Speech Communication and Theater Arts

As a fundamental element of the humanizing process inherent in a liberal arts education, the Speech Communication and Theatre Arts major seeks to address the theory and practice of human communication, in its various settings and across diverse cultures, to foster students' abilities to think critically and communicate creatively, and to train students in the written, physical, and technical skills of interpretive performance and rhetorical arts.

Students may pursue an emphasis in either speech communication or theatre arts. Each concentration includes tracks of study designed to provide students with both a solid liberal arts foundation while preparing them for graduate work in all areas of speech communication and theatre including rhetoric, communications studies and theory, journalism, public relations, media studies, acting, acting for television, theatre history, and technical production design in scenery, costuming, sound and lighting.

Program Goals

1. Demonstrate graduate entry level proficiency in one or more technical and/or physical aspects of the theater and speech communication including, but not limited to, acting, directing, design (sets, lighting, costumes, sound, scenic painting, props), and stage management and/or research, organization, and presentation of material as producers and consumers of speech and communication.

2. Integrate creative conception and execution with modern cultural relevancies and/or the historical foundations of theatre and/or speech and rhetoric including major authors, periods, movements, key historical concepts, theories, and applications.

3. Lead in the creation of a theatrical presentation and/or communication projects which demonstrate professional standards, judgments, ethics, discipline, and an appreciation for the production necessities, responsibilities, and collaborative nature of theatre and/or the intrinsic practices and productions of speech communication scholarship.

4. Employ graduate level critical writing and/or listening skills of creative work, theatre history, literature and/or speech and communicative texts and presentations with the creation of logical argument, well-founded ethical research, and/or judicious and insightful criticism.

5. Develop an evocative, creative career-driven purpose and/or professional goals by establishing a relation between one's artistic creativity or managerial skills and/or speech and communication research, expression, and analysis with meaningful interdisciplinary study, societal application and community outreach, ethical awareness, and/or business studies, economics, or scientific inquiry, befitting the breadth of career possibilities within the communication field and the understanding and motivation of a global citizen.