Theatre is a collaborative art form. To perform is to step into the shoes of a character, to let go of inhibitions, and to dwell in a cooperative space.
Majoring in theatre at Sewanee will give you a strong foundation in all areas of study: acting, directing, design, history, and theory. You’ll expand your knowledge and experience by actively participating in full-production programs. You’ll also be encouraged to supplement your learning with complementary courses in other departments like English and psychology.
Competence on stage and behind the scenes and collaboration with your cast and crew exhibit more than just an understanding of theatre—they demonstrate the mastery of skills needed to live well in community with others. Here at Sewanee, theatre can help you be successful in life both on and off the stage.
Sewanee graduates secure positions in a variety of fields. Some you would expect, others, are a bit of a surprise. Sewanee prepares you for your profession and your passion. Below is a sampling of recent graduates' first jobs.
Students with exceptional promise in performing or studio arts can apply for a Fellowship in the Arts. These fellowships range in value and are renewable for four years.
Sewanee theater students and Grundy County inmates explore the realities of incarceration in a civic-engaged class project that helps transcend barriers and foster connections between classroom and cell block.
"I begin." Sewanee Theatre Professor Jennifer Matthews rises augustly from her seat in the Frank Herbert Study in Gailor Hall and walks to the bookshelf. She selects a book, flips through the pages, shrugs her shoulders, and places it back on the shelf. “I end."
This brief performance is a bare-bones demonstration of “moment work,” a technique described in a book by that name by Moisés Kaufmann and Barbara Pitts McAdams. This semester, Matthews has been teaching the concept to a class with two distinct populations: Sewanee students enrolled in Theatre 261: Community Engaged Theatre and a group of incarcerated individuals, eager to tell their stories, who are residents of the Grundy County Detention Center, a facility directly across the street from the Grundy County Courthouse in Altamont.
A landmark staging of A Streetcar Named Desire—in Sewanee’s Tennessee Williams Center—honors the literary legacy of one of America’s greatest playwrights.
This winter--- the last week of February and first days of March—Tennessee Williams, one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, returned to a place he had never been: Sewanee.
The occasion for Williams’ arrival on the Mountain was the staging of one his most acclaimed plays, A Streetcar Named Desire. But the performances were more than just the presentation of a play. They were an impressive collaboration of literary scholars, their professors, and an outstanding production team who brought to life the French Quarter and the family crucible in which Blanche, her sister Stella, brother-in-law Stanley, and love interest Mitch enacted what Williams himself once called the “war between romanticism and hostility.”
An examination of the collaborative contributions costumes, scenery, lighting, and property technicians make to the art of theatre. An introduction to the materials, technologies, equipment, structures, and best practices used in contemporary theatre production.
Intensive rehearsal of selected monologues and scenes. Exercises in this course help students develop vocal and physical expressiveness and skill in speaking heightened language.
An opportunity for advanced students to explore drafting, drawing, rendering, and modeling software used for scenery, lighting, and costume design. Designers work together on various advanced projects and have the opportunity to experiment in each area of design using the related software.
Jim Crawford teaches acting classes in contemporary and classical acting, as well as Queer America on Stage and Screen. At Sewanee he has directed productions of Hamlet, Cabaret, Our Country's Good, The Crucible, Good Kids, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and upcoming Urinetown: The Musical. A graduate of Brown University, James received his MFA at UC San Diego. An award-winning actor who's worked at theatres across the country, James is the co-director of the Sewanee-in-England program.
Sarah Lacy Hamilton (she/her) is a director specializing in actor-driven productions of new and contemporary plays that foreground the human condition and highlight the experiences of underrepresented communities. Past directing credits include In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl, Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel, Sweat by Lynn Nottage, and HIR by Taylor Mac. Hamilton has also directed a variety of new plays by members of the prestigious Iowa Playwrights Workshop, including C. Meaker’s Nothing But Days, Eric Marlin’s Blackberry: A Burial, and S.P. O’Brien’s PALANQUIN. Hamilton has trained in intimacy choreography and consent-based practices with Intimacy Directors International and Theatrical Intimacy Education. Prior to joining the faculty at Sewanee, Hamilton served as a Visiting Guest Faculty member at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities and an Adjunct Faculty member at Pellissippi State Community College. MFA, University of Iowa. BFA, Southern Methodist University. Associate Member, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Jennifer Matthews' specialty is costume design and technology, and she teaches a full range of courses in those areas as well as make-up design and application. Matthews has studied wig making in New York with Bob Kelly and scenography with Tony Award-winning designer Desmond Heeley.
Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s plays include Gee's Bend, Fresh Kills, Provenance, The Flagmaker of Market Street, The Furniture of Home, White Lightning and Everything That’s Beautiful. Her plays have been produced at the Royal Court (London) and throughout the United States. She was the recipient of the Osborn Award given by the American Theatre Critics Association. Elyzabeth is a graduate of the dramatic writing program at New York University, where she was a Tisch Dramatic Writing Fellow.
