Theatre Arts BFA

Are you ready to take it to the mainstage? Do you love the thrill of a rising curtain?

Study in the concentration that’s right for you. Our program is designed to give you the skills you need to make a living while making a life in the theatre arts. Explore the concentrations below.

Acting. This concentration is patterned after a world-famous New York studio, offering training for students interested in the performance of serious plays, comedies and musical theatre. Students receive weekly 18-hour doses of actor training, in addition to sessions with our stage-veteran professors. Actors are taught to work in film and television as well as on stage.

Educational Theatre. The educational theatre concentration includes academics, studio training, performance opportunities, and internship placement in the Latham Clinical Schools Network. Students study acting, technical theatre, stage movement, directing, playwriting for youth, voice and articulation, and arts education. Students build their own path through outreach and mainstage productions, Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity award projects, participation in student organizations and professional conferences.

Entertainment Design and Production. When studying entertainment design and production, students work in fully equipped scenery and property shops and studios. Focus areas include scenic design, scenic painting, properties, scenic construction, costume design, costume construction, lighting design and electrics. All the school’s indeed the stage, as design and production students are the key to professional-quality work supporting five mainstage performances in the state-of-the-art McGinnis Theatre, multiple performances in the flexible studio theatre, and two performances in a nearby auditorium in support of elementary arts education.

Musical Theatre. Musical theatre training prepares students for competitive entry into the field of commercial, Broadway-style musical theatre. Enjoy courses in acting, music and dance essential to the stage.

Stage Management. Stage management provides students a concentration in which one learns the skills to work as assistant stage managers and stage managers on fully produced mainstage productions, as well as workshop experiences. The concentration accommodates majors who also wish to pursue a secondary interest in acting, design and production or dance.

Theatre for Young Audiences. In this concentration, students gain comprehensive, intensive training including academics, studio training and performance internships. Students work with ECU Storybook Theatre to stage two mainstage productions annually for ECU’s successful Arts Smart series, and they’ll likely tour these productions to regional theatres. ECU Storybook Theatre also takes repertory literacy-theatre programming into rural schools across eastern North Carolina, motivating students and enhancing media center usage after every visit. Additionally, students in this concentration participate in the Global Classroom Initiative, partnering with other universities to extend their understanding of and exposure to children’s theatre and cultures around the world.

• Department Website
• College Website
• How Do I Apply
• Apply Now