WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A DEGREE IN THEATRE?

Just about anything!
Theatre is one of the oldest forms of expression, and has always required communication, problem-solving, creative and analytical skills. Those traits make it a valuable course of study regardless of one’s intention to pursue a career in the art form. Theatre students have the knowledge, skills, professionalism and, above all, the practical experiences that enable them to succeed in a wide range of life paths. The College of Charleston offers students the benefits of the rich resources of one of the largest strictly undergraduate theatre programs in the Southeast. Our alumni have been successful at obtaining acceptance into graduate schools and in finding employment in one of the world’s most competitive professions. Equally impressive, our alumni have also found successful careers as arts administrators, teachers, lawyers and in countless other fields.

Careers

• A short list of recent alumni’s professional activities includes:
• Intern, Playhouse on the Square, Memphis, Tenn.
• Acting Executive Director, Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
• A leading role in Thicker Than Water, a Hallmark Hall of Fame production
• Stand-up comic in New York City
• Freelance director and arts administrator for Cobb County Arts Center, Atlanta, Ga.
• AutoCAD drafter and project assistant with a major engineering firm
• Actor with leading roles in national tours of Oklahoma! and Dr. Doolittle
• Lawyer drafting legislation for Texas Senate and House of Representatives
• Actor with recurring role on Law and Order: SVU
• Actor with recurring role on daytime soap, All My Children
• Assistant to film actor Peter Billingsley
• Project Manager at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Graduate Schools

The following is a sample of some of the Master of Fine Arts programs recent graduates are enrolled in or have completed:

• Stage Management, Columbia University, New York City, N.Y.
• Acting, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, Ca.
• Performance, Towson University, Towson, Md.
• Film Production, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Ga.
• Acting, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, Ca.
• Sound Design, CalARTS, Valencia, Ca.
• Acting, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery, Al.

College of Charleston student playwrights have distinguished themselves by competing successfully against other undergraduates, graduate students, professors, and even professional playwrights in regional or national contests sponsored by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival and the New Play Development Workshop held at the annual Association for Theatre in Higher Education conference.

Active Learning Opportunities

Mainstage season typically consists of five to seven departmental productions each academic year. Plays are chosen to expose students to different theatrical styles and genres and with as wide a variety of production experience as possible.

Center Stage – a student-run organization open to all College of Charleston students
with a love of theatre. Center Stage produces four to six productions
annually.

Theatre for Youth program presents theatrical productions both on campus and in touring situations.

Premiere Theatre involves faculty, students and local professional theatre practitioners in the production of contemporary plays.

The Shakespeare Project offers two summer productions of Shakespeare’s plays each year, drawing on the talents of faculty, student, and community performers.

Robert Ivey Ballet Company is in residence at the College and presents a major dance performance each semester.

Internships. You’ll have unparalleled opportunities to engage in exciting internships and apprenticeships with the two major Charleston arts festivals:

• Spoleto Festival USA. The premier international arts festival in the country uses the College’s Emmett Robinson Theatre as one of its primary venues and brings world class performances not only to Charleston, but onto our campus. College of Charleston students may apply for a variety of internships, from technical theatre to special projects to arts management.
• Piccolo Spoleto. Department of Theatre students have the rare opportunity to participate in a theatre series that features their work, the work of faculty and the work of our alumni. Participation includes performing, directing, being a part of technical support crews, and management internships.

Tailoring Your Education and Your Opportunities

The Department of Theatre offers a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with five concentrations. In addition to a breadth of study in the major’s core (a 21 hour component shared by all majors), students are given the freedom to choose an area of focus, which include:

• General Theatre. Students who love everything about the theatre or who have specific interests in dramaturgy, playwriting, history, African-American theatre, or simply want the broadest exposure to the field may choose this 36-credit-hour option.
• Performance (acting/directing). This track is the most popular choice in our Department and offers a 42-hour course of study. Beyond the core, course work includes three levels of acting, directing, voice (diction) and movement for the actor.
• Scenography I (Costume design and technology). This 42-hour concentration not only serves students with career goals in the costuming fields, but also attracts students interested in fashion design or other aspects of the fashion industry. In addition to the core, course work involves classes in design, pattern drafting, art history and rendering.
• Scenography II (Scenic/lighting design and technology). This is a 42-hour concentration in these highly employable areas of theatre production. Examples of some of the courses included beyond the theatre core include design, scenic painting, art history and advanced stagecraft.
• Theatre for Youth. This concentration of 42 hours explores theatre and dramatic techniques and their applications for and with young audiences. A partial list of the courses in the track outside the theatre core includes creative drama, children’s theatre and directing.

Other means of tailoring a student’s experiences include a host of elective courses outside the requirements of any of the concentrations. A small sample includes courses such as Stage Combat, Playwriting III, special topics acting classes such as Acting Shakespeare, and Acting IV, Musical Theatre Performance Workshop and other musical theatre classes, and the History of Fashion and Manners.

The Department offers a terrific complement to the theatre major– a minor in Dance. Courses taught include multiple levels of ballet, modern, jazz, and tap.

Learning Resources and Facilities

• Emmett Robinson Theatre – a 300-plus-seat proscenium theatre with a full orchestra pit. Features new computer lighting and digital sound systems.
• Studio theatres. Theatre 220 is a flexible black box performance space that seats 100. TheChapel Theatre is a two-sided performance space that seats 106.
• Scene shop – 3,500 square feet of construction space, equipped with pneumatic and electric power tools.
• Costume shop – equipped with sewing machines, industrial machines, and sergers.
• Other facilities include a drafting studio and a “smart” classroom equipped with computer and projection unit.

“At the College of Charleston, I have been able to get all of the on-stage experience I could have wished for, and then some. This is a department that truly believes in learning through doing. The faculty is incredibly supportive of students and they really believe that anyone who loves the theatre should be given a chance to make theatre. I really cannot imagine a better place to have spent the last four years of my life. This department has helped me to grow into a better actor, a better scholar, and most importantly, a better person!”

Alaina Lagroon ’06