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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Theater degree in works at QU

Quinnipiac students may soon have the opportunity to showcase their acting skills and talents while earning a bachelor’s degree in theater.

The new proposal to create a theater major is in the process of being approved. If it passes, students may be eligible to enroll in the major as early as fall 2007.

The chairs and faculty of the College of Liberal Arts have already approved the major. They are waiting for approval by the Academic Policies Committee of the University Senate. If the committee approves the bachelor’s degree in theater, it will advance to the State of Connecticut for approval.

Those interested in majoring in theater will have to fulfill core curriculum requirements and electives similar to current requirements in place in the College of Liberal Arts. Students will choose one concentration to focus on in their theater studies: theater education, theater and community, theater administration/theater production, or generalist focus.

Proposed courses include acting, playwriting, scenic and lighting design, voice and movement, theater history, directing and musical theater.

While Quinnipiac does not currently have an official theater major, there are some students who are completing independent majors. Many of these students have shown interest in an official theater major and have said that they will switch to the major if it is approved while they are still at Quinnipiac.

“I am thrilled about the possibility of a new theater major,” said Kelly Shamburg, who is currently an independent theater major. “It will definitely help to enhance my college experience being in classes with people who have the same interests and major as me.”

There are currently between 40 and 50 theater minors at Quinnipiac, who perform in regular productions at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, participate in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and take a variety of offered theater classes.

Dr. Crystal Brian, a professor of theater as well as the Director of Quinnipiac Theater for the Community, hopes to eventually have 40 to 50 majors in the theater program.

“I think what is distinctive about this new major, and the reason that it is a good fit for Quinnipiac, is the fact that it allows students to explore theater as a means of making community,” Brian said. “The ideals of service and community will be central to the Quinnipiac University B.A. in Theater

program.”

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