Theatre and Dance

285 Alumni Arena
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-5030

716-645-6897
www.arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/theatre-dance.html

Eero Laine, Ph.D.
Chair

Jeanne Palmer-Fornarola, MA
Director of Undergraduate Studies

Theatre and Dance Overview

The Department of Theatre and Dance engages emerging artists, scholars, and audiences dedicated to sustaining and innovating the performing arts across disciplines. Our diverse programs integrate rigorous training, critical understanding, and impassioned creation supported by close faculty mentorship and developed in collaboration with internationally recognized guest artists. The Department of Theatre and Dance offers six distinct degree options: Dance BA, Theatre BA, Dance BFA, Music Theatre BFA, and a Theatre BFA with a concentration either in Design and Technology or in Performance. The department also offers minors in Theatre and in Dance.

The UB Dance Program is a nurturing and challenging artistic community where versatility matters. We value education fueled by performing and teaching experiences that prepare students for a variety of careers in the professional world of dance and beyond. Our BA and BFA programs include comprehensive training in modern, ballet, tap and jazz, along with coursework in choreography, pedagogy, somatic practices, Laban Movement Analysis, history and criticism, research, dance kinesiology, improvisation, music theatre dance, and social dance.

The Theatre BA program offers study in a broad range of theatrical disciplines covering the artistic, literary, historical, and technical aspects of theatre and performance, while encouraging students to design their own focus within a liberal arts degree program. All Theatre BA students take core courses in the fundamentals of theatre, and then choose from among a wide variety of courses in their specific areas of interest including acting, directing, dramaturgy, stage management, or theatre studies. A theatre major is an excellent way for students to develop the critical skills of writing, technology, presentation, and critical thinking vital to professional success in the 21st century.

The BFA in Theatre with a Design & Technology concentration is for students interested in developing specific skills and who are willing to commit to structured, intensive, studio-based training. In the classroom, you learn to recognize your inspiration, analyze it, connect it to the script and communicate your vision. In the Center for the Arts you work with professionals to realize those ideas through the execution of the production process. Student designers, technicians and stage managers work side by side with faculty directors and designers and with the CFA staff. Our program provides students with challenging and sophisticated opportunities to learn in the classroom and to apply that learning through the actual process of designing and building departmental productions in a variety of venues.

The Theatre Performance BFA, at UB integrates rigorous training, critical understanding and impassioned creation supported by close faculty mentorship and developed collaboration with internationally recognized guest artists. Our Theatre BFA students train in a comprehensive four-year sequence that provides the range of skill sets and experiential opportunities necessary for success in the increasingly competitive and challenging world of professional theatre. Learning within conservatory style courses and grounded in the liberal arts, students acquire the essential skills for effective communication, collaborative problem-solving and critical thinking in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. In addition, our students are an integral part of the department’s season of fully produced plays, musicals, and experimental performance work. Their research and creative activities involve on and off-campus experiences, and hold to professional union theatre criterion, preparing them for professional careers in the field.

The Music Theatre program at UB embraces the ever-widening spectrum of musical theatre arts, including musicals, operetta, cabaret, and dance works. We are dedicated to theatre as collaboration, and actively pursue the research and creation of new works as well as the re-envisioning of the classics for our times. Our core BFA curriculum includes classes in acting, voice, and dance, with complementary study in music theory, history, technical theatre & design, choreography, and directing. Our goal is to prepare our students to succeed as multi-faceted theatre professionals in an increasingly creative and challenging field.

Academic Advising

Students obtain academic advice and guidance from the academic advisors in the College of Arts and Sciences Student Advisement & Services office (275 Park Hall) and from faculty in their program of study. The CAS Student Advisement and Services Office assists undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences to plan their academic trajectory, develop goals and successfully complete their college careers.

Academic Advising Contact Information

College of Arts & Sciences Student Advisement & Services
275 Park Hall, North Campus
North Campus, Buffalo, NY 14260-4140
Phone: 716-645-6883
Email: cas-advisor@buffalo.edu

Programs

Majors

Combined

Theatre BA /Arts Management MA

Minors