2023-2024 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Department of Theatre
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Department Chair: Professor James VanValen
Professors: Coppa, Peck, Schachter
Associate Professor: Cate, Dwyer
Assistant Professors: Lustig, Moore, Robles-Moreno
Visiting Assistant Professors: Philbrick, Singer
Lecturer: VanValen
The theatre program at Muhlenberg engages students in the artistic and intellectual processes that enable them to make and analyze theatre and performance. The required creative work of the major program includes acting, directing, design, and critical writing, stage management and playwriting. Students emerge with extensive knowledge of the literature and performance traditions of the theatre. Grounded in the liberal arts tradition, the department is committed to the study of theatre as a way of knowing the world. The major serves as an excellent preparation for advanced study (M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D.) and careers in the theatre arts.
In keeping with the department’s dedication to live performance, theatre at Muhlenberg joins with the dance program to form the Department of Theatre and Dance. The faculty, staff, and students in both areas work closely together in the department’s performance program. Please refer to the Dance section of this catalog for a more detailed explanation of Dance. Students with a serious interest in musical theatre performance can study acting and dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance and receive vocal training in the Department of Music. At least one major musical production is presented each year as part of the performance program.
An important feature of theatre education at Muhlenberg is the award-winning performance program. The production season is grounded in the belief that as an academic discipline, theatre must be simultaneously intellectual and experiential. Produced in cooperation with the Muhlenberg Theatre Association, each year six major theatre productions and several studio performances occur in the state-of-the-art Trexler Pavilion for Theatre and Dance and the Dorothy and Dexter Baker Center for the Arts. In addition, the department sponsors touring educational pieces offered to local schools and community groups. All students, regardless of major, are eligible to participate in the performance program and work on production crews.
Ongoing visiting artist and educational exchange programs expose students to the work of theatre practitioners from outside the college. The Baker Artist-in-Residence Program brings distinguished professional guest artists to Muhlenberg to teach and participate in the performance program. In addition, the department employs numerous other guest professional artists each year in the performance program and as adjunct instructors. Students may audition for the Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre Festival Company, a high-quality professional stock operation that presents three full productions in College facilities. Theatre majors are encouraged to spend a semester in the UK studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland or the Theatre Academy of London, or in Italy at the Accademia Dell’arte in Arezzo, Tuscany (see Study Abroad Programs ).
ProgramsMajorCoursesSpeechPerformance Theory, History, LiteratureTheatre Studio Performance: ActingTheatre Studio Performance: DirectingDesign and Technical TheatreCUE, Ensembles, and Internships
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