The Bachelor of Arts in Acting teaches students advanced performance technique and acting practice to prepare them to fully inhabit roles they are cast in as well as to compete for work after graduation.

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate competence in the performance techniques necessary to fully inhabit any role in which they are cast.
• Select, prepare, and present representative and varied scenes and monologues from a range of sources.
• Manifest an awareness of and the ability to effectively utilize the body and voice as the actor’s instruments of communication.
• Utilize and integrate theory and process in the creation of character.
• Exhibit the ability to analyze text as it relates to performance.
• Integrate the techniques and skills developed through participation in theatre exercises, games, and improvisations to the preparation of scripted scenes.
• Assemble, rehearse, and perform a suitable personal audition package.

An integrated immersion course, Theatre Foundation, is required of all students entering the Theatre Department as freshmen. This class will develop students’ kinesthetic awareness, observational skills and ability to respond to their experience of the world in written, visual, vocal and physical form, and lay the groundwork for their continuing work in the program as creative practitioners. There are a myriad of opportunities to collaborate as performers with the Film and Television Departments as well as study abroad prospects with a large cohort of superb theatre programs including Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, the Dublin Institute of Technology and LISPA (London International School of Performing Arts). Acting students are required to perform in a minimum of one departmental production prior to graduation. The recommendation is that they will do much more. We also encourage students to take advantage of specialized classes we offer to enhance their artistry and marketability upon graduation, such as 31-3975LJ An Actor’s Guide to Hollywood , 31-3900 Professional Survival and How to Audition , and 31-3925 Audition Workshop , as well as a multitude of varied Internship opportunities. Also, there is the value added opportunity in the Acting B.A. degree to elect a Minor in a course of study which will better position the student in all aspects of their career. The Department also provides acting students in their senior year the opportunity to audition for Senior Showcase, a platform for entry into the professional theatre community. Students completing the Acting B.A. will be well prepared to audition for graduate schools, if they should choose. For those students who are interested in a broad-spectrum range of classes, not specialization, the department offers a general BA in Theatre degree.

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