The South Carolina School of the Arts offers five courses of study in theatre: A BFA in Musical Theatre, A BFA in Acting and a BA in Theatre with three different concentrations in Technical Theatre, Directing and Dance. In our Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre program, students study voice, piano and music theory, but also have opportunities to study musical theatre history, musical theatre repertoire, musical theatre song and scene study and acting and audition classes.
The BFA in Acting offers specialized training classes including Voice and Movement, Scene-Study, Stage Combat, Dialects for the Stage, Shakespeare in Performance and Actor's Lab. The BA degrees offer specialized classes in each area of concentration including classes such as: Stage Management, Costume Construction, Scenic Painting, Directing I & II, Tap, Jazz, Modern and Ballet among others.
In the School of the Arts theatre curriculum, which offers multiple acting and audition courses, you'll learn to perform in an array of genres and study plays from across the theatrical cannon. Our concentrated performance schedule includes four main-stage productions each year (one of which is Broadway-style musical), First Night, President's Gala and the Student Studio Series (which is entirely student-produced and directed).
Our productions, known as the AU Playhouse, dovetail with the theatre curriculum and give practical experience in performance, stage-management and technical theatre. The department's involvement with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and the Southeastern Theatre Conference enable students to practice skills beyond the university and AU Playhouse.
Join us, and in addition to receiving the expertise of our theatre faculty, you'll become part of a rare community of Christian theatre artists who seek to honor God with their talents and strive to pursue His light over the limelight. Along with a strong sense of Christian purpose, our graduates can expect to be competitive in acting, technical theatre, dance-and in the case of our musical theatre program-singing.
AU theatre graduates have landed acting jobs in touring shows such as the National Players & Missoula Children's Theatre; Summer Theatres such as Maine State Theatre, Bigfork Summer Playhouse and the Lost Colony; Disney & other Theme Park Shows, New York, Florida and Atlanta productions, cruise ships, and films. Others work as stage managers, production assistants, theatre interns, educators and ministers. Recent theatre graduates have also received or are pursuing MFAs in acting or directing.
For more information about theatre at the South Carolina School of the Arts contact us at SCSchoolOfTheArts@andersonuniversity.edu or (800) 542-3594.