Theatre Minor

The Theatre Minor is recommended for students who want a strong, general education in theatre while majoring within another program or department. While you cannot officially declare a theatre minor until your sophomore year (after declaring a major), you can begin work on the minor now. You must contact Elizabeth Margid in order to declare your minor.

The curriculum for theatre minors includes eight required courses as listed immediately below. Please note, with regards to electives, you may ONLY take the classes listed farther below.

REQUIRED CLASSES (not electives):

Invitation to Theatre - This is the entry class for minors. You must begin here. 

2 Global Theatre Histories (I & II) We'd prefer that these history classes were taken in order, but it is not necessary.

5 Theatre Electives - For a list of electives, see below.

If you're a first-year, you will take a maximum of two theatre courses during your first year (one course per term): Invitation to Theatre and an elective.

If you're a sophomore or junior, you can take an elective and Invitation to Theatre during the same term.

If you're interested in the Performance major, you will get the chance to audition (or re-audition; students are eligible to audition one more time if they auditioned previously and were not accepted into the program) at our Fall Open House, or in the spring of your first or sophomore year* (after meeting with the theatre administrator). Please be aware that through this path, there is an acceptance rate to the major of approximately ten percent. (Go here for audition dates).

Again, all theatre minor questions can be directed to Elizabeth Margid at [email protected].

Participation

The Theatre Minor includes a lab hour commitment as follows:

  • 4 hours per week of service to the theatre community for 3 consecutive semesters. This includes:
    • 1 Semester Scene Shop Lab Hours
    • 1 Semester Run Crew Lab Hours (includes crewing show or working front of house, publicity, box office, etc.)
    • 1 Semester in Electrics or Costumes

Theatre minors do three (3) mainstage load-ins and strikes. The time spent at load-in or strike is not be counted toward the hours of your lab contract.

Every student will have a clearly defined faculty or student supervisor that will determine call times and procedures for signing in and out for work. Your supervisor will assign your work calls and you are required to attend. Each student must provide their supervisor with their class and outside work schedule at the beginning of the semester.

Every student is responsible for making sure his/her supervisor has a record of the hours they worked.

If you indicate no area of particular interest, the faculty/supervisor will assign you a lab hours area based on program need.

No D grade work will be credited toward the minor in Theatre.

As a theatre minor, you are eligible to audition for all studio and mainstage productions, once you have signed your lab hour contract, and have been assigned a supervisor for your lab hour commitment.

We have monthly Theatre Program meetings with all students and faculty. Please attend these meetings to keep up to date on all theatre events.

We have a group email list for sending out announcements. You can join this group email list once you have signed a lab hours contract.

If you have trouble registering for any of the theatre minor courses, contact Elizabeth Margid at [email protected]. Provide the name of the course, the course registration number (CRN), and your ID number. She will arrange for you to be manually registered. Again, theatre minors can only register for the classes indicated above and below.

Electives open to Theatre minors:

  • Acting for Non-Majors
  • Acting Shakespeare 
  • Costume Design (with permission/Theater Design:Conceptual Foundations is a prerequisite)
  • Creative Producing 
  • Design Fundamentals
  • Drawing and Drafting for the Theatre
  • Fashion Technique
  • French Theatre and Performance
  • History of Theatre Design
  • Intro to Directing
  • Introduction to Fashion Design
  • Flying Solo
  • Lighting Design ( with permission/Theater Design:Conceptual Foundations is a prerequisite)
  • Molière: Page to Stage
  • Performing in Italian
  • Playwriting (2 semesters)
  • Producing Through a Social Justice Lens 
  • Projection Design (with permission/Theater Design:Conceptual Foundations is a prerequisite)
  • Set Design (with permission/Theater Design:Conceptual Foundations is a prerequisite)
  • Shakespeare: Text and Performance 
  • Song As Scene
  • Sound Design (with permission)
  • Stage Combat
  • Stage Management (with permission)
  • Summer Musical Intensive
  • Text Analysis
  • Theatre, Creativity and Values
  • Theatre Design: Conceptual Foundations (with permission)
  • Theatre Management
  • Young, Gifted and Black