Department of Theatre & Dance

Some Highlights from the 2013-2014 Academic Year in Theatre & Dance

 

In 2013 / 2014 we gave 74 individual performances of 38 different productions to an audience of over 11,000 people, including:

• 2 main stage plays and 3 studio shows
• 1 mainstage musical and 3 mini-musicals
• 5 dance concerts
• 3 children's theatre productions, one of which toured to schools in Southern Kentucky
• 1 staged reading of a new musical
• 1 community service project, produced by our Theatre in Diversion class
• 1 New Works Festival with 12 new pieces devised by WKU students

WKU Theatre and Dance students filled over 700 cast or crew roles throughout the year.

The costume shop created over 394 individual costumes.

WKU Theatre & Dance students hosted over 30 workshops for area school children.

The improv troupe, Happy Gas, offered multiple workshops and shows, including a tour to Louisville and an alumni reunion show.

In the summer of 2014, over 40 students worked in jobs, internships, or apprenticeships, at places such as Twilight Cabaret, McLeod Playhouse, Walt Disney World, Left Brain Digital, Playhouse on the Square, the Stephen Foster Story, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Heritage Theatre Festival, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Shakespeare and Company, Ohio Light Opera, Flat Rock Playhouse, the Adirondack Theatre Festival, Playhouse in the Square, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stages St. Louis, Inaside Chicago Dance Summer Intensive, the Joffrey Jazz Intensive, Hubbard Street Dance, Dance Theatre of Harlem, St. Louis Tap Fest, Giordano Dance, Broadway Dance Center, Six Flags Georgia, and the KY Governor's School for the Arts.

The department studied with multiple guest artists, including Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem School Endalyn Taylor and As We Lie Still composer Patrick Emile.

The WKU Department of Theatre & Dance hosted Super Saturdays in both the fall and the spring where students in grades 1-8 are encouraged to engage their passions outside of regular school hours. As well, the department hosted Take Your Daughters to Work, providing daughters of WKU faculty with activities throughout the day.

Theatre & Dance majors traveled to such places as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Beijing, China and Harlaxton, England to study, research or perform.

Throughout the school year, Theatre & Dance students participated in the American College Dance Festival, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, the Tennessee Association of Dance, the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the WKU Student Research Conference, Midwest Auditions, the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions, the WKU Film Festival, and the National Dance Education Organization.