Theatre Arts Production

Do you want to design scenery, costumes, lighting, sound or multimedia? Would you like to turn your passion for the theatre-making process into a career as a stage manager, technical director, or scenic artist? From your first semester in the production concentration, you get hands-on experience in design, production and technology.

Preparing You For Success

As a theatre production major, you’re immersed in courses like stagecraft, CADD, scenic painting, props design, pattern making and, of course, scenic lighting, costumes and sound design. You can present work at the USITT annual conference, and take Bradley’s Las Vegas Excursion course, where you work beside artists and technicians of Cirque du Soileil.

Diverse mainstage seasons and student productions offer you a challenging range of design and production assignments, often leading to full design opportunities in your junior and senior years. You build a strong resume and work with acclaimed guest artists while receiving intensive personal mentorship that’s a hallmark of theatre arts at Bradley. A portfolio and interview are required, and you meet with your advisor each year for an annual review to ensure you’re advancing as a student and performer. When you graduate, you’ll have confidence in your training, a unique personal aesthetic, the skills to express it, and a solid foundation for your next steps.

By the time you graduate, your experiences may include:

• Workshops with acclaimed professional companies like the Tectonic Theatre Project and celebrated contemporary playwrights like Kate Hamill
• Producing your own work with dynamic student organizations like BBQ Kitten improv troupe, Ministry of Experimental Theatre (MET) and Bradley’s student chapter of the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT)
• Excursion courses to London theatre and Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas
• Internships in theatre production and administration at theatres like Chicago Shakespeare, Lookingglass Theatre Company, and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

Making Your Mark

Bradley theatre production alumni have interned and have worked at leading Chicago theatres including Chicago Shakespeare, The Lookingglass, Northlight Theatre, Steppenwolf, and the Marriott Lincolnshire. Recent grads have completed MFA design programs at Florida State, Ohio State and Northwestern. Others are regularly working at regional theatres like Arkansas Shakespeare, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare and Peninsula Players. Many also are working as freelance and resident stage managers, designers, technicians, fight directors and theatre educators in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and throughout the U.S.

Admission to Concentrations

Students admitted in Theatre Performance and Theatre Production must complete the scholarship requirements (see our “Scholarships” page), and the following requirements to secure admission to the concentration of their choice.

Portfolio presentation for students admitted in Theatre Production

Prepare a portfolio of your production work to date. Depending on experience and areas of interest, this might include materials like programs, photos, drawings or renderings, light plots, reviews, promptbooks, or process photos from shows you have worked on. This includes projects you collaborated on, regardless of whether you fully designed, built, or stage managed them yourself. We are not asking for a professional product. What's most important is that you share with us some of your theatre experiences to date. Material can be presented in person during a campus visit, during a zoom interview, or format it as a single PDF file and uploaded. Contact the department for an upload link or more guidelines.

Timetable and Scheduling

For optimal consideration, Scholarship and Concentration interviews and auditions should be completed and written materials received by June 1 of the summer prior to Fall entry. Please contact us if you need to request additional time.

Major Requirements

Theatre Core

• THE 115: Fundamentals of Acting - 3 hrs.
• THE 121: Contemporary Theatre Practice - 3 hrs.
• THE 123: Script Analysis for the Theatre - 3 hrs.
• THE 125: Stagecraft - 3 hrs.
• THE 226: Fundamentals of Design - 3 hrs. OR THE 230: Costume Construction - 3 hrs.
• THE 316: Fundamentals of Directing - 3 hrs. OR THE 318: Stage Management
• Two of the following:
  • THE 336: History of Theatre and Drama I - 3 hrs.
  • THE 337: History of Theatre and Drama II - 3 hrs.
  • THE 338: History of Theatre and Drama III - 3 hrs.
• THE 410: Senior Seminar/Capstone Project - 1-3 hrs.
• THE 439: Global Encounters - 3 hrs.
• Theatre Practicum: A total of 3 hours (6 sections) from the following.
  • THE 107: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 108: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 207: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 208: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 307: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 308: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 407: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.
  • THE 408: Theatre Practicum - .5 hrs.

Additional Required Courses

• THE 229: CADD for Theatre
• THE 310: Professional Development Seminar, Production
• Two of the following Design courses:
  • THE 326: Stage Lighting - 3 hrs.
  • THE 327: Sound Design - 3 hrs.
  • THE 329: Scenic Design - 3 hrs.
  • THE 330: Costume Design – 3 hrs.
• Two of the following Production/Technology Coures
  THE 225: Advanced Stagecraft – 3 hrs.
  • THE 227: Makeup for the Stage – 3 hrs.
  • THE 318: Stage Management – 3 hrs.
  • THE 325: Properties Design and Construction – 3 hrs.
  • THE 328: Special Materials for Scenic and Costume Design – 3 hrs.
  • THE 494: London or Las Vegas Excursion – 3 hrs.
  • THE 498: Explorations in Theatre Production and Technology – 3 hrs.
• One elective from the following courses:
  THE 225, THE 227, THE 318, THE 325, THE 326, THE327, THE 328, THE 329, THE 330, THE 494, THE 498

Total Hours: 54