Theatre performance Theatre performance Theatre performance

Theatre

B.A.

Develop your artistic and intellectual potential to create theatre through acting, design, directing, and playwriting.

Prepare for a career as a theatre-maker and for multiple roles across the creative industries.

Mark Evans Bryan '96 Mark Evans Bryan ’96 , Associate Professor, Chair of Theatre, Chair of Dance
Kristine Mathews Kristine Mathews , Program Coordinator, Music, Theatre, Dance
Cristina Dorda Soriano Cristina Dorda Soriano , Academic Administrative Assistant, Music, Theatre, Dance

Theatre

Get in touch View all contacts

Location: Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts - 147
Phone: 740-587-6712
Related Sections:
Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts
Music Theatre

Upcoming Events

Jan.
30
2026
Photo from 'John Cage 101'

'John Cage 101'

Professor Eleni Papaleonardos is the Artistic Director for the Available Light Theatre, which presents a remount of "John Cage 101."

7:00pm
Jan.
31
2026
Photo from 'John Cage 101'

'John Cage 101'

Professor Eleni Papaleonardos is the Artistic Director for the Available Light Theatre, which presents a remount of "John Cage 101."

7:00pm
Feb.
01
2026
Photo from 'John Cage 101'

'John Cage 101'

Professor Eleni Papaleonardos is the Artistic Director for the Available Light Theatre, which presents a remount of "John Cage 101."

3:00pm
Mar.
05
2026

'Macbeth'

The Department of Theatre presents "Macbeth."

7:00pm
Mar.
06
2026

'Macbeth'

The Department of Theatre presents "Macbeth."

7:00pm
Mar.
07
2026

'Macbeth'

The Department of Theatre presents "Macbeth."

7:00pm
Mar.
08
2026

'Macbeth'

The Department of Theatre presents "Macbeth."

2:00pm

What you’ll study as a Theatre major

Learn how to analyze, interpret, write, and create. By participating in lively discussions and hands-on workshops, you’ll learn how to bring your theatre vision to life.

Build your core

Learn about theatre performance, design, and history. Explore fresh and exciting ways to interpret the material as you collaborate with faculty and peers.

Explore through electives

As a theatre major, you can perform — and do so much more. Learn costume, set, and lighting design; explore interpreting and writing plays; and try your hand at stage management.

Follow your passion

Choose a more traditional emphasis, such as acting, playwriting, music theater, or costume design, or study how theatre intersects with social change or gender and performance.

Why is Theatre better at Denison?

Unparalleled mainstage opportunities

Six productions a year create a laboratory where you gain repeated, real-world experience in acting, directing, design, stage management, production, and technical theatre. Few collegiate programs offer this many opportunities to learn by doing.

A group of student actors holding scripts rehearsing on stage.
Three actors in gray cloaks clustered together on a stage awash in blue light during a performance of Eurydice.

Reynolds Playwright-in-residence program

Learn from noted playwrights and devisors who regularly join Denison’s faculty and prepare new work for production. Learn more.

World-class Teaching and Learning

Practice, perform, and create alongside theatre professionals — Denison faculty, industry professionals, and visiting artists — who offer mentorship and expertise to help you develop your craft through real-world productions in the Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts.

Actor Steve Carell '84 stands on the stage in Swasey Chapel with students and alums performing with the Burpees.
A woman leads a class of actors in a theatrical rehearsal space.

Student-led theatre and improv

On top of mainstage productions, you can be part of student-led theatre groups, like Burpee’s Seedy Theatrical Company, the nation’s oldest college improv group. Burpee’s alums include actor Steve Carell ’84 and many others now working in the entertainment industry. Learn more.

Eisner Center for the Performing Arts

As the home of the performing arts at Denison, The Eisner Center features state-of-the-art stages and rehearsal spaces, numerous classrooms and offices, as well as many open spaces especially configured to encourage interdisciplinary activity. The Eisner Center’s professional staff mentor theatre students by teaching the creative, technical, and organizational skills behind live performance. Working with mentors in a fully equipped scene shop for both wood and metal fabrication, an extensive costume shop, and with state-of-the-art lighting and audio equipment, students gain practical experience, artistic confidence, and the collaborative skills needed to succeed in theatre production.

Learn More
Three students performing on a stage in the Eisner Center.

Jobs as a Theatre major

Theatre majors find their talents are in demand in the arts, and their skills transfer to many other fields. Our theatre graduates are working as actors, talent agents, writers, directors of theatres, lawyers, teachers, professors, healthcare professionals, computer scientists, and more. See where our grads have landed.

Career communities

Theatre majors often join one or more of our career communities. Discover potential jobs and career paths in one of our career communities, like our Visual, Written, & Performing Arts career community.

Career Exploration

Through the Knowlton Center for Career Exploration and its training center, Denison Edge, career coaches help you prepare for the next step after college, and industry experts help you acquire specialized skills and certifications.

Arden Theatre Co. logo
Cincinnati Museum Center logo
Studio Theatre Workshop

Beyond the Classroom

Internships

Explore career paths through an internship (or two!). Denison theatre students have interned with many different companies and businesses, including the Old Town School of Folk Music, Lighthouse Behavioral Health Solutions, Riots Behind Curtains, and Americorps.

Learn More

Study Abroad

Study theatre in your chosen region to enhance your language skills and build your career network. Conduct research on a traditional semester abroad or take a summer internship in another country.

Learn More

Summer Scholars

Delve into independent research through our Summer Scholar program. All Summer Scholars receive a stipend and a housing allowance plus supplemental funds for research expenses. Off-Campus Summer Scholars also receive travel funding.

Learn More

More opportunities to perform

Take part in a Music Theatre production or become a member of the student-run Denison Independent Theatre Association. Some Denison students also perform in Columbus productions.

Learn More

Spotlights

The famous white linen suit Hal Holbrook wore in his one-man Mark Twain show is the centerpiece of a collection of memorabilia the Holbrook estate gifted the university in 2022.
Denison Magazine

It suits him

“When (Hal Holbrook was) getting ready to do the Mark Twain show, Hal told my dad, ‘I need a white suit.’”
Hal Holbrook meeting a student
Denison Magazine

Farewell to Hal

Our distinguished alumnus died in January 2021. In 2012, he visited the campus where he met his life's mentor and came to know himself as a learner.
Theatre alumni
Denison Magazine

Ubiquitous Players

Theatre alumni find community and support during the pandemic.
Nick Bailey, Evan Hill and Marc Sloboda

Temporary Humans

Three Denisonians team up to create an animated series that’s been picked up by Will Arnett.
Denison students on the stage of 'BoJack Horseman'
How We Learn

Bringing BoJack to life

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to adapt award-winning animated series BoJack Horseman to the stage poses some creative challenges.
Sarah Wilson '20
Where We Go

Summer With Shakespeare

Learning Shakespeare in the land of the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon gave Sarah Wilson ’20 a frame a reference that adds meaning to majors.

What's Happening

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