Theatre

Students can play leading roles and take on important tech jobs as early as their first year at Wesleyan.

All plays at Wesleyan focus on strong roles for women. Women do all the backstage and technical work, unlike at a coed school, where men often take those jobs. Students intern outside the college at local and national theatres. By graduation, a theatre student has built a powerful resume.

The Wesleyan theatre minor teaches transferable skills that are valuable to employers. Theatre graduates have excellent ability in oral communication. They solve multiple real-world problems with creative thought. Students learn to respect others, to take constructive criticism, and they gain appreciation for diversity. Working on plays calls for promptness, dedication, and the ability to work under pressure. Studying theatre opens the mind and reveals our shared humanity. Wesleyan students and faculty get frequent recognition for their excellent work from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.


Minor: Theatre
Academic Catalogue

Why Wesleyan?

Why Wesleyan?

No one knows Wesleyan better than our alumnae who have experienced learning, living, and thriving at Wesleyan. Alumnae reflect on their experiences on campus and the impact on their lives through lifelong friendships to skills acquired on campus impacting their careers.

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Career Development

Career Development

A liberal arts education prepares you for your first job and your last. Wesleyan has a four-year plan to prepare students to make the connection between a liberal arts education and success in the workplace.

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Majors

Majors

Wesleyan offers 25 majors and 35 minors, including self-designed interdisciplinary studies, eight pre-professional programs and the bachelor of science in nursing and bachelor of fine arts degrees.

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Two students in the sound stage

Start Your Professional Development

Our classes are small so theatre students benefit from close individual mentoring from outstanding faculty. Students perform, write, direct, stage manage, produce, design, and bring plays to life. Student-written plays often receive full productions.

The theatre major offers exciting classes in acting, directing, playwriting, design, and technical production, and theatre history and literature, with courses such as African American Theatre, Theatre by Women, Pulitzer Prize Plays, and Theatre for Youth. Plays are produced in the 1,200-seat Porter Auditorium with its twenty-line counterweight fly system, or in the intimate Grassmann-Porter Studio Theatre.

Students get ready before theatre production, applying makeup and getting in character.

Recent Plays

RIDE, by Eric Lane, an adventrure that follows three teen girls, as they take a cross country road trip.

Principal Principle, by Joe Zarrow, a dark comedy of academic intrigue in an english department in a Chicago south side high school.

Bocón! by Lisa Loomer, a fable filled with humor and mysticism and song for the whole family.

Miss Witherspoon by Christopher Durang, a dark comedy about the afterlife.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone, by Sarah Ruhl, a funny and bittersweet exploration of how cell phones interrupt real communication

Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy with songs from the 1960s, all roles performed by women

Kindertransport, a haunting play by Diane Samuels about a young Jewish girl separated from her German family during World War II

Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Lynn Nottage’s brilliant tale of an African American family in 1950s Brooklyn

Cast and Crew of Ride Theatre producation

Cast and Crew from Eric Lane's RIDE, Directed by Laura King

 

Outside The Classroom

Internships help students prepare for careers in the profession. As early as their first year, students attend the Southeastern Theatre Conference and/or USITT for workshops and interviews. National internships have included Unto These Hills, Maine State Music Festival, Lost Colony, Santa Fe Opera, Texas Legacies, North Shore Music Festival, Horizon Theatre, and Georgia Shakespeare Festival. Locally, students have worked at Theatre Macon, the Grand Opera House, Macon Little Theatre, Douglass Theatre, Georgia Advocacy for Children, Montessori, and numerous area churches.

 

 

SKILLS STUDENTS LEARN WHO STUDY THEATRE

TOP QUALITY

Theatre majors learn discipline, dependability, loyalty, and leadership skills making them effective members of a production team.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Theatre students learn to think on their feet, identify problems, evaluate a range of possible solutions, and figure out what to do.

ADAPTABILITY

Theatre students have a willingness to try new ideas, accept new challenges, and the ability to adapt to constantly changing situations and conditions.

A LEVEL HEAD

Theatre-trained applicants are valuable employees because they're energetic, enthusiastic, and able to work under pressure.

GOAL-ORIENTED

Theatre majors are task-oriented and capable of finding practical ways to achieve goals.

SELF-CONFIDENCE

Theatre graduates have a can-do confidence based on their experience of successfully meeting difficult challenges.

Calendar of Events

Wesleyan College is privileged to steward many arts and cultural events and share them with the community. Most are free and open to the public. Wesleyan art galleries are open M-F 1-5PM and on Wesleyan Market Saturdays from 10AM-2PM.

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NCAA Division III Athletics

Wesleyan College is home to five NCAA Division III sports: soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, and softball. In addition, we offer an award-winning Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Equestrian program.

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