Theatre

Message from John Green, Chairperson

Welcome to the largest, fastest developing, undergraduate theatre program in the United States.

The mission of the Department of Theatre is to provide you with a fully professional education and training in the thinking and practice of making theatre. We accomplish this through a process that combines the dynamic of Ensemble practice with exposure to interdisciplinary and international performance styles, in order to empower you to create theatre that not only reflects the times we live in, but also shapes the future of our culture.

Our goal is to create a learning environment that enables you to explore what it means to be a creative individual, develop an artistic voice, and acquire a body of practical knowledge with which to express your ideas. At any given point in time, we understand Theatre to be whatever theatre artists are creating at that moment. Ultimately the very definition of the art is informed by and through the work you are going to create with us. We therefore encourage a climate of critical thinking and self-reflection, so that you can clearly communicate your ideas and practical processes to a wide range of audiences.

At the heart of your learning experience lies the body of work you will create, whether as performer, designer, writer, dramaturge, director, stage manager, singer, dancer, comedian, make-up artist, technician, producer, or any combination of these skills. We stage as many as 40 productions a year, including fully produced faculty and student directed productions, staged readings of original plays, solo performances, sketch comedy, improv, musicals, freshman projects, works-in-progress, gallery installations, faculty projects, and an annual senior showcase for artistic directors and talent agents in Chicago. The majority of our productions are staged in our three theatres: the 400-seat Emma and Oscar Getz Theatre, the 60-seat New Theatre, and the 60-seat Classic Studio. In addition we actively encourage you to participate in the creation of feature films and TV productions in collaboration with the Departments of Film & Video and Television.

As the largest undergraduate theatre program in the country, we are able to offer you training and experience in aspects of the profession not available elsewhere: a full semester for juniors and seniors of Comedy Studies taught at and by Chicago’s famous Second City Training Center, a comprehensive program in all aspects of Stage Combat, a course for actors taught in Los Angeles that provides you with professional contacts as well as information about how to find work in the film and television industry. With 200 producing theatres in the City of Chicago, we are also able to facilitate a broad range of professional internships, together with opportunities for work in community outreach programs.

Your career in theatre will inevitably find you working with international artists, either here or abroad, and to prepare you for this eventuality, the department has developed a series of exciting international opportunities, including exchange programs with colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and intensive training workshops with international artists at Columbia during the January J-Term and summer school.

Whichever aspect of theatre you choose to focus on, you can be assured that the faculty and staff teaching and advising you are all working professionals, many of whom have won awards for both artistic and teaching excellence. They are prominent members of Chicago’s dynamic theatre community, and their work can also be seen on and off Broadway, in many regional theatres across the country, and at international theatre festivals around the world. The cost of a college education may seem expensive, but the knowledge and skills that this theatre faculty and staff have to share with you is priceless.

As a theatre professional, educator, and academic leader, I have been involved with a number of theatre programs in the U.K., U.S., and around the world. In my experience Columbia College Chicago is unique in both the range of arts programs it offers, the quality of instruction it provides, and the hands on approach to the creative process that enables students to become skilled and confident professional working artists and informed advocates of the arts.

Our program is spread out before you. Imagine yourself here. Imagine how you will create the theatre culture of your time.

John Green
Chairperson, Theatre

More Information about this Department

Mission Statement

Theater in its many forms is driven through the collaborative efforts of the ensemble. The Theater Department of Columbia College Chicago uses ensemble as the vehicle through which education and programming are developed. For the Theater Department, the ensemble is a dynamic collective of individual voices and abilities focused on a common task. The ensemble is more than the sum of its parts, but is deeply dependent on the contribution of each of its members. Our curricula and programs encourage students to explore themselves as creative individuals, develop an artistic voice, and learn skills to express their ideas. Students are immersed in the study of theatrical craft and given opportunities to practice their growing expertise through a wide range of applications. Through critical thinking and self-reflection, students consider how to contribute their best work in collaborative endeavors with others. Each student’s contribution is valued, but must be put in service to the larger purpose of the ensemble. The Theater Department fully supports the College’s mission statement “to provide a climate that gives students an opportunity to try themselves out, to explore, and to discover what they can and want to do.”

The goal of the Theater Department is to develop each student’s technical skills, artistic sensibilities, and awareness of the world in which we live, and to contribute those diverse skills and perspectives within the collaborative ensemble. The student is then poised to embark on his or her own journey to create theater that will not only reflect but also shape the future of our culture.

This goal is achieved through:

A departmental curriculum engaging students in a progression of skills and exposing them to a wide continuum of theatrical practice. Students have degree options of Bachelor of Art and Bachelor of Fine Art degrees. The department also offers minors for students in other departments who wish to include theatrical study in their undergraduate program.
A comprehensive series of majors and concentrations in Acting, Directing, Design, Technical Theater, Musical Theater, and Playwriting.
A diverse and professional faculty and staff who are active in their field and whose lives provide models for balancing art and commerce in a career in the theater.
An emphasis on participation in theatrical production giving students opportunities to develop their craft and artistic sensibilities.
Partnerships with other departments, professional institutions, and community-based organizations to provide a breadth of possible experiences in the art form.
Application of craft in a variety of theatrical and professional venues in order to maximize students’ ability to solve problems using available resources.
A network of opportunities to help students make the bridge between college and professional work. These opportunities provide students with a perspective on the values placed on theatrical craft and practice in the wider culture.
Academic advising to provide guidance to students throughout their education. Advising can also build understanding of how life skills learned in theater apply towards employment in other media and career opportunities.
A commitment to continuous assessment and development of self-reflection through the active practice of the scholarship of teaching and learning.