The Wesleyan Theater Department is invested in graduating students who identify as "theater makers" able to think holistically about, and work dynamically with, the range of elements and relationships defining a performance event. By teaching the fundamental tools of theater and emphasizing collaborative, exploratory work, we give our students the ability to navigate and change the real world without hesitation and with confidence. Our graduates are self-empowered, well-informed, creative story-tellers engaged in their communities.
We believe that theater can be created from multiple points of entry, such as utilizing scripted plays and texts; movement and physical composition; objects and visual elements; sound and music. Therefore, we invite and welcome all students; particularly those with a strong passion to express themselves while also being willing to fail, fall, laugh and grow. As modeled by the faculty, students learn pathways to change themselves and others.
The theater department faculty believes in the power of performance as a transformational discipline. It is an embodied process that, through technique, methodology, study and commitment, has a unique capability to ask hard questions about who we are as a society, and serve as a rehearsal space for alternate futures.