Why Hartwick?

At Hartwick, Theatre Arts is more than just what happens on stage. It’s scripts and directing, scenery, costume, and lighting design, even the box office and marketing. When you study at Hartwick, you’ll get hands-on experience across all of these fields, then choose the one you’re passionate about. Whatever your focus, you’ll have the talents to strongly position yourself in front of directors, producers and employers.

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MANY CAREER PATHS

A Hartwick Theatre Arts degree prepares you for a career in any aspect of the theatre industry, from performance to design, management to marketing. You’ll learn acting techniques, how to write a play, lighting, scenic, and costume design, even box office management. Hartwick’s flexible, experience-based training gives you a solid foundation of everything that goes into putting on a show.

Hartwick theatre student cutting material from patterns for costumes

You can get involved in productions in your first semester, giving you up to four years of hands-on experience on productions. You’ll work closely with faculty, as well as with students from across campus – productions are open to all, giving you a chance to engage across disciplines. Propose a performance or stage design, and your work could become part of Hartwick’s production season. Your Success Coach will be there to cheer you on from the start, and your Alumni Mentor and Career Coach will help you navigate your way into work you’ll be passionate about pursuing.

If performance isn’t for you, Hartwick’s applied theatre concentration teaches you how to use theatre arts in education, social work, and other ways to make a difference in peoples’ lives.

Theatre Arts Major and Minor Requirements

Theatre Arts Department

EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITIES

As a theatre arts major, you’ll have the opportunity to present your work on campus and off. Spend part of your J Term at the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, take part in the 24 Hour Playwriting Festival, or launch a podcast in our new production studio. Whatever your concentration, your Career Coach and Alumni Mentor will help you find an internship to put your skills into practice. And you’ll showcase your final piece to the campus community. It all goes on your Digital Resume, promoting your skills to future employers.

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AN EDUCATION BUILT FOR YOU

From your first year, you’ll have opportunities to practice every aspect of theatre arts, giving you a broad base of knowledge to draw from as you progress through the program. When you find your passion, dive- deep to prepare your SOAR thesis project – whether a performance, design, or a new play – and present it to an audience who can’t wait to see what you’ve created.

WHERE WILL A HARTWICK DEGREE TAKE YOU?

Design

Like Nathan Skethway ’16, now the Art Director at the Broadway advertising agency RPM. Last year, he designed the official posters for Sweeney Todd starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, the Britney Spears musical Once Upon a One More Time, How to Dance in Ohio, as well as upcoming Broadway adaptations of Death Becomes Her, The Lost Boys, and The Queen of Versailles.

PUPPETEERING

Like Sarah Walsh ’15, a puppeteer, set medic and stage combatant who performs with the touring shadow puppet show Song of the North. The show, which premiered in 2022 and has toured nationally and internationally, will open on Broadway in March 2024.

PRODUCER/PERFORMER

Like Taylor Morin ’17, the co-founder of Rally Point Productions, an inclusive, uplifting theatre company in New York City. In addition to producing, acting and designing, Taylor also handles publicity, fundraising, and booking spaces for the company.