Performance Opportunities

PRODUCTIONS

A theatre student may be cast in a production the first day of classes in the fall semester and could be performing to the very last day in the spring. The performance, design and technical opportunities are extensive: In the fall semester there is a musical, a children's theatre production, laboratory theatre production and an opera. In the spring there is a musical, a children's theatre production, and a play. Each semester, there are also numerous student-directed productions.

ENSEMBLES

In addition to their onstage experiences, theatre and music theatre majors also participate in different ensembles.

• Music theatre majors are placed in one of the vocal ensembles in their freshman year. For the next three years, they may be placed, by audition, in the Music Theatre Ensemble which performs twice on campus and tours in the spring semester. Music theatre majors who are not cast in the Music Theatre Ensemble continue to perform as placed in one of the vocal ensembles.

• Shenandoah Showmakers performs works for children. Each year a new production is rehearsed in the fall semester, then tours to nearby elementary and middle schools in the spring.

SENIOR SHOWCASE

All theatre performance students participate in the senior showcase. This production is a revue comprised of individual songs, monologues, group scenes and musical numbers which is rehearsed and presented in the second semester of the senior year. There is a public performance of the showcase, followed by one or more performances for invited professional casting directors and agents.

SHENANDOAH SUMMER MUSIC THEATRE

Shenandoah University is home to Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre. Since 1984, SSMT has provided the areas only professional music theatre company, with four fully-staged musicals produced during an eight-week season each summer. Shenandoah students are given first opportunity to audition SSMT each spring; the majority of the ensemble company is always comprised of Shenandoah students and alumni, augmented with guest artists.