The Theatre Program delivers rigorous training in the performing arts within the liberal arts setting of Seaver College. With high production values onstage and frequent master classes taught by professional guest artists, our students experience firsthand the excitement of becoming theatre professionals.
Our theatre arts majors become intellectually and artistically prepared for careers in acting, directing, screen arts, musical theatre, and production design by teaching students the professional skills needed for real-world application. Our students help enrich the cultural environment at Seaver College by participating in University productions in our state-of-the-art facilities.
Our core curriculum is guided by the reasoning that, before theatre students are actors, designers, directors, singers, or dancers, they are theatre artists who will benefit from developing their appreciation and understanding of the art form. Through core classes in design, dramaturgy, stagecraft, history, and art as social justice, our theatre students learn about fundamental principles that will become a bedrock of understanding whether they intend to stay in theatre or to navigate to other fields within the entertainment arts such as film or television. At Pepperdine, we believe that a strong theatre core builds grit within our theatre students and prepares them to become well-rounded, resilient theatre makers once they graduate from our program.
Musical theatre majors take classes within both the theatre and the music programs. The major is structured so that musical theatre majors are working on at least two of the three essential skills (acting, singing, dancing) during every semester during their time at Pepperdine. Our majors have the unique opportunity to work with singing faculty who have professional backgrounds in classical singing training. Because of this special partnership with our classical singing faculty, our musical theatre students are given a foundation in proper singing technique grounded in vocal health and career longevity. Musical theatre students audition for our annual musical, but they can also audition for our non-musical mainstage plays and our annual opera. Students are expected to take private singing lessons for at least four semesters, but there is no limit to enrollment in private singing lessons and they may be taken over the entire four years.
