Acting
Classes in voice and movement, stage combat, and dance are available to augment your regular acting classes. In addition to these performative classes, your career preparation and professional auditions classes will prepare you to feel confident and ready once you graduate from Marquette.
Direction
Student directors have ample opportunities to develop their craft through student-driven productions, realized class work, and the Capstone sequence of coursework. You can get the chance to assist our directors on the main stage productions, working closely with faculty and professional guest directors to gain valuable experience. Our graduates are employed in a wide range of careers; from high school teacher to professional theatre director, to television and sitcom work in Hollywood, they are putting their Marquette experience to work.
Lighting Design
Students serve as electricians, master electricians, assistant designers and lighting designers on the departmental productions. Student lighting designers may design several mainstage productions while at Marquette. The faculty members guide you in developing your craft and creating aesthetically brilliant, artistically challenging and dramatically appropriate lighting in our productions. Our student designers have received a number of KCACTF Certificate of Merit citations for their lighting design work on productions.
Costume Design
Gain practical knowledge working as a costume crew member, wardrobe supervisor, assistant costume designer, or costume designer for the mainstage shows. This abundance of costuming experiences is one of the greatest facets of the design sequence for theatre majors and minors, giving you the opportunity to apply the facts and theories taught in class to actual costuming situations.
Scenic Design
While taking the introductory courses, you can assist faculty designers on the realized designs for the main stage season. It is not uncommon for scenic design students to have realized main stage scene design projects in their junior or senior years. Faculty members work closely with the designers to help their vision come to life, at the same time preparing them for future endeavors – graduate school or further design work.
Stage Production/ Arts Management
Whether you’re interested in stage or production management, or in the world of arts administration, you have ample opportunities to apply your talents in the main stage season. Student stage managers get involved in the productions from the very beginning; working closely with faculty and other students, they develop stage management skills and professionalism. It is not uncommon for student stage managers to stage manage three or four realized main stage productions in their time at Marquette University. You’ll also have numerous student-driven opportunities to apply the skills learned in the classroom.
Students interested in arts administration have worked closely with the department chair to facilitate the operations of the theater, work with audience service and help develop promotional planning for a season. Students have also created interdisciplinary majors to take advantage of the offerings in the College of Business Administration to strengthen their experiences.