Theatre at Saint Michael’s College serves the liberal arts by providing a rigorous aesthetic, intellectual, and practical opportunity to explore the frontiers of learning and the formation of collaborative communities. The primary mode of study is the practice of theatre, involving theoretical, historical, aesthetic and technical elements.
The theatre program makes its home in the McCarthy Arts Center, which houses a theatre, a recital hall, an art gallery, rehearsal spaces, classrooms, and faculty offices. The theatre, an intimate but broad house which seats 360, boasts a proscenium stage complete with hydraulic lift, trap room, substantial wing and fly space, and state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment. Costume and scenery studios are located in the building and storage facilities are convenient to the theatre.
The department sponsors two faculty-directed Mainstage productions, a second stage series, and an ongoing improvisation group, Rough Edges, in addition to mentoring student projects through classes and independent studies. All students are given an opportunity to direct, design, perform in, manage, research and respond to theatre in production and performance. The department regularly participates in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Students transferring into theatre from other majors after the sophomore year must have an overall GPA of 2.0 and permission of the department chair. The minor in theatre may be elected through the end of the junior year, and the student must achieve a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the minor to have it recorded on the transcript. Students wishing to double-major in education and theatre should plan their program of study early and carefully to avoid scheduling conflicts.
Scholarship opportunities are available to incoming and returning students through the Fairbanks-Paulin and McCarthy Scholarship programs.
Although no degree is offered in the area of dance, the Department of Fine Arts offers a broad array of courses and performance opportunities in this area.
