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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

WSU Department of Performing Arts- Theatre

Self-Study Document, Fall 2014

Author’s Contact Information: Jennifer A. Kokai

Mission Statement:

The Theatre Arts area of the Department of Performing Arts provides scholarly, creative,

collaborative and practical theatre experience for students. The objectives of the program are to:

1. Encourage participation in and appreciation of theatre and drama;

2. Foster creativity and develop technical skills in acting, directing, theatrical design, script

writing, theatre education, dramaturgy, and stage and theatre management;

3. Use and develop higher level thinking skills including analysis, synthesis, and creation in

understanding and organizing knowledge;

4. Prepare students for careers or professional schooling in those fields that require strong

underwent a curriculum overhaul in response to changing student needs, new faculty, and at the

request of the Board of Regents. As part of this, we changed all technical and design classes

from two hour to three hour. This allows students more time to improve upon their practical

skills and for the classes to articulate across the major. With the additional hours for these

classes, we were forced to re-examine the requirements for each emphasis and degree to make

sure the classes were justified and useful to students. In addition, we created a new emphasis

“Theatre Generalist” that corrected a flaw in our program which previously only allowed for

students interested in performance, design, or teaching. Now students interested in scholarship,

playwriting, dramaturgy, criticism, or other facets of theatre can choose from electives and

complete a capstone project that gives them the background for their desired careers.

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three disciplines: acting, singing, and dancing.

3. Be able to learn choreographic sequences and demonstrate them with security, character, and

stage presence.

4. Be able to read music and demonstrate sight-singing skills.

5. Be able to present critical thinking through verbal and written presentations regarding the

musical theatre. Specific areas of expertise will include major works, major figures

(librettists, composers, lyricists, performers, directors, choreographers), theory, and history.

6. Have a practical, working knowledge of how to produce a play on stage, including all related

performance, script, design, and technical considerations.

7. Have the ability to critically evaluate what they and others have created.

contemporary society and culture.

10. Have experience with individual and collaborative processes needed to produce and

understand theatre.

11. Be able to articulate a philosophy of theatre education on a secondary level and create a

program based upon this philosophy.

12. Be able to demonstrate effective teaching strategies, classroom management skills, and

syllabi design for secondary theatre education.

Assessment: The Theatre Area has built a comprehensive and successful assessment practice.

The theatre area now assesses individual classes, but also completes twice yearly juries (with an

Weber State University has an academic advisor for the College of Arts and Humanities, Debbi

Murphy, who helps students navigate their general education and University requirements.

Within the department, advising on Theatre Degrees is divided amongst a number of faculty

members within the Theatre Area. Students are encouraged to meet with their advisor at the

beginning and end of each semester to evaluate their progress and to plan for the following

semester(s). In addition, there are numerous materials to help students understand their degrees.

Faculty:

The faculty consists of six full time faculty members, five with a MFA and one with a PhD. We

have eleven adjunct faculty members, which includes two staff members with regularly teaching

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The Department of Performing Arts has five staff positions: Technical Director, Costume Studio

Manager, Department Secretary, Budget Specialist, and Multimedia Specialist. The theatre area

feels that the staff in general is more than adequate in fulfilling their duties. We do feel that the

college would benefit by hiring someone to focus on recruiting both in and out of state students.

The Department of Performing Arts really functions as three departments in one with a theatre

department, a school of music, and a dance department. Because of the lack of an administrator

particular to theatre, and the lack of a designated area head, administrative paperwork pertaining

to curriculum, assessment, program review, scholarships and so forth is extremely burdensome.

No one on the theatre faculty is given a course reduction to allow them time to do the work.

The theatre area is heavily involved in external communities. Their involvement tends to fall into

the categories of creative and scholarly work, participation in national organizations, outreach

and programs with local schools, and service and community work. The theatre area is

exceptionally involved in all of these external communities and maintains a large and vibrant

presence in Northern Utah.

Student, Faculty, Contract/Adjunct Faculty and Staff Statistics:

In 2014 there were 134 theatre majors, with 12 graduating. Information for theatre alone is not

available, but the Department of Performing Arts averages 2-1 female to male students.

Results of Previous Program Reviews:

Problem: Academic Advising- there are no advisors available during the summer and students

complained of mis-advisement.

Results: Many steps have been taken to improve advisement. The information is available in a

wide spectrum of ways and when there are holes, it is most often because students are not

heeding the call to meet regularly with their advisors and taking ownership over their education.

Problem: We were advised to consider how being part of a department of performing arts can

enrich the curriculum and intellectual/artistic environment by crossing the boundaries of the

individual disciplines.

Result: There is frequent collaboration between individual faculty and some between students in

the three areas of performing arts, but there is not any programmatic overlap to this point. Given

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Result: The Dean put a system into place requiring programs write position rationales for all

positions, new or replacement. This resolved the previous identified issue.

Problem: Budget- The previous review suggested moving away from Budget reliance on

Student Fees, systematizing budgets for replacement equipment, and reviewing budgetary

processes and allocations with an eye towards transparency.

Result: Budgets continue to rely upon student fees and that seems unlikely to change, although

we agree it is troubling to have curricular activities funded by soft money.

Information Regarding Current Review Team Members:

Phone: (801) 626-7273

Email: [email protected]

WSU Faculty Member from outside the College of Arts and Humanities:

Sue Harley

Professor of Botany

Phone: (801) 626-7434

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (970) 204-8386

Email: [email protected]

Robert Nelson, University of Utah

University of Utah

Phone: (801) 581-6448

Email: [email protected]