All graduates and guests must complete a Health Screening Form prior to entering Memorial Stadium. Additional information is available on the Commencement page.
Located 23 miles from the heart of downtown Los Angeles’ arts district, the Theatre Department strives to provide a balanced preparatory foundation, exposing students to multiple approaches and applications of theatre—all of which is firmly based in the liberal arts tradition.
Students majoring within the department follow a program of study designed to stimulate awareness of our cultural traditions and to explore the creative abilities of each individual. We provide courses in the areas of performance, directing, theatre history and dramatic literature, and stage design and technology. We also offer classes in speech communication, film history and criticism, and video production.
Contact Department of Theatre & Communication Arts Shannon Center 562.907.4202 562.698.4902 (fax)
As part of a liberal arts institution, the Department of Theatre and Communication Arts focuses on providing both breadth and depth in the field, encouraging students to develop interdisciplinary connections, to demonstrate the collaborative nature of this discipline, and to articulate their own critical presentation of theatre as both an artistic art form and as a cultural artifact.
Department goals include:
Each year, the department produces up to four faculty directed productions in the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts. Productions afford students multiple opportunities to engage in theatre as a collaborative process - as a performer, stage manager, assistant stage manager, etc., or as a member of various construction and running crews.
Graduating majors from the theatre program have the tools to pursue a professional career, graduate studies, or continue their path as lifelong appreciators of the theatrical arts. Recent graduates have found that their education in the department has prepared them for careers in personnel, education, sales and advertising, business, law, and publishing, as well as acting, directing, design and technical direction, writing, film, television, and the themed entertainment industry.