Theatre
Visual and Performing Arts
Why Major in Theatre at Allegheny College
Allegheny Theatre students learn to engage critically and creatively with the wider culture that surrounds them, producing original work and developing skills to connect with audiences in compelling ways.
Unusual Combinations
Students often combine Theatre with:
Division
- Visual and Performing Arts
Program Type
- Major
- Minor
Number of Credits
49 for major24 for minorWhere Theatre Alumni Work Today
Business Manager
Timberlake Studios
Zoe (Aaron) Regan ’13
Co-Artistic Director
Gum-Dip Theatre
Katie Beck ’14
Audio Office Administrator
The Public Theater
Carrie Miller Freeman ’09
Living History Education Program Director
TimeLine Theatre Company
Juliet Hart ’91
Actor and Voiceover Artist
Self-Employed
Tony Chiroldes ’84
Director of Production
Orlando Shakespeare Theater
George Hamrah ’89
Grants Coordinator
Cleveland Foundation
Colleen McCaughey ’13
Director
Retainer Consulting Services
Kelly Mednis ’96
Company Manager
UK tour of Lion King, Disney Theatrical
Fred Hemminger ’97
Assistant Professor of Theatre
Mary Baldwin University
Molly Seremet
Lecturer in Lighting Design & Technology
University of Massachusetts
Amanda Fallon
Education Director
University of Massachusetts
Jim Scriven
Production Office
Perelman Arts Center
Itzel Ayala
Drama Director
Theodore Roosevelt High School
Katie Beck
Theatre and Visual Arts Teacher
Grayson School
Mary Lyon
Company Manager
City Theatre; Contemporary American Theater Festival
Richard Ellis
Everyone is trained to be onstage, hang lights, build sets, design, direct, sew costumes, run crew, and all the other bits and pieces. It makes for a successful post-collegiate experience because you know everything that goes into putting on a show.
Your Four-Year Journey
Year 1: Understanding
Most majors take all three introductory courses: Introduction to Theatre, Theatre Production (you can focus on scenery, costumes, or lighting), and Acting 1. You can also participate as a performer, stage manager, or technician in Playshop Theatre productions as soon as your first year at Allegheny.
Year 2: New Approaches
In your second year, you’ll take Text and Performance and begin to find your place in theatre through elective courses in Acting, Directing, Design, History or Management.
Year 3: Delving Deeper
The show must go on! As you move into your third year, you will continue in theatre electives, take a Theatre History course (if you haven’t done so already), and elective coursework in Communication, Dance, or Film. All Theatre majors take the Junior Seminar and prepare individual proposals for their senior projects.
Year 4: The Comp
To round out your time at Allegheny, you will complete your electives as well as complete the Theatre Senior Comp, often integrated with a Playshop Theatre production or produced as a workshop. Then you’re all set to go out into the world — break a leg!
Research and Internships
We’ll set the stage for you success through hands-on opportunities. You’ll learn to develop the capacity to use drama as a medium to connect with audiences in effective ways.
Our theatre students expand their skills through internships, research, community engagement, study away, and more.
Allegheny’s Playshop Theatre was inaugurated by Alice Huntington Spalding in 1929 with her production of Dear Brutus in Arter Hall. In the intervening years, the Playshop has produced over 500 plays. In 2009, it moved to its current home in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts. The Playshop season is now performed in the Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre.
Thanks to the Andrew W. Mellon Collaborative Undergraduate Research in the Humanities grant, and new Richard Cook and Teresa Lahti Scholars Symposium, students have the opportunity to work on research projects with faculty under school-wide, department-specific, or project-specific grants.
Faculty members partner with colleagues from other departments and lead summer Experiential Learning Study Seminars (ELs) abroad, taking students on interdisciplinary explorations of global issues. Some of the EL destinations led by the department faculty have been Great Britain, India, Italy, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.
Faculty and Staff
Email: mcosdon@allegheny.edu
Phone: 814-332-2304
Professor
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; M.F.A., University of Texas at Austin; B.S. Northwestern University
Email: mmehler@allegheny.edu
Phone: 814-332-2302
Featured News
The Unusual Combination That Is John Meyer ‘04: Broadcast Journalism to Education Software Guru
Allegheny enabled John Meyer ’04 to explore all things related to broadcasting, like acting, video, and public speaking to get out the nerves. He notes that his education provided the well-rounded skills needed in the field.
Program Contact
Jon Wiebel
Associate Professor of Communication & Media; Director of Speaking
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Address:
520 North Main Street
Meadville, PA 16335
Contact:
814-332-4351
info@allegheny.edu
admissions@allegheny.edu
