About the Program
With classes as small as 11 students, it’s nearly impossible to go unnoticed in Westminster’s theatre program. You’ll work side-by-side with devoted professors who are passionate about helping you succeed, and collaborate with classmates who push you to do your very best. Of course, performing is a huge part of the program and you’ll have the chance to tackle major roles even as a first-year student. You’ll have access to two performance spaces (one proscenium and one black box), as well as spacious scene and costume shops. We are also in the process of expanding the performing-arts spaces on campus, adding more rooms for music and theatre rehearsals, larger shop spaces, and a new dance studio.
What You'll Learn
- Develop the skills needed to produce creative, expressive, and distinctive work on the page, on-stage, and backstage.
- Expand your personal, social, and global understanding by engaging in a diverse array of theatre work both on and off campus.
- Discover the value of authentic inquiry, risk-taking, active listening, spontaneous generosity, and insatiable curiosity.
- Become a leader capable of facilitating the collaborative environment that is the hallmark of great theatre.
Plan of Study
During your first two years in the theatre program, you’ll explore a wide range of classes including acting, costuming, stagecraft, and dance. As you begin to specialize your craft, you can choose from advanced classes like Musical Theatre, Directing, Stage Lighting, and Dramatic Theory and Criticism, while utilizing your theatre training hands-on in productions on campus and throughout the Salt Lake community.
The theatre program offers three degrees: BA in theatre studies, BFA in theatre performance, and BFA in technical theatre. As a first-year student, you’ll automatically be on track to graduate with a bachelor of arts. If you want to specialize your work, you’ll have the opportunity to audition for the bachelor of fine art programs at the end of your second year.
Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies
With options to explore a wider range of study in performance and backstage, this versatile degree allows you to choose an emphasis that suits your personal career goals. This is also a great option if you’d like to double major.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance
The BFA in theatre performance is designed to prepare you for a professional career as an actor. You’ll take rigorous courses focused on styles of acting, voice work, movement, and audition techniques. To complete your degree, you’ll select and prepare a repertoire to market yourself as an actor and audition for future theatre work or graduate programs.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Technical Theatre
Technical theatre BFAs develop competency in many aspects of theatre, while pursuing mastery in fields like costume design, scenic design and painting, lighting design, and stage management. At the end of the program, you’ll design and produce a portfolio that showcases your skills when you’re applying for jobs or graduate programs.
*All theatre majors enter the Theatre Program in the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) track. Those who choose to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree must audition/interview in their sophomore year in order to be accepted into the B.F.A. track.
**Faculty members often arrange additional opportunities in a student's field of study with partner organizations.
Sample Courses
- Devised Theatre
You and your classmates will work as a cohort to create and perform a piece, borrowing from the idea of the Living Newspaper, where the script originates from the entire group (rather than from a specific writer) and pulls inspiration and materials from current events.
- Technical Internship
Integrate your classroom knowledge with practical experience at companies including Salt Lake Acting Company and Pioneer Theatre.