Theatre Design and Production (B.F.A.)

Student Success Advisor(s)

Sample Degree Plan

Program Summary

Our purpose is to encourage, promote, and sustain both a nurturing and challenging educational environment. Theatre Design and Production at SUU engages all students in a set of diverse experiences intended to cultivate their aesthetic and creative potential while providing rigorous training within a chosen field. The central tenet of our purpose is to provide exceptional teaching with personalized mentorship that challenges, enables, and grows the learner to be a dynamic individual.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental concepts of theatre including script analysis, theatre history, and dramatic literature.
• Critically evaluate works of theatre by placing them in appropriate historical context and evaluating the aesthetic components.
• Demonstrate skills necessary for employment within theatre design and production as well as related fields.
• Demonstrate the professional attitudes and values of each discipline, which include respecting the collaborative process, meeting deadlines, punctuality, and professional responsibility.
• Communicate effectively with diverse audiences through on-going oral and written presentations.

Intended Objectives

• Undergo evaluation by external reviews in several of the following ways: professional employment; graduate school admissions; Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Adjudications; U/RTA Auditions, USITT portfolio reviews and internship placement; and
• Be prepared for advanced training or entrance into the profession.

Program Information

• B.F.A. students are expected to complete course-based performance assessment and must maintain a major-level GPA of 3.0 (“B” average) in theatre-based courses and a cumulative GPA of 2.0 (“C” average).
• The program is committed to student success and therefore will admit students who have the skill and, most importantly, the commitment to be successful in this professional degree program. All student candidates for the degree must interview and undergo either a portfolio review. This review process is conducted by a faculty panel.
• The department requires every B.F.A. Theatre Design and Production student to complete an annual jury and portfolio review with a panel made up of the Design and Production faculty and staff.
• B.F.A. students will complete a significant internship during their course of study. This important practical component to the degree helps ensures students are ready to enter their chosen profession.
• All students complete a Capstone which will develop original scholarship that critically evaluates and analyzes their creative practice through a written and oral defense presentation to faculty within their discipline.
• Exit interviews will be held for all graduating seniors.
• Every student is required to abide by the policies and procedures set up in the Departmental Student Handbook (see www.suu.edu/pva/ta/pdf/student-handbook.pdf).

Admission Requirements

The B.F.A. admission process seeks evidence that each applicant possess the talent, artistic and collaborative sensibility, and most importantly, a strong sense of commitment to be successful in the program. Candidates for the B.F.A. degree will interview with faculty and undergo a portfolio review. Students may interview for entry into the B.F.A. program upon admission to the University, or after completing their freshman year in Theatre Arts. Students in their sophomore, junior, or senior year are not eligible for admission to the B.F.A. program without chair approval.