Jordan Vera(he/him) is a freelance Lighting and Projection designer that works in Contemporary Theatre and Dance productions across the South East. He teaches Lighting Design, Projection Design, Sound Design, Set Design, and Stage Management classes. Past credits include Fun Home (River & Rail Theatre), I and You (Flying Anvil Theatre), Detroit 67 (Clarence Brown Theatre), Lifespan of a Fact (North Carolina Stage Company), and Marvelous Wonderette (Oak ridge playhouse). MFA, University of Tennessee Knoxville, BFA, Florida International University. He'll be doing the scenic and lighting design for Sewanee's upcoming production of She Kills Monsters.
Courtney directs the dance program at the University of the South. In her professional performing career, she danced for eight years simultaneously with Bill Evans Dance Company/Bill Evans Rhythm Tap Ensemble, and BIODANCE. She currently performs tap and modern dance with companies and independent artists on a project basis. As a choreographer, her work has been performed nationally at theaters, festivals, and universities. She has taught dance in higher education at The College at Brockport, The University of Rochester, Nazareth College, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Since arriving at Sewanee, Courtney has developed the dance minor curriculum and was named the 2015-2017 recipient of the James D. Kennedy III Endowed Faculty Fellowship.
Tennessee Williams Center 111, Ext. 1303
Theatre major, dance minor, second-year MFA student in playwriting at Southern Illinois University and winner of the Christian H. Moe Playwriting Award for Best Short Play
When it comes to playwriting, my mind is like a locomotive going off the tracks. I'm constantly coming up with new ideas or writing down lines in the Notes app on my phone. I'll be at the grocery store picking up a package of ground beef and suddenly be like, "I know how to end this scene!"; One lesson from Professor Elyzabeth Wilder's advanced playwriting class at Sewanee has always stayed with me-when you're writing a play or you're coming up with a concept for a play, you have to ask, "Why tell this story now?" It makes sure your play has a point of view.
Hearing actors read one of my plays is both nerve-wracking and my favorite part. If there's a typo anywhere in there, they'll find it. But the really scary part is that you never know if what is in your mind is translating to the page. I've never thought of myself as a comedic writer, so it's surprising and rewarding whenever I write a joke on the page, an actor reads it, and the people in the room actually laugh. I also love it when I have a talkback after a performance or workshop and someone says, "I noticed you did this deeply symbolic thing or made this historical reference." And I'll just sit back and say, "I had no idea. That was not on purpose, but yes, absolutely. You saw something in it, so I'm going to claim it. Thank you so much."
As artists, we always bring a part of ourselves to the work. I am interested in telling authentic Black and queer stories-I'm a gay Black man, so those stories are very important to me. I would often look at so many plays and movies and find myself complaining, "Where are the characters who look like me?" And I thought, "Well, if you don't like what you're seeing, then go write what you do want to see." People of color and members of marginalized communities are so multifaceted, and there's so much room for creativity and so many untapped narrative possibilities. I want to take what I've learned and write those stories for my community.
Come see a studio production of Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder's new play Zelda in the Backyard
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 at 7:00PM
Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 at 7:00PM
Tennessee Williams Center Studio Theatre
Reserve your tickets
There will be a reading of The Untitled Measure for Measure Project
a new play-in-progress by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder
Saturday, Sept. 22 at 3:00PM
Tennessee Williams Center Studio Theatre
No reservations required
Tilda Swinton Betrayed Us by A. Rey Pamatmat and directed by Olivia Millwood, C'24 will be performed in Angel Park in downtown Sewanee.
April 16th-20th at 7:30PM
Runtime: Approximately 35 minutes
Reserve your FREE tickets.
A landmark staging of A Streetcar Named Desire-in Sewanee's Tennessee Williams Center-honors the literary legacy of one of America's greatest playwrights.
A staged reading of the new play The Search for Arthur Vaughan by Jack Larish C'24, Sewanee's first Creative Writing major with an emphasis in Playwriting. The reading will be directed by Ivy Francis Moore C'26, and will feature these student actors: Ben Davis, Juno Hurt, Emme Hendrix, Payne Bumpus, Charlie Grundy, & Maggie Wallace.
Thursday and Friday, March 28 and 29 @ 7:00pm
Saturday, March 30 @ 2:00pm
Guerry Auditorium
An evening of student-choreographed dance pieces, featuring diverse styles and skill levels
The Tennessee Williams Center provides unique, state-of-the-art facilities for students and faculty. Created with funds from the estate of Tennessee Williams himself, the Center houses a fully-equipped 175-seat theatre, a 60-seat studio theatre, a drafting and design studio, a dance studio, costume and scenery studios, and dressing rooms.
The University of the South has become a charter member of American Shakespeare Center’s academic leadership consortium. The partnership will bring the company’s national tour to the university each year, and ASC will host Sewanee students and scholars at its home theater, Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia. On-campus workshops, covering topics from stage combat to unraveling Shakespeare’s text, will also be offered by ASC actors in residency.
At Sewanee, we pledge to offer each student an opportunity to study abroad. And at Sewanee, we keep our promises. Travel, learn, and cultivate your knowledge by communicating across cultures and acquiring a sensitivity to other ways of life. Apply social scientific methodologies to various frameworks. Learn to formulate solutions to global problems and apply those theories at home in a local context.
