Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, Emphasis in Design & Technology
The emphasis in Design & Technology prepares students to work professionally in the areas of scenic, lighting, sound, props and costume design, stage management, scenic construction and other areas of theatre production. The BFA in theatre requires:
- A portfolio review and interview for entrance into the BFA program. Portfolio reviews are held in early December, January and February. In addition, Theatre TCU students participate in the National Unified Auditions in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, drawing a student body from around the nation.
- A yearly jury with the design and production faculty. No cuts are made; the jury is a time to assess growth and create a plan for further development.
- All BFA theatre majors to serve on a production crew each semester, rotating between a variety of assignments and training. That means that every student will be hanging lights, painting scenery, creating props, building costumes or working in the box office.
View the BFA theatre with an emphasis in design & technology degree plan, course offerings and descriptions.
BFA design and technology classes average 12 students. Design students may specialize in one area of design (scenery, costumes, lighting, sound, props), but they will study in all of those areas to gain a broad foundation in all design components.
BFA design students are expected to design for Theatre TCU productions. Because of our small class sizes, most design students not only design several “paper” projects as class assignments, but also design realized projects with regular budgets, staff and full productions. Because we don’t have a graduate program in theatre, all student designers are undergraduates.
The BFA Theatre degree with an emphasis in Design & Technology prepares students to work professionally in areas of scenic, lighting, sound, props and costume design. Theatre TCU graduates attend graduate school for theatre design, work in major theatre markets as designers and production technicians, for cruise line productions and large events such as trade shows and as theatre educators. Students have the opportunity to have their designs realized during their undergraduate career as Theatre TCU produces two student-directed and -designed shows during the academic year. Design students are mentored by current design faculty and have the opportunity to assist on faculty-designed productions.
TCU Department of Theatre has three different theatre venues (proscenium, thrust, black box) in the same building, affording diverse design experiences for our theatre students. We have mostly ETC lighting equipment, from the dimmer racks to our Eos and Ion consoles, which allow students to learn programming for the series on the consoles most used professionally in the United States. We maintain an inventory of intelligent lights, light-emitting diode (LED) instruments and an inventory of more than 150 conventional lights.
We have a fully staffed scenic studio and costume studio, where student designers can learn their craft in a constant, hands-on environment of safety, excellence and challenges. Many design students receive theatre scholarships or work as student employees in the studios. Our excellent professional staff includes skilled artisans, but also teachers and mentors who want to increase the design and production skills of all students.