Opportunities for Students
Set the Stage for Inspiring Experiences
Here at DU, we combine traditional classroom learning with hands-on experience to provide rich opportunities in the theatrical arts. You will engage in a variety of roles that will help you develop a variety of theatre skills, including building sets, writing your own plays, participating in staged readings and joining workshops hosted by prominent guest artists. There is also an opportunity to mount your own theatre production with the financial support of our faculty and other theatre students.
By the time you graduate, you'll have a wealth of practical and creative experience, setting you up for a rewarding career in the arts and beyond.
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DU Department of Theatre's November 2022 production of "Antigone".
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In 2022 students performed Diana Son's "Stop Kiss".
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Guest director Jessica Robblee brought “Last Train to Nibroc” to DU in 2022.
Theatre Studio Courses
Get hands-on experience through our studio courses by building scenery and making costumes for our productions. Here you'll develop skills that you can take with you into your career and beyond. Theatre majors are required to take five studio courses; theatre minors must take three. Students can replace one studio course with THEA 1600 - Stagecraft.
Tech Studio
Our tech studio course, THEA 1200, gives you the chance to gain expertise in areas like scenic construction, properties crafts, sound engineering, lighting electrics and scene painting. The course is held Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. throughout each academic term.
Costume Studio
In our costume studio, you'll collaborate with faculty and guest designers to build costumes for our productions. You'll learn the basics of costume construction like sewing, tailoring and dyeing while developing an appreciation for costume technology in the performing arts.
Senior Capstone Projects
Each graduating theatre major must complete a Capstone Project their final year, where they direct a ten-minute play with the support of faculty mentors and your fellow students. Seniors are given a $500 budget for all design and tech elements, and $200 for licensing fees. All plays are presented as part of the "Short Play Festival" in spring quarter.
Learn MoreFeatured Courses
THEA 1810
The Process of Theatre: Page to Stage
About this Course
Exploration of the process playwrights, directors, actors, and designers use in creating a theatrical production. Individual sections may focus on single areas only—please see department for current offerings. In this course, students will demonstrate the ability to create or interpret the texts, ideas or artifacts of human culture. They will also identify and analyze the connections between these things and the human experience/perception of the world. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.
THEA 3760
Stage Management
About this Course
Survey, exploration, and application of the component parts of the stage manager’s role, based upon current methods practiced by professional theatre companies in the United States. Stage managers facilitate the creation of a fully-realized work of theatrical art, born of the collaboration of numerous artists, craftspeople and technicians.
THEA 1800
Fundamentals of Theatre Design
About this Course
The work of the theatre designer is to transform a text into visual and aural expression, by planning and creating the physical environment of a live performance. Students will learn about -- and learn appreciation for -- theatre design in order to be better theatre artists (and audience members) themselves, through the applied practice of designing a "paper" production, collaboratively with a small team.
