Theatre Design and Production

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The theatre design and production program provides students a solid theatre education experience. Students take a series of design and support courses in all theatrical production areas. Scene painting, stage lighting, theatre organization and management, and CAD courses are many of the courses available to design and production majors. The program also stresses active involvement in all aspects of production work outside the classroom. Design students serve as assistants to faculty designers and are given the opportunity to design main stage productions.

DEGREE OPTIONS
Bachelor of Fine Arts in design

FACULTY
The Department of Theatre Arts is comprised of 7 full-time faculty members; 6 have earned terminal degrees in their fields. All full-time faculty are engaged in teaching classes from the introductory to advanced levels.

ACADEMIC PREPARATION
There are no prerequisite high school courses or requirements needed for enrollment in the theatre program, but students should have a well-rounded academic high school curriculum. Previous involvement in high school and/or community theatre is strongly recommended.

REQUIRED CREDIT HOURS AND COURSES FOR A MAJOR
124 credit hours total. A minimum of 65 credit hours in theatre arts coursework; however, a maximum of 76 theatre credits will be accepted for the degree. Drake Curriculum requirements are also needed (see below).

Theatre Arts Core Requirement		Credit	Required Design Courses in Theatre Arts		Credit
THEA 3	Acting I	3 hrs.	THEA 33	Mechanical Drafting	3 hrs.
THEA 5	Readings in Theatre	3 hrs.	THEA 62	Stagecraft II	4 hrs.
THEA 30	Stagecraft I (including lab)	4 hrs.	THEA 63	Intro to Design	3 hrs.
THEA 31	Costuming (including lab)	4 hrs.	*THEA 124	Technical Practicum	4-6 hrs total
THEA 32	Makeup	3 hrs.	THEA 150	Sound Design for the Theatre	3 hrs.
THEA 103	Directing I	3 hrs.	THEA 161	Scene Design	3 hrs.
THEA 120	Theatre History I	3 hrs.	THEA 162	Stage Lighting	3 hrs.
THEA 121	Theatre History II	3 hrs.	THEA 163	CAD for the Theatre	3 hrs.
THEA 124	Tech Practicum (scene or costume)	1 hr.	THEA 165-169	Projects in Theatre (seniors)	1-3 hrs.
THEA 160	Stage Management	3 hrs.	THEA 182	Seminar in Advanced Design	3 hrs.
THEA 190	Senior Capstone	1 hr.	THEA 183	Scene Painting, (including lab)	3 hrs
			THEA 184	Costume Design	3 hrs.
	Total	31 hrs.		Total	36 hrs.

Required Support Courses in Art and Design:
ART 15	Drawing I	3 hrs.
ART 76	Survey of Art History II	3 hrs.
	Elective Courses in Art and Design	9 hrs
	Total	15 hrs.

REQUIRED COURSES AND CREDIT HOURS OUTSIDE MAJOR
The Drake Curriculum, required of all undergraduates, is designed to help students meet personal and professional goals as they acquire fundamental knowledge and abilities in ten Areas of Inquiry, including communication, critical thinking, artistic experience, historical consciousness, information and technology literacy, international and multicultural experiences, scientific and quantitative literacy, values and ethics and engaged citizenship. Students work closely with their academic advisers to craft a program of study in general education that prepares students for civic and professional leadership.

The Drake Curriculum also requires first-year seminars, which foster development of critical thinking and written and oral communication skills through a topical focus; and a Senior Capstone, in which students demonstrate the capacity to bring information, skills and ideas to bear on one project.

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES/INTERNSHIPS
The Theatre Arts department constantly receives news of internships in every aspect of theatre, including design. Theatre students have recently interned with the prestigious Utah Shakespeare Festival and with the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. These internships offer students opportunities to make contacts
within the industry and to experience first-hand the use of their education in the professional theatre.

CAREER OPTIONS
Typical career paths for theatre arts graduates include regional theatre, teaching and radio/TV. Many find employment in the design and creation of lighting, costumes, and sets for such regional theatre. Recent graduates have gone on to work in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York,
and Los Angeles. A number also have entered and completed graduate programs throughout the country.

SCHOLARSHIPS
Students have the opportunity to receive talent-based fine arts scholarships of varying amounts. There also are scholarships awarded by the department based on talent, monetary need, and contributions to the department. An audition or portfolio review is required for those students interested in being considered for a Fine Arts Scholarship to study Theatre at Drake University. It is strongly recommended that interested students attend one of the group audition and portfolio review days.

Auditions and reviews can still be scheduled on an individual basis for those students unable to attend on an audition/portfolio review day. Video-taped auditions and portfolios sent by e-mail or FAX are also acceptable, and will receive the same scholarship consideration as those done on campus. You need not be accepted by Drake University prior to auditioning. Any scholarship offer, however, is only valid if you are accepted to and attend Drake University. An award letter will normally be in the mail by the end of March.

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS (Musical Theatre, Acting/Performance students)
Acting students will need to prepare two contrasting monologues; these pieces must be memorized. It is recommended that one piece should be comedic in nature; the other should be serious. Select roles that are fairly close to your own age range and try to avoid unnecessary challenges such as accents, etc. Each monologue should be approximately 2 minutes in length.

Musical Theatre students must prepare two songs in addition to their two monologues, one upbeat song and one ballad. Each song, or section of a song, should be approximately 32 bars in length. The monologues should be approximately 2 minutes in length.

An accompanist will be provided for group auditions. Please bring your music marked up where appropriate and in the correct key. If you are attending an audition on an individual basis please bring a recorded accompaniment on tape or CD.

GROUP AUDITION/PORTFOLIO REVIEW DAY SCHEDULE

Saturday, March 10, 2007 (register no later than Friday, March 2, 2007)

10-11 a.m. General Meeting in Studio 55 for all scholarship candidates
11-11:30 a.m. Tour of the Fine Arts Center
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunch provided. Warm-up spaces and practice rooms with pianos will be available.
1-4 p.m. Auditions and Portfolio Reviews
4-5 p.m. Q and A session and wrap-up.

Complimentary tickets will be available for "Gaslight" (March 10 at 8 p.m.) for all interested candidates and their families.

Register by contacting Venita Svaldi at 1-800-44-DRAKE, x4031 or by e-mail at venita.svaldi@drake.edu. When registering, please indicate how many complimentary tickets you would like for the evening show.

NOTED ALUMNI

Stephen Schmidt, FA'96, technical director with Schadenfreude, a Chicago-based improvisational comedy group
Sheila (Roche) Schmidt, FA'96, Equity stage manager for the Chicago Shakespeare Co.
Amy Kopp, FA'97, assistant playhouse stage manager, Palm Springs, CA

Visit the Theatre Department website