Theatre and Dance Academic Programs

Academic Programs

Advising  |  Theatre | Dance | Musical Theatre | Graduate Program

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The mission of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Missouri State University is to educate and provide professional training to students in the fields of theatre and dance.

The department provides both a broad theoretical, historical, and cultural framework for the study of theatre and dance and specialized training that prepares our undergraduate and graduate students to attain additional advanced academic degrees, to teach theatre at the secondary level, or to pursue a variety of professional careers in theatre and dance.

Understanding that our students learn to think critically and reason most clearly when they put theory into practice through repeated performance, the department stages a rotating schedule of plays and dance concerts each year that enrich not only the educational experience of our majors, but the life of the University and the greater Springfield community. In addition to these performance opportunities, the department sponsors Tent Theatre, a professional summer stock theatre originally established in 1963, and supports four student performance troupes which serve area schools and civic organizations through regular performances.

In all of these ways, the department endeavors to develop educated persons who possess a broad range of viewpoints, who strive for excellence, who have achieved expressive and intellectual competence, who appreciate and practice collaboration, who embrace service to the broader community, who are life-long learners dedicated to exploring the role of theatre and dance in an ever-changing world, and who will be professionally competitive as they pursue meaningful careers in theatre and dance.

The department is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Theatre.



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