Theatre and Dance
Design
Explore the Design Program
Design is where creativity meets collaboration.
At 海角社区, design students help shape the visual world of both theatre and dance through scenery, costumes, lighting, sound, projections, and other elements that bring performances to life. Working alongside directors, choreographers, performers, and fellow designers, students learn that every production is the result of a collaborative creative process.
Through hands-on work in departmental productions, students develop practical skills while exploring the artistic, technical, and problem-solving aspects of design. Whether your interests lie in visual storytelling, construction, technology, costume design, or lighting, you'll have opportunities to contribute to productions, collaborate across disciplines, and build a portfolio of creative work.
Why Study Theatre?
Design is an essential part of every production, helping shape the visual storytelling of both theatre and dance. Students develop creative and technical skills while collaborating with performers, choreographers, directors, and faculty to bring artistic visions to life.
Students have opportunities to explore a variety of design disciplines, including scenic, costume, lighting, sound, projection, properties, and other production elements. Experiences vary throughout the year and across theatre and dance productions.
Students apply what they learn by contributing to departmental productions throughout the academic year. Whether designing for a play, a dance concert, or another performance, students gain real-world experience while working as part of a collaborative production team.
In addition to contributing to productions, students may complete independent design projects, exhibitions, research, and senior thesis work. These experiences encourage artistic exploration while helping students build a professional portfolio.
Guest artists, designers, and other performing arts professionals regularly bring new perspectives to campus through workshops, lectures, master classes, and collaborative projects, exposing students to a variety of creative approaches and career pathways.
Small class sizes and collaborative production work allow students to receive individualized mentorship throughout the design process. Faculty encourage experimentation, critical thinking, and the development of each student's unique artistic voice.
Students develop skills in creative problem-solving, visual communication, collaboration, and project management that prepare them for careers in the performing arts and other creative industries. Graduates pursue a wide range of paths while drawing on the artistic and technical experience gained through design.
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Theatre Courses
Stagecraft Practicum
A basic technical theatre adjunct course connected to a main stage production. Covers the vocabulary, theory, skills and application within the technical areas of sets, stage management, and production crew. Emphasizes the collaborative nature of technical theatre in production.
Stagecraft Practicum ll
This course is designed to act as a lab component of TH101. Students are required to crew the Theatre and Dance main stage production. Builds on the information and skills acquired during TH101
Fundamentals of Performance Design
Emphasizes the collaborative nature of 3-dimensional live performance design, its vocabulary, theory and application with a focus on aesthetic integration. Combines artistic practice with critical inquiry to engage simultaneously in creative development and analysis. Class projects introduce students to research, visual analysis, sketching, model making, and presentation skills. Historical and current performance design trends. No prior experience in theatrical productions expected
Costume Design
Costume Design for live performance, including theatre, opera, dance, and performance art. Explores color and line theory, script analysis, textiles and textile modification, rendering for costumes, construction and patterning techniques and other costume related skills.
Lighting Design
History, theory, and practice of lighting design for the stage. Script analysis, drafting, plotting, and color theory. Laboratory required: participation in one stage production.
Intermediate Performance Design
Intermediate work in performance design with an emphasis on the emergence of new approaches and innovations in scenic and performance design. Integrates traditional visual languages of the stage with the digital arts. Explores spatial designs for dance, performance installations and the theatrical stage. Includes model making, drawing, drafting and digital/video design programs.
Special Topics in Design
Courses offered by design faculty and guests on specialized topic areas in performance design.
Advanced Lighting Design
History, theory, and practice of lighting design for the stage. Script analysis, drafting, plotting, and color theory. Laboratory required: participation in one stage production.
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