Theater Management and Production - Bachelor of Fine Arts (formerly Applied Theater Arts)

Program Total Credits: 124

Theater artists must be well-versed in a variety of disciplines, each vital in itself and intimately related to all that occurs in a production effort. Students majoring in Theater Management and Production are called upon to develop competencies across a spectrum of these disciplines. As such, they study stage management, directing, playwriting, combat, mask, arts administration, theater history and dramatic literature–all in a context that supports theatrical production. This program is designed to provide practical training for the student who possesses a collaborative perspective. The BFA in Theater Management and Production (TMP) allows the students, in their junior year, to move toward a concentration in a particular area of emphasis, such as many of those mentioned here.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater Management and Production allows students with a range of theatrical interests to shape their own individualized course of study. It is designed to give students the practical, artistic, and intellectual foundation necessary for a successful professional life in live theater and allied disciplines.

Practical studio and production training, received in the student’s first two years, is enriched by an understanding of the theater as an art, an industry, and an institution with a history and a vital role in society.

This foundation training prepares the students to emphasize one or more of the above-mentioned disciplines at the upper-division levels and to shape their own curriculum. Upon declaring a concentration in one of these fields, students complete their course of study via a series of production practica and independent study projects. Internships, arranged through the School’s outstanding relationship with area professional theaters, further strengthen the students’ skills and enhance their professional viability. Students completing this program are prepared to enter the industry on either the production or the administrative end and may pursue a range of career options or choose to pursue further study in the above fields.

This program is a good choice for students who are drawn to the collaborative nature of theater. It is an ideal program of study for the student who has a profound passion for theater and/or the entertainment field, but whose long-term interest may lie outside performing. At the same time, it is a curriculum that places that student at the heart of the production process. The program is also well-suited to students who may have an interest in advanced or graduate study in theater.