Why Be A Drama Major?

  • Acquire skills businesses are looking for: creative thinking, collaborative work, excellent time management, and the ability to stand on your feet and speak publicly.
  • Explore important spiritual, political, psychological, and emotional issues that affect our everyday lives.
  • Develop strong critical thinking skills, maintain a healthy, energetic, and flexible body, and hone your creative expression.

Our B.A. program incorporates academic rigor with top-notch theatrical productions, giving you both excellent training in the theatrical field and a scholarly foundation in the liberal arts. Our liberal arts approach is what differentiates us from specialized conservatory training. By addressing our imagination, intellect, emotion, faith and moral being with compelling immediacy, the department strives to train skilled theatre artists who synthesize a liberal arts education through their craft. The faculty is committed to providing both challenging theatrical productions and rigorous academic programs in the belief that each enriches the other.

Opportunities for performance and technical work accompany the season productions and numerous laboratory productions every year. Drama majors must earn crew credits by working on department productions.

Choosing between a B.F.A. in Acting or a B.A. in Drama

The B.A. in Drama is for the student who is drawn to and inspired by the idea of theatre, and who wishes to engage in all aspects of the discipline.  It is for the student who wants to explore the myriad areas of theatre: design, directing, playwriting, technical skills, dramatic criticism, and acting.  This student could deeply pursue any one of these areas in depth with the ability to concentrate on one of these areas as they choose. This student will be able to achieve a complete, well-rounded vision of the dramatic arts, carve out their own theatrical identity and look toward a future as a practitioner in the field.

The B.F.A. in Acting is a professional degree for the student who enters college already dedicated to a career in acting.  It is for the actor who already knows that acting is their vocation and wants the specific and rigorous training that will lead to the highest reaches of the craft.  The student will engage in a specific trajectory that includes Acting, Movement, and Voice classes every semester so that the student can become accomplished in all styles of acting for the stage, film, and television.