Theatre Major
Fall 2004 production of Much Ado About Nothing/Shakespeare: An American Voice.
Directed by Cindy Gold.
Of all the performing arts, none draws upon the rich variety of human experience more fully than theatre. Theatre communicates the drama of life - whether the past, present, or future, and whether real or imagined - with immediacy, excitement, and eloquence. The student of theatre, therefore, must be a student of human society and must understand how social forces impinge upon human behavior. To paraphrase Boswell, students of the theatre take as the subject of their study the comprehension of the entire system of human life.
For this reason, students who major in theatre at Northwestern combine a liberal arts education with intensive training in the theories and arts of the theatre. At the heart of the theatre program lies the idea that the best theatre artist is the one who combines a broad knowledge of the literature and theory of the field with highly developed skills in its practice.
Theatre majors focus on the extensive offerings of the School of Communication during their four-year program, but also sample the rich and varied opportunities found in other schools within the university. The College of Arts and Sciences, in particular, offers courses that are vital to the theatre major, for example, African-American Studies, English Literature, Languages, Comparative Literature, History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences.
While the theatre major is not specifically a pre-professional program, a significant number of our graduates seek and find work in theatre, television, and film. Many go on to graduate programs in specialized fields of theatre. Since the theatre department curriculum is solidly based in the liberal arts model, our graduates find themselves in a position to pursue successful careers not directly related to theatre such as law, business, and marketing.
