Another reason for our vitality is that we offer our students a variety of meaningful artistic experiences. Our major concentrations in acting/musical theatre, design/technology, dance and motion picture production lead to the Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees. Bachelor of Arts degrees are available in theatre studies as well as in motion picture history, theory and criticism. In addition, many students perform and find internships at local and regional theatres, while filmmakers enter their work in film festivals and competitions across the country and abroad, and select student dancers perform in the nationally acclaimed professional dance companies, the Dayton Ballet II, and Dayton Contemporary Dance Companies.

Our department is the only one of its kind to win two Program Excellence Awards from the Ohio Board of Regents as well as two Academic Challenge awards. These awards have enabled the department to provide its students with substantial resources and the best available facilities.

The Creative Arts Center and Scene Shop house the department's three theatres, costume shop, rehearsal studios for acting and dance, large set and props construction shop, and a motion picture complex with a production studio and editing facilities. Our training programs are ambitious and extensive, and our theatre, dance, and motion picture productions rival those of our professional counterparts.

Our emphasis on professionalism is reflected by the department's excellent faculty and staff. Faculty members remain active in their chosen fields, continuing to direct, design, choreograph, produce, and perform in the professional world. Both faculty and staff maintain professional affiliations and professional contacts and share the experience in the classroom.

I invite you to visit our department and see a show, a dance concert and a film screening. I'm sure you'll agree that we offer a truly outstanding undergraduate program, training young professionals for a future in theatre, dance or motion pictures - some of the most exciting fields of human endeavor in this, a truly thrilling time to be in the performing arts.

Dr. W. Stuart McDowell, Chair and Artistic Director
Departments of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures

Updated June 23, 2007