The Muhlenberg Theatre Program is founded on the belief that theatre must be an intellectual pursuit and a practical pursuit at the same time. You should study theatre ? but you should also create it.
With its emphasis on exploration and collaboration, the Theatre Program at Muhlenberg serves as excellent preparation for a career in theatre ? or a career anywhere else.
Students in the department hone their craft through intensive studio training and hands-on experience, but also in the context of their broader liberal arts education. Theatre majors have extensive opportunities in musical theatre and dance and are encouraged to participate in the Department's award-winning productions, exploring their interests through exciting, diverse Mainstage, blackbox, and concert experiences.
This growing field investigates the human body engaged in symbolic action, using ideas from the performing arts, cultural anthropology, gender studies, oral history, and other related disciplines.
The curriculum examines performing arts such as theatre, dance, performance art, and music, but also inquires into cultural performances like political protests, fashion shows, sporting events, and worship services. The concentration reveals how performances form community and shape identity with material consequences for performers and audience members alike.
Students often undertake Performance Studies as a second concentration, to complement coursework in directing, design, or acting, and to deepen their?
The Theatre Program offers more than 35 courses in acting, directing, stage management, design, and performance theory and history. In addition, the theatre major includes courses from across the liberal arts curriculum: English, philosophy, religion, anthropology, dance, and others.
All theatre majors will take the following:
- Theatre & Society
- At least one acting class
- Two or more courses in stagecraft and design
- Five or more courses from our extensive theatre scholarship offerings, focusing on theatre history, dramatic literature, and theatrical and aesthetic theory
