Our 2020-2021 SeasonNovember 5-8, 2020 • An Anthology Project, by THEA 2301Directed By: Dr. Kelly Carolyn Gordon
The events of Spring 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests around the world, have forever changed the course of human history and raised important questions about empathy, freedom, history, leadership and, in our country, what it means to be an American. This fall, in a devised theatre project unprecedented by Concordia University Texas theatre, members of our community--students, alumni, faculty, and staff—will collectively create a theatre piece that responds to the events of the past several months. Collective creation, or devised theatre, is a method of theater-making in which an ensemble creates a performance through collaborative, improvisatory work. In THEA 2301 and beyond, the ensemble will explore the historic events of 2020 using images, memories, interviews, and news and social media, with the goal of developing a collaborative work to be performed as a staged reading, live or online, November 5-8, 2020. The ensemble will also have the opportunity to stage a fully-mounted production. TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE IN OCTOBER March 4-7, TBD • Perhaps, a fully mounted production of the project above. Stay tuned! |
What Does it Look Like to Study Theatre at Concordia University Texas?
The mission of the Department of Theatre at Concordia University Texas is to elicit creativity, critical thinking, cultural awareness and empathy, within an active, collaborative learning environment, in exploration of what it means to be human. Theatre Studies prepares students with valuable skills that can be applied to many different industries.
Students learn about theatre within the context of an excellent liberal arts education. Class sizes are small enough for students to receive individualized attention and training, to work in close collaboration with faculty, guest artists, and other students, and to create opportunities based on their specific interests.
Program Overview
From their first year, our students get hands-on experience in the classroom and in production, leadership, collaboration, critical thinking and artistic skills.
CTX Theatre presents two main-stage productions a year, and the fall play aligns with the Service-Learning Week theme. Participation in production is open to the entire CTX community and can be taken for academic credit.
Curriculum Overview for Theatre Majors
The BA in Theatre Studies at CTX incorporates a wide breadth of subjects, preparing students for a variety of industries.
Theatre students select a tract – Performance or Design/Technology – to meet their interests. Additionally, the BA in Theatre is easily paired with another major, allowing students to further customize their education. Through individualized attention and training, students develop the necessary skills for their specific focus.
Here are some highlighted courses:
Experience of Drama: In this dynamic, experientially-based course,students attend professional theatrical productions throughout Austin to examine the play’s journey from page to stage. Play attendance is supplemented with script and production analysis, lecture, presentations, class-discussions, exclusive talkbacks and meetings with production personnel.
Theatre for Social Change/Applied Theatre: This course zeros in on theatre’s unique power as a tool for social change, and its tremendous potential for application to fields outside of traditional theatre. Students examine the theories and methods of applied theatre throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries, studying a wide array of international topics, including agit-prop theatre, radical street performance, museum theatre, theatre in prisons, and theatre and service in the church.
Acting - Scene Study and Improvisation: Students at all levels of experience develop acting skills through the disciplines of improvisation and scene study. Improvisation is employed as a means of structuring original ideas to create scenes, as a method of confronting and solving acting problems, as a way to inspire social change and as a means of theatricalizing non-dramatic sources such as folktales.
Program Benefits
The BA in Theatre Studies provides tools required for working in the professional theatre as well as a foundation for graduate studies in theatre and film. Furthermore, students who study theatre develop and hone skills transferable to any field:
- Viewing the world from multiple perspectives
- Creative problem-solving
- Effective verbal and non-verbal communication
- Collaboration
- Advanced presentation abilities
- Outside-the-box thinking
- Empathy and deep listening
- Efficient time management
- Close reading and analysis
- Project management and organization
- Critical thinking
- Cultural awareness
Career Outcomes
- Actor
- Arts Administrator
- Casting Agent
- Director
- Drama Therapist
- Educator
- Events Planner
- Literary Manager
- Playwright/Screenwriter
- Producer
- Project Manager
- Stage Manager
- Theatrical Designer (make-up, costumes, props, set, lighting)
FAQs
Why does Concordia offer a BA instead of a BFA?
Concordia University Texas offers a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in theatre instead of a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). A BA requires you to study a wider breadth of subjects, so you'll develop a wider array of skills that can be utilized in more industries.
Who can get involved in CTX Theatre productions?
Auditions and participation in design/tech roles are open to all members of the Concordia University Texas community. No experience is necessary; we will train you!
Students can participate in productions beginning their first semester.
What are auditions like?
Typically, students are asked to perform a memorized, one-minute monologue from the time period and style of the play for which they are auditioning.
When are rehearsals held?
Rehearsals are mainly held in the evenings, and occasionally during the daytime if actor’s schedules permit. We make our best effort to work around actors’ work, athletics and school schedules.
Are theatre internships available?
Austin has a vibrant theatre community that is full of opportunities. Our students have interned at places such as Austin Shakespeare and Zach Theatre. Internship programs are also available farther afield in cities such as New York and London.
Meet our Fine Arts Faculty and Staff
2018-2019 Guest Artists
Sam Gonzalez (Scenic Designer/Technical Director) is a scenic artist and designer located in Austin, Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Design and Technology from Texas State University, focusing on Scenic Art & Design. She's worked locally in Film & Television as a Production Assistant for The Long Road Home. This past year she has worked as Scenic Artist, Prop Master and Set Designer at TexARTS in Lakeway, Texas.
Jessi Rose (Costumer) received her MFA in Costume Design from The University of Texas at Austin, Certificates in Costume Stitching, Cutting and Draping, Wardrobe, and Assistant Costume Design from Fullerton College, and a BA in Anthropology from Cal State Fullerton. Her recent credits include The Merchant of Venice (UT Austin), The 2018 UTNT Festival (UT Austin), June (RTF Thesis Film, winner of the 2018 HBO APA Visionaries Award), Seven, A Documentary Play (Concordia University), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Concordia University). She recently served as Costume Assistant for Central City Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly, and is beginning her career in the film and television industry.
Smokey Westerfeld (Lighting Designer/Technician, Spring 2019): Smokey has a love for the entertainment business that spans over 40 years. He served as Production Stage Manager for Houston Music Theatre, and The Magic Mountain Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. He has traveled as Stage Manager with national road-show tours. He was called to report to C.B.S. Network, Television City in Hollywood, and he retired from C.B.S. twenty years later. His staff credits while at C.B.S. vary from Production Lighting/Head Electrician, Property Master, and Audio Engineer. The last 15 years of his tenure were spent in the field of Audio Mixing, both Production, and Post-Production. Smokey is the recipient of six Emmy Awards for his work in Television Audio.
Past guest artists have included costume designer Cecelia Gay; lighting designers, Yi-Tai Chung, Kristin DuBois, Erin Fleming, and Mercedes McCleary; puppeteer, Kevin Long; and set designers, Bren Coombs and Michael Krauss.
Our past productions
Concordia University Theatre has established a tradition of producing classical and contemporary works that fulfill Aristotle's greatest charge: "To teach and to entertain." We are dedicated to staging plays and musicals that provoke critical thinking, expand cultural awareness, and inspire empathy within audiences that make up our community in Austin, Central Texas, and beyond.
Take a look back through the main-stage productions of the past few years.