University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance
The University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance is a pre-eminent performing arts institution in Houston, making theatre and dance an integral part of the region’s cultural scene through both mainstage productions, education, and community outreach programs. As a department under the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Houston, the school offers both Bachelors and Masters programs, a BA in Theatre, MA in Theatre, MFA in Theatre, and just recently the school added a BFA program for undergraduate students. Annually, the School of Theatre & Dance reaches over 13,000 patrons during approximately 91 performances, ranging from student produced shows, to fully staged musicals, dance concerts, new plays, and children’s theatre.
Theatre
Our mission is to educate and prepare students for successful and meaningful careers in theatre, dance and related professions.
We have the largest theatre department in the city of Houston, with 250 full-time graduates and undergraduates. It is a high-energy program with dedicated and hard-working students. We strive to instill the skills and work ethic necessary to compete and succeed in the performing arts.
Our program emphasizes:
Study - To understand the foundations of theatre practice, theory and technique. Classroom work provides students with a context to discuss theatre and improve in their chosen
specialization.
Application - To make theatre that builds upon classroom work. Our numerous production opportunities challenge students and serve as a laboratory environment for exploration,
problem solving, and creative expression.
Mentorship - To connect students with working professionals and build a network. Faculty and staff in our School get to know each student and provide guidance to prepare them
for the job market.
Dance
The School of Theatre and Dance provides the only degree program for dance in the fourth largest city in the country. Dance at the University of Houston strives to create confidence in the student through both the disciplined practice of dance and the transferable skills of creative interaction with others.
Our mission is to assist individuals in defining their own originality through dance, to develop curious minds, and to prepare students with the life skills of critical thinking and inventive problem solving. We are committed to providing a center for dance in metropolitan Houston through workshops, collaboration, performances, and through projects by the Center for Choreography.
Dance at the University of Houston emphasizes the following:
An Athletic Component:
To develop disciplined bodies and minds by integrating physical strength, flexibility, stamina, coordination, with retention and speed of comprehension. To develop the wide
range of dynamic qualities which shape the performance skills of the dancer.
An Intellectual Component:
To encourage creative and thoughtful individuals, fostering students as innovative choreographers and teachers with the ability to clearly articulate ideas. To analyze
movement within the contexts of tradition, history, art, music, and dance theory.
A Human Interaction Component:
To balance individual thinking with collective collaboration, and develop individuals who are able to effectively work with others to realize their potential in dance and
in life.
Facilities
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts includes the Wortham Theatre, a 566-seat proscenium stage, and the Quintero Theatre, a 190-seat black box. A $4 million renovation by Austin-based architectural firm Lake l Flato was completed in 2005. This construction project enhanced the lobby space of the existing School of Theatre and Dance, added two new rehearsal spaces, and provided a second story office suite for the Mitchell Center for the Arts.
The Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre was built in 1977. It features a trapped floor, a counterweight fly system and ample wing space that joins a shop area large enough to accommodate several production sets. The Jose Quintero Theatre is an intimate 185-seat black box theatre built in 1977.
The School of Theatre and Dance costume shop includes a dye area, spray booth, cratfs area and numerous machines. Our costume shop also features an extensive collection of wardrobe stock from all time periods. Visit the Costume Rentals page for information on renting costumes for your school production!
The School of Theatre and Dance scene shop includes ample space for metalworking, painting, a prop shop, and general construction.
Partnerships
The University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance is committed to building bridges between academia and the professional world. We strive to provide our students with as many connections and opportunities as possible. Between all our our faculty and staff members, we have a network of theatre and dance artists and technicians that extends from coast to coast and crosses the Atlantic ocean.
We are also committed to developing and presenting new work with local and national theatre and dance artists. Recent collaborations include:
a co-production of Mickey Birnbaum's Big Death and Little Death with The Catastrophic Theatre, a local theatre company created by founders of Infernal Bridegroom Productions.
commissioning Houston's most unique string quartet, Two Star Symphony, to score and perform in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan.
commissioning playwright Nathaniel Freeman to write the 2008 season opening play KATRINA: The Bridge.
working with local theatre company Mildred's Umbrella to develop a new play by playwright John Harvey.
creating a new music/dance piece with AURA, the Moores School's contemporary music ensemble.
annual debuts of local choreographers' new work in the Spring Dance Concert.
The Alley Theatre
The Tony Award winning Alley Theatre and the School of Theatre and Dance have established a one-of-a-kind Professional Theatre Training Program. Our graduate students will have the opportunity to work with Alley Theatre company members throughout their two-year education on projects at UH and at the Alley.
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston promotes collaboration, experimentation, and innovation in the arts. The Center supports the creation and presentation of new works, sponsors visiting artist residencies, and offers courses, scholarships, lectures, and symposia, all in a creative alliance with the School of Art, Creative Writing Program, Moores School of Music, School of Theatre and Dance, and Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston.
