Music Education |
Curriculum in
Theatre |
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE
4-122 Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
500 South Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-2371
The curricular options in the Department of Theatre provide intensive and extensive preparation for the rigorous demands of a professional career in the theatre. A strong commitment to work in the theatre and a realistic understanding of its intellectual, aesthetic, and physical demands is therefore necessary in students who enter the department.
Before acceptance in the undergraduate programs in theatre, applicants must participate in one of several preaFine and Applied Arts, College ofSchoolsMusic, School ofdmission workshops, which take place at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts five or more weekends each year, and at selected regional locations (normally, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles). In these workshops, applicants who ultimately plan to pursue the curriculum in acting in their junior year should present a four-minute audition, comprised of two contrasting works from dramatic literature. Applicants who ultimately wish to pursue a curriculum in design, technology, or management should present a portfolio of previous theatre work. Applicants who intend to pursue the performance studies curriculum should also bring a portfolio of their previous theatre work, an original two-page script written specifically for the workshop, and any other written work that reflects the student's interests and accomplishments. Information on these workshops will be sent to applicants once their admissibility to the University has been determined by the Office of Admissions and Records.
Three curricula are offered in theatre: (1) the Professional Studio in Acting, (2) the Performance Studies Curriculum, and (3) the Division of Design Technology and Manangement, which has specialized options in scene design, costume design and construction, theatre technology and lighting, and stage management. Students are formally admitted to these curricula only after an evaluation by the faculty during the students' second year. The programs in acting and theatre design, technology, and management are intended for students who, in the judgement of the faculty, are ready to concentrate in these specialties in an intensive undergraduate professional training curriculum. The performance studies curriculum is intended for students who plan to pursue advanced training in theatre history, criticism, directing, and playwriting.
The Department of Theatre sponsors the Illinois Repertory Theatre, which is one of the resident producing organizations of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Illinois Repertory Theatre produces seven fully mounted productions each academic year and three each summer. The theatres and workshops of the Krannert Center serve as laboratories for theatre students, who have the opportunity to learn and to work alongside an outstanding staff of resident theatre professionals and visiting artists, preparing performances in theatre, opera, and dance. In addition, the department sponsors a small experimental theatre space for student-directed productions.
All theatre majors must successfully complete
five production crew assignments at the Krannert Center under THEAT 100-Practicum,
I. Acting and performance studies students cast in Krannert Center productions may
receive additional credit for their roles under THEAT 300-Practicum, II. Design,
technology, and management students also receive credit for additional production
duties at the Krannert Center under THEAT 300-Practicum, II. Students seeking credit
for practical theatre work outside the Krannert Center must secure the approval and
supervision of theatre faculty in the form of an Individual Project (THEAT 291 or
THEAT 292) or as a Professional Internship (THEAT 390). 
|
Music Education |
Curriculum in
Theatre |