Both in study and practice, theatre at the College is directed toward developing an understanding and appreciation of the interrelationship of actor, script, performing space, and audience. The Department's curriculum centers on courses that explore performance (acting and directing), text (literature and playwriting), and performing space (design and technology), and that recognize—in various considerations of styles, periods, history, standards, and conventions—the essentiality of the audience in completing the theatre circle.
Acknowledging the unique and elemental nature of theatre as live performance, the Department emphasizes direct and personal expression through production experience. Students from all majors participate in the production of plays and enroll in theatre courses. Theatre majors are guided through the academic and production programs to hone their specialty area of emphasis while cultivating a generalist approach to theatre. The Department is committed to helping students focus their career goals in theatre and prepares students to meet them by advising them from declaration about opportunities outside the Red Brick Wall to complement their work within the Department.
The Department presents two or three productions each academic year, with additional productions added through directing class, independent study projects, and allied programs. The production season serves as laboratory work for the academic program and production work is an inherent part of the major. Theatre majors are expected to develop skill in their specialty area through course work and assignments in every department production. This apprenticeship path leads to earning a major role or production responsibility that can serve as their capstone project in their senior year. Theatre majors receive regular evaluations to ensure their successful progress along that path.
Seasons of plays are chosen with deliberation. The Department strives to offer an artistically compelling and socially relevant season of plays to its students, to the College community, and to Lynchburg in general, a season that is entertaining while advancing our knowledge of the human condition. The Department is dedicated to exposing each student to the breadth of theatrical expression in their time on campus, emphasizing the best of period and contemporary work and the variety of production styles, while providing an individually crafted program of study and set of experiences that maximizes artistic growth.