EDUCATION
The Theatre/Speech major at Union University prepares graduates for careers in acting, directing, technical theatre, writing and teaching licensure in Theatre/Speech. Four major productions compose the University theatre season. In addition an annual student directed showcase and alumni productions offer theatre students at Union a wide variety of opportunities for involvement and development of their skills.
Union graduates are working in all phases of theatre throughout the country. Many are in secular and Christian theatre companies throughout the United States, and others are pursuing graduate degree programs at The Actors Studio and New Actors Workshop in NYC, University of Memphis and University of Houston.
The Theatre program at Union University fully supports the university’s goal to be excellence-driven, Christ-centered, people-focused, and future-directed. The program’s mission statement parallels that of the university in the following ways:
- To be excellence-driven, by pursuing a professional approach to production, as well as providing access to theatre opportunities in various fields.
- To be Christ-centered, offering intimate classroom settings with practical experiences taught from a biblical worldview.
- To be people-focused by offering numerous theatrical opportunities involving a host of participants both on and off stage.
- To be future-directed by helping to focus the callings of our students in a number of directions
- Preparation for graduate school
- Teacher licensure (K-12)
- Preparation for service in church related artistic ministries
Goals and objectives of Union University’s Theatre Program
Goal: As Christian artists and professors, it is our desire to instill in our students and our own work pride but not arrogance, excellence but not egotism, and confidence but not presumption.
To that end, the objectives of the Theatre program are:
- To create and maintain a viable and thriving theatre program with academic integrity and freedom with a Christian worldview.
- To offer a season of plays that prepare students for work and/or ministry that God has called them to do and provide them with the tools and exposure they need to be skilled artists, whether they choose a professional or nonprofessional career in the theatre field.
- To select plays that explores the human condition.
- To develop and maintain an educational theatre program that addresses the preparatory needs of the professional theatre artist, designer, actor, and technician alike, recognize that those needs will differ from a community theatre that focuses on large audiences to generate revenue or a church drama program that focuses on evangelism.
- To develop and maintain our unique reputation in the West Tennessee area for providing thought-provoking, innovative theatre that challenges not only the producers of the art but the audience as well.
- To educate our audience members about the mission and responsibilities of a Christian theatre program, seeking to strike a balance between theater’s intrinsic gift for depicting the fallen condition of man with our mission as Christians to underscore the universal human need for grace.
Alpha Psi Omega
This national dramatic fraternity was founded at Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia, on August 12, 1925. The local chapter, Beta Mu, is composed of students who have been members of the Union University Players and have earned a set number of points, awarded for dramatic work. The chapter seeks to develop dramatic talent, to cultivate a taste for the best in drama, and to foster culutral dramatics.
For more information or to apply, visit the Communication Arts department site.
