Theater
Department Overview
The Skidmore Theater Department is a pre-professional program that offers students the opportunity to pursue the serious study of the theater arts within a liberal arts setting. Courses within the department afford training in the basic demands of the discipline-physical and vocal control, technique in acting and directing, technical and design skills-as well as the opportunity for advanced study, practical production experience, study abroad, and off-campus internships. The College liberal arts requirements help students to understand the moral, intellectual, and political context in which any artist practices. Theater has the potential to encourage difficult conversations, to ask important questions about cultural representation, to provide a place for interrogating power dynamics, and to give voice to marginalized populations. The Skidmore Theater Department is committed to exploring ways to engage in issues of culture, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability, both on and off stage. We strive to create opportunities for students who have been historically underrepresented on our stages.
Chair of the Department of Theater: Lisa Jackson-Schebetta
Associate Professors: Eunice Ferreira, Lisa Jackson-Schebetta
Assistant Professors: Dennis Schebetta, John Michael Diresta, Alicia J. Austin
Senior Artist-in-Residence: Garett E. Wilson
Artists-in-Residence: Teisha Duncan, Jared Klein
Lecturers: Samantha Garwood, Marie Glotzbach, Susan Kessler, Eric Holmes, Laura Menzie, Megan Richardson
Technical Director: Jared Klein
Assistant Technical Director: Brandon Sewall
Costume Shop Manager: Samantha Garwood
Assistant Costume Shop Manager: Megan Richardson
Theater B.S.
Requirements for a major in theater are (minimum of 48 credits):
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Required Courses | ||
TH 103 | Introduction to Theater | 4 |
TH 129 | Theater Production | 2 |
TH 130 | Introduction to Design | 2 |
TH 140 | Introduction to Directing | 3 |
TH 229 | Theater and Culture I | 4 |
TH 230 | Theater and Culture II | 4 |
TH 235 | Theater Company | 1 |
TH 250 | Production Seminar | 3 |
or TH 249 | Workshop Productions | |
TH 335 | Theater Company | 2 |
Dramatic Literature | ||
Select at least one of the following: 1 | 3 | |
Special Studies in Theater History and Theory (as noted) | ||
Black Theater | ||
Climate Justice and Theater Action | ||
Drama | ||
Introduction To Shakespeare | ||
Special Studies: Form (Dramaturgy) | ||
Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama | ||
Shakespeare | ||
Special Studies in Early Modern Drama | ||
Modernism and Drama | ||
French Dramatic Literature | ||
Theater in the German Speaking World | ||
WLS 321 | ||
Greek Tragedy | ||
Society on the Stage: Greek and Roman Comedy | ||
Additional Requirements | ||
Select one of the following: | 3 | |
The Director as Collaborative Artist | ||
Special Studies in Theater History and Theory | ||
Black Theater | ||
Climate Justice and Theater Action | ||
History of American Theater | ||
Senior Coda | ||
Senior Project (Class of 2012 and beyond) | ||
Select sixteen additional semester hours in the Theater Department | 16 |
- 1
Other courses may be acceptable with permission of the department
Areas of Concentration
The following is a recommended sequence of study in each area.
Acting
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
TH 101 | Voice and Speech In The Theater | 3 |
TH 104 | Introduction to Acting | 3 |
TH 198 | Movement for the Theater | 2 |
TH 203 | Intermediate Acting | 3 |
TH 204 | Intermediate Acting | 3 |
TH 211 | Voice for the Actor | 2 |
TH 242 | Acting Shakespeare | 3 |
TH 303 | Acting Styles | 3 |
TH 304 | Special Studies in Acting | 3 |
Directing
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
TH 104 | Introduction to Acting | 3 |
TH 140 | Introduction to Directing | 3 |
TH 203 | Intermediate Acting | 3 |
TH 204 | Intermediate Acting | 3 |
TH 333 | The Director as Collaborative Artist | 3 |
TH 375 | Advanced Directing Practicum | 3 |
Design and Technical Theater
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
TH 216 | Theater Design: From Page to Stage | 4 |
TH 228 | Stage Lighting | 3-4 |
or TH 238 | Costume Design | |
TH 305 | 4 | |
TH 337 | Scenic Design | 3 |
AR 131 | Visual Concepts | 4 |
AR 133 | Drawing I | 4 |
Writing Requirement in the Major
The development of excellent written communication skills is essential for all theater artists and all theater students are expected to be able to demonstrate these skills. Students in theater will fulfill the Department’s writing requirement by
- completing TH 103 Introduction to Theater and
- completion of the theater capstone course TH 376 Senior Project.
Through these requirements students will demonstrate the ability to think critically, organize arguments, and write clearly.
Theater Minor
A minor in theater is available for students interested in a general education in theater but not necessarily intensive training in a single concentration. Twenty-one to twenty-five semester hours are required:
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
TH 103 | Introduction to Theater | 4 |
TH 129 | Theater Production | 2 |
or TH 130 | Introduction to Design | |
TH 104 | Introduction to Acting | 3 |
or TH 140 | Introduction to Directing | |
TH 229 | Theater and Culture I | 3 |
TH 230 | Theater and Culture II | 3 |
TH 235 | Theater Company | 1 |
TH 250 | Production Seminar | 3 |
or TH 249 | Workshop Productions | |
Select one 300-level course in theater | 3 | |
Select one course in dramatic literature | 3 | |
Total Hours | 25 |
Those students interested in combining a study of theater with art, dance, literature, or music should consult with the Theater Department and their advisors in the formulation of a self-determined major.
Honors
Departmental honors are awarded to a senior major who has maintained the required college and department grade averages. In addition to the necessary grade averages, qualification requires work of exceptional merit in a Senior Project that will represent a culmination of the student’s work in the major. The student must also be recommended by the department. Please see the Theater website for details on departmental recommendation.