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The Department of Theatre Arts offers the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Theatre Arts. The undergraduate major rests on the belief that the best way to develop future artists is to expose them to rigorous professional practice within the framework of a liberal arts education. Students seeking this degree should expect to satisfy the General Education Requirements of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and to take advantage of the opportunity for broadening their experience through elective courses in other disciplines. Workshop courses in acting, directing, design, and playwriting are complemented by classes in dramatic literature, history, and criticism. In our courses and in our methods of teaching, we emphasize the relationship of sound scholarship and a broad understanding of the human experience to high standards of theatrical performance.

The department is also interested in educating students who plan to enter other fields in which understanding the arts and experience with theatre skills are useful. These include teaching, business and administration, law, and many other professions. The BA degree engages students with the liberal arts and prepares them to think, write, present themselves, and be interested in the wide spectrum of human experience.

There are many opportunities for non-theatre majors to participate in the activities of the Department of Theatre Arts. These include classes in acting, playwriting, design, dramatic literature, and theatre history. Non majors are also invited to audition for all department productions and to work backstage.

Q: "I like theatre but I don't know if I want to do it professionally. I don't know how talented I am, or if I would like the life, or what it would be like. Should I major in theatre arts?"

A: You should certainly consider it. At Iowa, theatre arts studies prepare you to enter the world as an intelligent, curious, creative human being. Here, the theatre arts major is not a pre-professional program. Instead, like most humanities majors, it is meant to teach you about yourself and your world. Together with your General Education Requirements, it prepares you to enter dozens of professions. So don't worry about coming out of college prepared only for the theatre.

Q: What professions might I enter with a theatre arts major?

A: The theatre itself, of course, is one. Many of our graduates go on to careers in acting, directing, writing, designing, and producing. Others go into film, television, or other arts. Still others become teachers, sometimes using their theatre arts training in conjunction with their work in literature, history, music, or other disciplines. Theatre is a rich, vigorous, interdisciplinary, liberal arts major that can prepare you to excel in a wide range of other fields as well, especially those that place a premium on innovation, collaboration, and communication. These include law, medicine, business, and journalism. The skills you learn in the theatre are useful wherever you go, for they give you confidence in yourself and help you develop your own personal vision of the world.

Q: I also want the best possible theatre training. Can I get it at Iowa?

A: Yes. Iowa is very unusual. It offers a broad-based, liberal arts education but also has the faculty and resources to give you the kind of in-depth training one usually finds only in conservatory programs. We are dedicated to the education of the whole person, but also offer the opportunity to develop your particular talent.