About Us

Department of Theatre Arts & Dance

Acting / Dance / General Theatre/ Technical Theatre

Degrees offered

Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with Concentrations in:

Department Office
Ives Hall 210

Department Chair
Paul Draper

Administrative Coordinator
Shelley Martin

Reception and Information
Uran Rraci
707-664-2235

In the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, we are committed to creating, teaching and learning about theatre that enlightens as well as entertains, that explores the values and ideas of many cultures and eras, and that contributes to the artistic and personal growth of both participants and audience. We work to create a learning environment that is a model for the collaborative work of theatre and life. 

Theatre artists—actors, dancers, directors, playwrights, singers, choreographers, designers, and technicians—engage in various ways of exploring, shaping, and communicating experience. Making theatre helps us discover who we are and what we truly believe about theatre, and also what we want to contribute to our communities and the world. 

In Theatre Arts, majors choose between four programs.  Performance concentrations are offered in three areas. The Acting Concentration offers a conservatory-style approach to prepare the student actor for the professional theatre world.  The Dance Concentration offers contemporary approaches to dance with special attention to the integration of mind, body and spirit. The Technical Theatre track focuses on the development of technical theatre, stage management and design skills. These concentrations provide training for student actors, dancers, and designers through career-track, intensive curriculum. The fourth area of concentration is called General Theatre, which offers a liberal arts curriculum intended for students interested in theatre education, writing for and about theatre, arts management, and other theatre-based careers.

Our Theatre Arts program is closely associated with SSU’s Music Department, especially in the area of voice and music theatre.  The Theatre and Music Departments form the jointly-chaired Departments of Performing Arts, and through its School of Performing Arts offers over 200 student performances of theatre, dance, and music each year.

A customized interdisciplinary program in Music Theatre is also available for interested students. We will add a formal concentration in Music Theatre in the next two years.

A Conservatory Approach

At SSU, we build our concentrations in Acting, Dance and Technical Theatre around an upper division, 4-semester course sequence that we call “The Block.”  The Block features a set of content- and learner-centered approaches to training. 

The Block meets four days each week from 9:30-11:50.  The first hour of each class is dedicated to building physical and vocal foundations.  Here actors, dancers and design/tech students come together to develop body, mind and spirit that prepare students for their discipline-specific work. Foundations is usually taught by Dance faculty.

Now in its 8th year, the Block Program is a cohesive, intensive, conservatory-style approach to training where the most dedicated of theatre students may explore their passion for acting, dance and design/tech in a small-class environment.  Many of our Block graduates have gone on to professional work in their fields, nationally-respected graduate school programs, and teaching careers.

Our Degrees

The Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with a Concentration in Acting offers intensive training in acting, culminating in a 4-semester upper division “Acting Block” that takes a conservatory approach to actor training in physical theatre, Shakespeare and verse, 20th Century and Contemporary theatre, professional guest artist residencies and on-camera  work. Courses in voice, theatre production, theatre history, dramatic literature, directing, technical theatre and special topics and numerous performance opportunities support the acting degree. In Acting, we aim to:

  • Nurture individual artistic process
  • Expand technical skills and artistry
  • Develop performance skills
  • Offer an effective range of physical and vocal training approaches
  • Introduce a broad range of genres and dramatic writers
  • Provide a safe environment to encourage risk-taking
  • Inspire passion for the art and craft of acting and theatre

The Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with a Concentration in Dance offers dance and movement studies with an emphasis on performance, choreography and somatic approaches to dancing, with supporting courses in voice, dance and theatre history, technical theatre and special topics.

In Dance, we aim to:

  • Develop and expand the technical skills and artistry of a dancer
  •  Nurture performance skills with a wide range of aesthetic approaches and processes
  •  Cultivate dance as an art form founded in the intelligence and joy of human movement
  •  Inspire and develop dance artists as creators as well as interpreters of meaningful work for these times

The Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts with a Concentration in Technical Theatre offers intensive work in design, theatre technology, and stage management, with supporting courses in acting and movement, theatre and dance history and special topics.

In Tech/Design, we aim to:

  • Develop collaborative artist/entertainers
  • Develop and expand the craftsmanship and technique of each student
  • Expose students to all facets of the theatrical experience
  • Develop each student’s written, verbal, and visual communication skills

The Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts (general track) takes a liberal arts approach to studies in theatre and provides students with a broad-based theoretical background in the history, theory and practice of theatre. It is for students aiming for careers in education, directing, research, script writing, arts management, film production and other careers that may not have performance or theatre technology at their centers.

The General Degree aims to:

  • Nurture individual artistic process
  • Expand the student’s participation in theatre—as reader, doer, thinker and maker
  • Develop performance skills
  • Introduce a broad range of genres and dramatic writers
  • Provide a safe environment to encourage risk-taking
  • Inspire passion for the art and craft of making theatre

A Minor in Theatre Arts is also available and consists of 24 units of theatre arts courses. Students may choose a minor concentration in acting, dance, technical theatre or drama. Six of the elective units must be upper division. Students contemplating a minor in theatre arts should consult the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance full-time faculty at the earliest possible date for approval and advising.

Enrollment in all our major programs is open to all students, regardless of age or background.  Some courses require auditions that demonstrate students’ ongoing growth in their chosen discipline. 

Scholarship and Performance Opportunities

The Center for the Performing Arts presents an active season of student recitals, plays and music theatre productions, as well as a guest artist series through the generous funding of the Evert B. Person Endowment fund. The departments annually award student scholarships ranging from $500-$2500 through the Person endowment, as well as support of the Performing Arts Departments.  Additional grants are made in the form of private voice instruction and technical theatre scholarships.

Our performance venues include the Evert B. Person Theatre, a 475-seat state-of-the-art proscenium theatre; Warren Auditorium, a 200 seat mixed use hall where our Jazz Ensembles rehearse and performs; the Ives Concert Hall; Studio 76 black box theatre for experimental theatre and acting and directing classes, and a large dance studio performance space. In 2008, Sonoma State inaugurated the $75 million Donald and Maureen Green Music Center, which will feature two glorious performance halls—a 1400 seat symphonic concert hall, and a 350 seat recital hall.  These venues position Sonoma State to become a premiere western destination for the study of the performing arts.

We offer numerous performance opportunities, and actively encourage and support the development of new work by both students and faculty.