Big Range Dance Festival
Co-founded by the Head of the Dance Division, Karen Stokes, the sixth annual Big Range Dance Festival (BRDF) in summer 2008 featured new works by choreographers from Houston, Austin, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. BRDF is co-sponsored by the University of Houston's Center for Choreography.
The mission of the Big Range Dance Festival is to foster quality dance-theater that explores diverse ideas and the fusion of theatrical arts. The Festival encourages choreographers to experiment in movement invention and the creation of a uniquely personal dance language, invoking the spirit of the modern and post-modern dance pioneers. BRDF seeks to engage the audience through new works that break boundaries, with a strong emphasis on the unique individual vision of the choreographer. BRDF usually takes place the first two weeks in June at Houston's best spot to catch performing arts, Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex.
Deluxe Entertainment Camp for Kids
The University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance has entered into a unique partnership with HISD and the 5th Ward Redevelopment Coroporation to introduce an after-school arts program into the elementary schools of Houston's historic 5th Ward. The project is funded by a $260,000 mulit-year grant from the Houston Endowment. In June 2009 the project kicked off with the 1st annual D.E.C.K., which introduced over 80 students to acting, puppetry, storytelling, and dance under the guidance of UH teaching artists, including theatre faculty, current students and alumni. Students from E.O. Smith, Atherton, Crawford, and Henderson Elementary Schools concluded the camp with a joyful public presentation of their work.
Faculty
Our faculty are an eclectic group of professionals who bring an array of experience including nationally and internationally produced work. They are dedicated to educating the next generation of theatre and dance practitioners.
Scholars and artists—such as Pulitzer Prize & Tony Award winner Edward Albee, Tony Award winner Mark Medoff, and Tony nominated designer Kevin Rigdon—add to the dynamic, supportive environment.
Guest Artists
• Brett Cullen • Lili Taylor • Moises Kaufman
Houston Shakespeare Festival (HSF)
Now celebrating its thirty-sixth season, the Houston Shakespeare Festival has grown into one of the major events on Houston 's summer entertainment calendar, attracting more than 450,000 people in its recent history. Festival audiences are quite a mix of people. They are able to experience, perhaps for the first time, the excitement of live theatre in an era when entertainment costs are often prohibitive to many. Prior to the establishment of the Festival, the fully equipped, city-supported Miller Outdoor Theatre boasted an impressive list of classical and jazz concerts, ballets, and operas in its schedule of free entertainment. Spoken drama was conspicuously missing.
In 1975, Sidney Berger, then Director of the School of Theatre at the University of Houston , met with university administrators and the Miller Theatre Advisory Council to enlist support for a two-production season of Shakespeare's works to be played in repertory on Miller Theatre's bill. The trial season was greeted with enthusiasm. Audience sizes exceeded expectations, and letters of appreciation from private citizens and city officials were sent to the University's administration. In this unique collaboration between a city and a university, the works of the greatest playwright in our civilization's history could be produced on a sustained and professional basis. Funding sources and audiences have grown in successive seasons. In addition to a budget appropriation, the University of Houston provides rehearsal space, offices, scenery and costume shops, as well as personnel in the areas of administration and development.
For many seasons, HSF engaged a number of Actors' Equity Association Guest Artists. In 1989, the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts awarded a special grant so that HSF could enter into a seasonal agreement with AEA. Associations with other related organizations continue. Sidney Berger is co-founder and a past president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, an organization uniting all Shakespearean theatres in North America. Its mission is to act as a forum for the exchange of ideas and resources relating to the production of Shakespeare's plays. Also active is HSF's affiliation with Shakespeare Globe. One of this organization's goals was to reconstruct the Globe Theatre as close to its original site as possible in London, an objective that is now realized. HSF also sponsors Shakespeare Outreach, which presents programs and residencies free to schools and other institutions throughout the city.
Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA)
For the past 30 summers, children across Houston have enjoyed the lively and fun theatre presented by the Children's Theatre Festival. Summer camps and playdate groups were loyal patrons, some attending each and every show.
The Children's Theatre Festival recognized the need to provide quality theatre to young audiences. In order to serve an even larger community of students, parents, and teachers, the Children's Theatre Festival has evolved into a new program called Theatre for Young Audiences. Our TYA program will present shows during the school year, thereby serving as a resource for teachers and parents to tie theatre directly to the TEKS curriculum set forth by the state of Texas. The shows will also appeal to a broader age range; from shows geared to elementary school children and shows specifically for older middle school students. Another exciting change is the touring component of the new TYA program. Each spring we will tour a show to schools in the community that have little or no arts education in their curriculum. This kind of exposure to the arts is a valuable opportunity that we could not provide in years past.