Flexible and Rewarding
Theater training at Lafayette is comparable to theater majors offered elsewhere. Although a major is not available, students can major in English with a theater concentration
or choose a theater minor. Those who major in other fields acquire the experience and skills necessary for a successful career as a theater practitioner through participation in
college theater.
You may pursue your interest in a variety of ways. Act
in plays. Build scenery. Read Shakespeare and talk with
visiting actors who perform his works. Although theater
is a difficult profession, few disciplines bring together so much—literature, language, speech, movement, analysis,
history, aesthetics, imagination, philosophy, politics, ethics, music—or offer as many rewards.
Theater prepares you to handle pressure, take risks,
and rely on teamwork to reach a goal—qualities that will benefit you in the workplace.
Chances to Perform
Major productions each year are chosen for the challenges they will pose to student actors and technicians, the enrichment they will provide audiences, and the enhancement they will offer to coursework across the college's disciplines.
You'll also have the chance to work with guest directors, actors, choreographers, and designers.
Unlike schools with conservatory programs or graduate divisions
in theater, Lafayette holds open
auditions for every production. Crew and production positions, although chosen by theater staff, are open to any student wishing to gain valuable backstage
experience and to learn about the theater as a profession. A recent production of My Fair Lady, for instance, involved more than 80 students from across all academic majors. The roles of Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle were played by engineers.
You also have the chance to perform in productions directed —and sometimes written—by your peers. In recent years,
students have directed, designed, and acted in productions of
The Lesson, Waiting for Godot, Crimes of the Heart, and The Ghost Sonata.
College theater also produces
an annual Fringe Festival during the fall semester open to all students who desire to present plays, poetry,
performance art, music, or dance.
Recent Productions include:
Translations
Marat/Sade
Dracula
Assassins
Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof
Arcadia
The Misanthrope
Macbeth
Sunday in the Park
with George
My Fair Lady
Working
subUrbia
Uncommon Women and Others
A defining character-istic of Lafayette's
theater program is
its unique relationship with visiting artists. Students' opportunities to work closely with these professionals in master classes
and workshops are unparalleled in other theater programs of Lafayette's size.
Nobel Prize winner Derek Wolcott
Pulitzer Prize
winner Tony Kushner
Danny Hoch
Bread and Puppet Theater
Aquila Theater Company
Urban Bush Women
Trisha Brown Dance Company
Ping Chong and Company
Academic and
Special Opportunities
The Department of English offers an array of courses in dramatic
literature and theater practice. These courses, such as Shakespeare, directing, stagecraft, and modern drama, can constitute the core of a student's work in theater or, with faculty advising, be added as electives to individual plans of study.
The principal teaching tool of the theater program is the production season. Theater is a laboratory in which experiments in ideas and techniques occur. The variety of styles—from such classics as Antigone to the outrageously camp Psycho Beach Party—give you the chance to increase your range as a theater artist.
Theater students work closely with established theater and drama professionals. Staff have extensive professional experience and have published numerous articles about theater. The college participates in
the American College Theater Festival, which has cited Lafayette
students and faculty for merit
in directing, scenery, lighting,
costume design, and sound.
Advanced study in design and technical theater in close working relationships with Williams Center staff is available for outstanding
students. The most accomplished students design lighting and
scenery for major productions.
Professional internships are
arranged for interested students. Students have interned recently with Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, New World Theatre, WLVT-TV, and Jean Cocteau Repertory Company in New York.
Opportunities to study theater and drama are enhanced by January interim courses in
New York and London; cross-registration for theater courses at other colleges in the Lehigh Valley; and fully accredited study at the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Institute, Atlantic Repertory Company, Williamstown Theater Festival, and affiliated programs in London.
Facilities
Lafayette College Theater is housed in the Morris R. Williams Center for the Arts, a comprehensive, first-rate facility with a 400-seat main auditorium and a flexible black-box theater for smaller productions.
Support areas include a fully equipped scene shop, dressing rooms, state-of-the-art sound and CAD scene design studios, choral practice rooms, and a sophisticated dimmer-per-circuit memory lighting system in both
performance spaces.
After Graduation
Recent theater students have built upon their Lafayette theater training and become actors, arts administrators, designers, technicians, production managers, television producers, directors, and teachers.
Other theater students have careers in related fields— advertising,
events programming, broadcasting, and television. Still others have
found challenging jobs as engineers, actuaries, and investors; their
theater experience has enriched their lives.
For more information, contact:
Michael O'Neill, Ph.D.
Director of Theater
(610) 330-5326
FAX (610) 330-5642
oneillm@lafayette.edu
For general information:
Office of admissions
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 330-5100
FAX (610) 330-5355
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