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The Acting Program At...

Northwestern theatre isn’t about competition, yet our program is recognized as one of the best among Christian liberal arts programs. It isn’t about compromise for the sake of Christianity, but a former religion faculty member said, “No major has better results in producing students who are able to think about their faith deeply.”

Theatre at Northwestern isn’t about awards and accolades, but our faculty, staff and students consistently earn them in acting, design and playwriting. Not only that, but Northwestern's theatre program is included in Rugg's Recommendations on the Colleges, a national guidebook that recommends specific college departments to prospective students.

The goal of Northwestern College theatre is to help theatre artists develop their creative gifts for service in God's kingdom. That’s done through a commitment to ensemble work, through an emphasis on process over product, through cultivating servants’ hearts in all roles in the theatre—through Northwestern College’s theatre with a difference.

Opened in 2004, the DeWitt Theatre Arts Center includes two performance areas of equal excellence: the Theora England Willcox Theatre, a proscenium-style theatre that seats 196; and the R. Keith Allen Theatre, a black box theatre that seats up to 250. Both theatres are equipped with high-tech acoustical, lighting and mechanical systems.

The DeWitt Theatre Arts Center also includes a scene shop, costume shop, makeup and dressing rooms, a green room, faculty and staff offices, classrooms, a design studio, a box office, and spacious lobby that is also used for literary readings, live music and studying. The executive director of the Iowa High School Speech Association has said it’s the best theatre facility of any college in Iowa. In 2005 the building won three awards: It was named a "Project of Distinction" in the June issue of College Planning & Management, it earned a silver citation in the August American School & University, and it received the Masonry Institute of Iowa's Award of Merit in September.