BA Theatre & Performance
The BA Theatre & Performance Program provides a wide range of skills and studies that prepare well rounded artists for a variety of theatrical careers. Through hands-on projects, students can explore and combine their interests in creative, technical and performance training. During their four years of study, they will have opportunities to produce, write, design, direct, devise, and collaborate on new works. This cutting-edge program aims to develop reflective artists who are equipped as innovators in their disciplines and are able to manage themselves and others. Grow in a fast-evolving field of live performance, digital media, design, and technical theatre arts.
The BA Theatre & Performance program provides a supportive yet challenging laboratory environment in which personal vision and creativity are highly valued as part of the learning process—both at OCU and with our regional professional and international partner institutions. The program culminates in a semester abroad in the junior year, and a capstone festival of new works in the senior year.
WHY THE BA?
The BA Program prepares artists to evolve as the industry is changing. Students in the BA Theatre & Performance program will graduate with a wide base of knowledge in many areas of the theatre, but what makes the BA so special is the ability to shape and mold the program into what you need it to be. Because the BA has 24 elective credits built in (the most in the School of Theatre), students in the program are able to pursue any minor in the School of Theatre. Students are also able to pursue courses outside of the School of Theatre. Some students pursue classes in film, arts administration, psychology, and education. The BA also fosters a collaborative environment, using a horizontal theatre structure to create and perform projects with their peers and their professors.
CORE CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS
Classes provide a supportive yet challenging laboratory environment exploring a wide variety of courses including:
-Devising
-Theatre for Social Change
-New Media and Digital Performance
-Acting
-Praxis
-Arts Advocacy
At the end of your career here you and your cohort will produce a Festival of New Works as your capstone project. Students will apply all of the things that they learned in the previous seven semesters to execute every aspect of creating a theatre festival.
STUDY ABROAD
The program is designed for study abroad in the spring semester of junior year, and students may also take advantage of opportunities to travel abroad in the summer.
The BA has several partner universities across the UK, and we are constantly expanding our reach into other parts of Europe, such as London, Edinbugh, Paris, Prague, and Florence.
SHOWCASES
There are a variety of performance opportunities associated with each class in the BA Theatre & Performance program, including Devising, New Media and Digital Performance, and Festival of New Works.