Performing Arts - Theatre ArtsCommunicating through performance is one of the fundamental human activities. As small children we learn through play, pretending to be someone or something we are not. We make up elaborate games of make believe in order to make sense of the world.
The art form of Theatre has always been asked to teach and to please. Our students take the natural impulse to pretend and refine that into skills. These skills include practical things like movement, voice, character building, theatrical design and construction, writing and analyzing scripts. But they also include higher level thinking skills like executive function, developing discipline and self-control, and metacognition, an awareness of what one is good at and what skills one needs to improve.
Theatre students must complete a sequence of formal course work that includes University general education, core theatre courses, and focus or specialty courses. Formal course work is complemented by a sequence of experiential learning opportunities in the theatre. Students and faculty develop individualized programs of course work and practical experience, including a junior seminar, annual juries, portfolio preparation, various practica, and opportunities for individual theatre projects.
Study of theatre provides students with useful tools to contribute to and make positive changes in society. Theatre students learn about diverse historical eras, communities and technologies. Theatre challenges students to be creative and to translate that creativity into applied processes to think precisely, speak confidently in public, work productively with others, visualize abstract concepts and represent those concepts concretely. Theatre skills are useful in a variety of professions including, but not limited to, business, government, law, journalism, and public relations.
Dr. Catherine Zublin
Weber State University
1905 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-1905
Browning Center, rm 359