Theatre Program

We give you the freedom to discover and choose your own path. We want you to explore your interests and hone your skills inside and outside of the classroom. When Maddie Mondeaux '15 decided to adapt Samuel Richardson's Pamela for the stage, she was able to pursue an honors project to write and direct her own version of the 18th century novel. We celebrate your independence, but we're always nearby to offer guidance and support. We value practical experience. In our black box space, Studio Theatre, several plays each term are directed, designed, and brought to life by students. One example is Dakota Stipp '17, who not only designed soundscapes and created original effects for mainstage productions, but also composed the score for a student directed full-length production—and then went to Yale University School of Drama for an MFA in Sound Design. We don't make you wait. Get involved right away. You'll have plenty of shows to choose from with one faculty directed mainstage, two student directed/designed productions, New Plays Workshop stage readings, and a few Bare-Stage plays every term. You won't find many places with the number of opportunities every year that our students have to do hands-on work in theatre, where they're the ones making the creative decisions. And we have no graduate students getting all the good roles and design opportunities (or teaching your classes). At Knox you and your work are our only focus. We work hard. We're the only undergraduate program in the country to offer Repertory Theatre Term, an intensive immersion experience during which a company of students devote all three credits of winter term to studying and creating theatre by collaborating with faculty to produce two full-length plays performed in repertory. Rep Term students find that the resume credit and experience help them to successfully obtain professional internships. Joel Willison '21 recently was a technician at the NY Film and Stage Festival where he rapidly rose in the ranks due to abilities he developed in Rep Term. We develop new plays. Student playwrights workshop their scripts once a term through New Plays Workshop. Additionally, every three years, the New Plays Festival presents staged readings and workshops of new plays by the Knox community. In Studio Theatre, several student-written one acts and full-length plays are produced each year, and Harbach Theatre is home to several world premieres including Mosque Alert by Jamil Khoury, Artistic Director at Silk Road Theatre, Chicago. We think beyond the stage. Through the liberal arts study of theatre, our students cultivate valuable skills such as communication, aesthetic understanding, intuitive and analytical thinking, and creative problem solving. We use theatre as a way to investigate the world and our place in it. For example, Alyssa Gill '14 used physical theatre to examine the nature of evil in her honors project, "Performing Evil: A Look at Meaning and Creation through Devising the Original Play The Devil is Bored."