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.

Why study theatre at Sewanee?

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.

FIRST DESTINATIONS: Theatre MAJORS

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.

  • Actor, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Germantown, Tennessee.
  • Brand planning intern, The Richards Group, Dallas, Texas.
  • Choreographer and head of movement/fight, Merrie Woode, Sapphire, North Carolina.
FELLOWSHIP IN THE ARTS

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.

Recent Productions

Hamlet
By William Shakespeare
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Men on Boats
by Jaclyn Backhaus
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
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Ugly Lies the Bone
by Lindsey Ferrentino
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Our Country's Good
by Timberlake Wertenbaker
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The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
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Cabaret
by Kander, Ebb, & Masteroff
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The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
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Scapin
by Molière
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Good Kids
by Naomi Iizuka
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The Threepenny Opera
by Bertolt Brecht
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Dancing at Lughnasa
by Brian Friel
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The Good Doctor
by Neil Simon
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Metamorphoses
by Mary Zimmerman
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Antigone
by Sophocles
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Anton in Show Business
by Jane Martin
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Let the Dream Begin

Sewanee theatre grad Jordan Craig, C’11, was on the verge of giving up acting. Then the Phantom called.

Jordan Craig, C’11, was on his way to a job interview when he got the phone call of a lifetime. At the time, he was working two jobs and was on a crowded bus in New York City en route to an interview for a third job when he answered a call from his agent. 

“My agent calls and asks what I’m doing,” Jordan says. “I’m a little discouraged at this point—almost ready to give up theatre altogether. Then my agent asks, ‘Would you rather not be going to that interview? How would you like to be in The Phantom of the Opera instead?’ I can’t remember exactly what happened in that moment, but I remember screaming in excitement and jumping off the bus at the next stop. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to that interview.”

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A Sampling of Courses

Elements of Production
Theatre

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.

THTR 111
Computer Aided Design for Performance
Theatre

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.

THTR 360
Acting: Classic American Plays
Theatre

This scene study course focuses on the plays of the 1930s-1950s, the era when American theatre first established itself internationally. Particular attention is given to the work of Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, Lillian Hellman, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, William Inge, and Lorraine Hansberry as well as the approaches of prominent acting teachers during the period when the term "method acting" was coined.

THTR 340
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Theatre

Requirements & Related Programs

Requirements for the Major & Minor in Theatre

Requirements for the Minor in Dance | Website

Meet Some Professors

Dan Backlund
dbacklun@sewanee.edu

Dan Backlund teaches classes in scenic design, lighting design, scene painting, computer aided drafting and design, as well as Asian Theatre. He has worked professionally as a designer and scenic artist for more than 400 shows creating scenery, lighting, and environmental designs for theatre, dance, opera, television, special events, and live concerts.

Professor of Theatre and Director of the Sewanee Summer Seminar
James Crawford
jscrawfo@sewanee.edu

James Crawford teaches a variety of acting classes at Sewanee, has directed productions of Cabaret, Our Country’s Good, The Crucible, Good Kids, and upcoming, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. James has acted at theaters across the country, and is co-director of the Sewanee-in-England program.

Associate Professor of Theatre
Jennifer Matthews
jmatthew@sewanee.edu

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.

Professor and Chair of Theatre
Elyzabeth Wilder
egwilder@sewanee.edu

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.

Visiting Assistant Professor & Tennessee Williams Playwright in Residence
Courtney World
coworld@sewanee.edu

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.

Associate Professor of Dance
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Contact

Jennifer K. Matthews
Professor and chair of Theatre

jmatthew@sewanee.edu

Tennessee Williams Center 21, Ext. 1126

Meet Lydia

Research can take many forms.

Lydia Klaus, a senior theatre major from Murfreesboro, TN, spent her summer doing research on the background and setting for Cabaret, a classic musical recently produced jointly by the Department of Theatre and the Department of Music. Cabaret is set in Germany after World War I during the time of the Weimar Republic. A research assistantship awarded to Lydia through a program sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and administered through the Sewanee Career Center enabled her to spend her summer perusing books, films, and visual art in order to lend authenticity to the production, ultimately writing about 30 pages of reports. 

Lydia started out in the position of assistant costume designer to Professor Jennifer Matthews. She eventually took on the role of dramaturg for the production, serving as an “extra set of eyes” as the two searched and sorted through thousands of images in order to visualize each character. Matthews reports that Lydia was excellent at quickly digesting material and being able to distill the elements most helpful to her. Lydia’s retention of the material was invaluable when Matthews needed to recall precise information about details such as insignia, or types of shoes, or the nature of social scenes played out in the cabarets of Berlin. As dramaturg, Lydia was often called upon to answer general questions about the period. It was important to Lydia that she be prepared to share all of the information she had gathered without personal bias. In doing so, she was able to provide inspiration for the direction and the costume design. 

Lydia also acted in the production, playing the role of Fräulein Schneider. Once she graduates, she hopes to pursue a career in acting, but her experience as an assistant designer, a dramaturg, and as a costume technician has diversified her skill set, making her even more marketable. She says, “I have always been passionate about people and their stories, so researching for Cabaret has empowered me immensely. Not only have I had the opportunity to engage with the Berlin cabaret culture of the thirties, but I also know that there are other specialties in the theatre that can sustain me artistically aside from performance.”

Lydia Klaus
Theatre Major, C'19

Performances

DanceWise: Spark!

The Department of Theatre & Dance presents Dancewise: Spark!, a dance production with choreography and performances by students, faculty, and guest artists, under the artistic direction of Courtney World at the Tennessee Williams Center's Proctor Hill Theatre.
Thursday, November 18 at 7:30pm
Friday, November 19 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 20 at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 21 at 2:00pm
Admission is free, but seating is limited. Reserve your spot on Eventbrite.  Spark! features the choreography of guest artist Jean Appolon, artistic director of Jean Appolon Expressions, a Boston-based contemporary dance company deeply rooted in Haitian folkloric culture. Six student dancers will perform an excerpt from a full-length work in the company’s repertory.

Details

Hamlet

7:00 PM
Tennessee Williams Center

In this classic Shakespeare tragedy, Prince Hamlet contemplates life, death, sanity, love, and revenge after the death of his father, the king of Denmark. This production is directed by James Crawford and will run October 22 at 7:30
October 23 at 7:30
October 24 at 2:00
October 28 at 7:30
October 29 at 7:30
October 30 at 7:30
October 31 at 2:00
The actors will not be wearing masks, but audience members are required to wear masks.

Reserve your tickets

Men on Boats

In the first unmasked/totally vaccinated theatre production since the start of the pandemic, an ensemble of twelve Sewanee students performed Men On Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus outdoors at Angel Park May 5-9.  The performances were well-attended, and well-received.  Men On Boats is the story of Major John Wesley Powell and the nine men who accompanied him on the first government-sanctioned expedition of the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869. A unique aspect of the play is that Backhaus asks that the cast be made up entirely by people who are not cisgender white males. Why? Historically, they got to tell all the stories. Backhaus makes room for the rest of us. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Sewanee had its first masked performance in Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Nighttime in 2020

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Connecting the Dots

Tennessee Williams Center
Legacy of the south's favorite playwright

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.

On with the show!
American Shakespeare Center
an academic leadership consortium

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.

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Study Abroad
Engaged citizens solving global problems

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.

More about Study Abroad