Theatre Faculty
Our faculty are active professionals with a wide range of backgrounds, training, and experiences in performance, dramaturgy, design, editing and scholarly publication, theatre and film production, arts administration, and education. They are master teachers who regularly bring their professional experience and connections into the classroom, and invite students to collaborate and observe professional creative projects, thereby enhancing curriculum and providing students with access to the theatre and entertainment industry. Our low faculty-to-student ratio enables students to develop personalized relationships with professors and to create an individualized approach to their curriculum and career planning with mentorship from professionals who know your name.
Performance and Production Opportunities
Beginning in their first semester, all Chapman theatre majors can audition for and perform in any departmental mainstage production, including leading roles. With appropriate coursework students may serve as production stage managers, assistant directors, crew members, dramaturgs, and designers. Students also participate in practicum, which is a series of crew assignments designed to provide students with experience in multiple areas of production.
Production opportunities include:
Department productions: The mainstage season includes four productions as well as student directed one-act plays. Seasons feature a variety of genres, including musicals. In these professional level productions students apply the knowledge and training gained in the classroom in a production context under the direction of industry professionals or full-time faculty.
Student productions: Performance-oriented student organizations on campus produce multiple productions each year and are an exciting opportunity to collaborate with fellow student artists to develop your own creative projects from concept to opening night.
Film and television productions: Theatre majors have the opportunity to participate in film and television projects being produced by students at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. This is an exciting opportunity to network across industries and begin building experience and connections in film media in addition to live entertainment.
Regional productions: Students often gain additional experience in professional theatres and themed entertainment venues across the Southern California region. There is a vibrant theatre scene in Orange County, and Los Angeles is a short drive or train ride away.
We invite you to see a Chapman production for yourself! Visit our event calendar to view information and reserve tickets to upcoming Department of Theatre productions.
Facilities
Chapman theatre majors train and work in various on-campus venues ranging from large, state of the art facilities to intimate experimental venues including:
- Musco Center for the Arts: an 88,000-square-foot venue with state-of-the-art technology to enhance your hands-on theatre education. Musco Center boasts 1,044 seats on three levels and has been named one of the finest performance venues on the west coast.
- Waltmar Theatre: a 244-seat proscenium stage performance venue for students to hone their skills as professional artists.
- Moulton Hall: Adjacent to the Waltmar Theatre is Moulton Hall, an academic building containing the College of Performing Arts Dean’s suite, Department of Theatre administrative office, theatre faculty offices, and performance and academic classrooms.
- Entertainment Technology Center: home to Chapman College of Performing Art's production department, the ETC houses rehearsal and classroom space as well as the costume and scene shops. Theatre majors have opportunities to create production elements for all of the college's dance, opera, and theatre productions.
- O.L. Halsell Foundation Studio Theatre: a black box, flex-space theatre also housed in Moulton Hall that is fully equipped for both classes and performances and can seat up to 50 patrons.
Study Abroad Opportunities
Chapman Theatre majors develop as global citizens by participating in one of many study-abroad opportunities. Theatre related study abroad programs include:
London Theatre Tour: is a very popular faculty-led travel course that runs during the January Interterm. Students journey to London to attend world-class productions in London’s acclaimed West End, tour world-renowned theatres, and participate and engage with local cultural traditions. Students also have the opportunity to pursue independent sight-seeing excursions and activities. Open to all majors.
New York Theatre Tour: is a faculty-led travel course that runs during the summer. Students travel to New York City to attend productions on Broadway and beyond to gain an understanding of the New York theatre scene, meet with industry professionals, and participate in performance workshops and professional development seminars. Open to all majors.
Theatre Academy London: The BFA Theatre Performance cohort studies abroad at the Theatre Academy of London (TAL) as part of their required curriculum during the spring semester of their sophomore year. Students train with leading West End theatre artists, learning advanced performance techniques in an international context.
Internships abroad: Students also pursue international internships in theatres around the globe!
Interested in another faculty-led travel experience, or studying abroad for a semester in the location of your choice? You can do that! The Chapman Center for Global Education offers an extraordinary number of options to study at universities in locations around the globe.