Our first production was
"The Thirteenth chair" on April 13, 1905. Since then, we have produced 600+ productions. Pretty impressive! Visit the Production Archives.
The Department of Theatre and Dance originally emerged from the English Department as the Speech Department in 1940. In 1956 it became the Speech and Drama Department. Speech Pathology was added in 1971.
In 1973, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree was added and Speech Pathology was moved to the College of Education. Radio-Television and Film was added to the Speech and Drama Department in 1974.
In 1979, Dance became a separate administrative unit, moving out of Physical Education.
The Division of Drama, Dance, Radio/Television/Film and Speech Communication was formed in 1981.
Four years later in 1985, two new administrative units were established: one became the Division of Drama and Dance; the other became the Division of Public Communication which included Radio/Television/Film, Speech Communication and Journalism.
Then, in 1992, "Drama" was changed to "Theatre", creating the Division of Theatre and Dance.
Another adjustment was made in 1994 to name this unit the Department of Theatre and Dance.
This department of 225 undergraduate theatre majors fifty of which are musical theater, 135 undergraduate dance majors, and 6 graduate dance majors offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Theatre and Dance as well as Musical Theater, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Teaching in Theatre, the Bachelor of Arts in Teaching in Dance, and the Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance.
In the fall of 1994 an interdisciplinary program in musical theatre was instituted.
