majors and minors who made the Fall 2025 Dean's List! We are so proud of you!

• Lauren Abramson

• Avah Acevedo

• Hannah Rose Allender

• Abby Belliveau

• Pandora Benedito

• David Bentley

• Bridget Breda

• James Bridges

• Logan Broadway

• Anne Brower

• Lola Cassino

• Hannah Castillo

• Madison Cefalo

• Annabelle Chapman

• Jessica Cote

• Starr Cousins

• Adriana DeCicco

• Sofia Dixon

• Lauren Donahue

• Cayley Drigotas

• Richard Dunn

• Max Dupuis

• Ethan Dwyer

• Louis Fowler

• Griffin Frank

• Nia Franklin

• Stefani Galeano

• Victoria García-De Peña

• Sara Gluck

• Hannalise Gruda

• Devin Haley

• Sydney Hamre

• Liam Hannon

• Andrea Hart

• Cameron Holmes

• Katie Hoskyns

• Christina Izaguirre

• Elijah Jenkins

• Jiayi Jiang

• Percy Jones

• Sophie Jope

• Emrys Jordan

• Millicent Koromah

• Lorelai Krisko

• Rayniel Lara

• Lillie-Marie LeClair

• Zooey Lill

• Ivy Lovejoy

• Lily Marino

• Abi  Martin

• Gia Meola

• Artemis  Metherall

• Mez Mezzapelle

• Sabrina Nedder

• Helena Nelson

• Jack Newton

• Cameron Nye

• Max Ocampo

• Jennifer O'Connell

• Neave O'Connell

• Vivian O'Connor

• Sierra Poppitt

• Christopher Raney

• Seth Rivera

• Nadia Robinson

• Xan Salamon

• Amanda Seidler

• Alex  Shilo

• Lucia Smarra

• Nicholas Soares

• Elsa Vig

• Jaidyn Walter

• Christa Washburn

• Teagan Wholley

• Samson Willcox

• Casey Williams

• Faithe Woodard

• Raya Young

2025-2026 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Theatre Major at Salem State! 

Please stayed tuned for information about our anniversary celebration in Spring 2026 🎉