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Home » Academics » Majors and Minors

Theatre / Dance

Get involved! Act in musicals and plays, perform in or choreograph for the annual Dance Production, design lighting, build sets, write and direct a one-act show. 

Overview
Productions
After PrincipiaFaculty

DanceThe performing arts play a vital role in a liberal arts education, our campus community, and society as a force that can educate, challenge, inspire, uplift, and heal both the audience and artist. Realizing this potential requires skills in the art form, personal discipline, and humility—values we'll help you expand and deepen. Through our practical, rigorous, and thoughtful training, you’ll develop artistic, professional, and life skills to share with the world. You’ll also have multiple opportunities to collaborate in meaningful ways with fellow students, faculty, and professional visiting artists. 

Major and Minors Offered

  • Theatre (BA major, minor)
  • Dance (minor)

Why Study Theatre and Dance at Principia College?

  • We approach the performing arts with inspiration and openness and the conviction that the arts can lead to better communication, a fuller sense of identity and self-worth, and a growing empathy for others.
  • We have experienced and dynamic faculty with diverse professional backgrounds and a commitment to serving the Cause of Christian Science through the training of theatre and dance artists who can bless the world.
  • Our partnership with Bankside Repertory Theatre Company offers students the opportunity to gain Actors' Equity points towards acting and professional stage manager Equity status.
  • Our students put theory into practice in the classroom, scene shop, and theatre and dance productions.
  • Our students participate in regional festivals, often receiving excellent recognition from judges.
  • We provide many opportunities to perform, direct, choreograph, and work on all aspects of technical production.
  • Our students design, build, and work on all aspects of technical production using professional-level equipment not usually available to undergrads. This hands-on experience is critical for graduates who want to break into the industry.
  • Our faculty encourage students to help create new works in theatre and dance.
  • We facilitate workshops with world-renowned artists—dancers, choreographers, and theatre professionals.
  • We facilitate and support early career internships and training with professional companies.
  • Our students often travel to Los Angeles during spring break to meet with film producer and Principia alum David Lovegren and other entertainment industry professionals.
  • Our students give back by participating in community outreach.
  • We prepare students to continue their education in some of the top graduate schools in the U.S. and abroad.
  • Our students develop transferable skills such as problem solving, leadership, communication, collaboration, and critical and creative thinking.

Past Performances

  • Theatre Productions
  • Dance Productions

Abroads

Principia abroad programs are open to all majors, and students are encouraged to apply for any abroad program that interests them. All abroads involve individual research that students can tailor to their interests. Of special interest to our students are The Scotland/England Abroad, which focuses on Shakespeare, arts, and theatre; and the Ireland Abroad, with emphases on Irish theatre and devised work.    

Note: See the College Catalog for more detailed information about our program and departmental learning outcomes.

Past Theatre Productions

Past Dance Productions

Our graduates often pursue performance careers in theatre, film, and television, and they continue their studies at some of the top universities in the U.S. and abroad.

Recent graduates are acting in several major cities—New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, Portland, and Orlando—and performing on Princess Cruises and with a national children’s theatre company. Our alumni also work as directors, agents, casting directors, musicians, and improv artists.

In addition, some graduates bring the skills developed through theatre and dance training to their work in other fields, such as business, sales, management, marketing, real estate, and education.

From Our Alumni

“My Principia dance experience has impacted me immensely this past year .... The individualized coaching from each dance professor, the encouragement from my fellow dance peers and professors, and the amazing opportunities that the dance program continued to offer students directly impacted my dancing abilities -- enough to be accepted as a Big Muddy Dance Company trainee. Since the end of that season, I have continued to live my life with the same principles that were taught in the dance program. Principles that are directly applied to my dancing, my spiritual growth, and my confidence levels in relation to my creativity. I love the relationships that were built from being a part of Principia dance, and it comforts me to know that I can always count on those amazing professors and friends for the rest of my life.”

–A graduate with a dance minor

“Many casting and artistic directors have commented on the quality of my training and the exceptional opportunities I experienced as a student at Principia. Even though it’s not a big-city, big-name program, the classes, instruction, and off-campus opportunities are just as powerful for the artist.” 

–A theatre graduate

“I wouldn’t be a professional actor, singer, and audiobook narrator if it weren’t for Principia’s Theatre and Dance Department. Not many college theatre programs would have accepted a completely inexperienced and untrained freshman without a single credit on her resume. Yet not only was I embraced in the department, but I was given strong acting training, wonderful dance and choreography opportunities, and the support and wisdom of professors who remain good friends today.”

–A theatre graduate

Chrissy Calkins Steele
Associate Professor of Theatre
Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department
618.374.5411
Faculty Profile
Tom Halsey
Technical Director of Theatre and Dance
618.374.5248
Faculty Profile
Erin Lane
Assistant Professor of Dance
618.374.5010
Faculty Profile
Leah McFall
Associate Professor of Theatre, Theatrical Designer
618.374.5412
Faculty Profile
Trish Brown Schmit
Professor of Theatre
618.374.5420
Faculty Profile
Dr. Jeffrey C. Steele
Professor in multidisciplinary studies
618.374.5414
Faculty Profile
Overview | Productions | After Principia | Faculty

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