<p>Is there any student-run group at Reed that does theatre outside of the theatre department? I'm particularly interested in musicals, but any theatre at all is wonderful. And if so, how active are they/how many shows do they do a year?</p>
<p>Also, are roles (tech roles as well as acting) for the theatre department's productions open to non-majors?</p>
<p>Theatre majors are at the center of most, if not all, student-run theatre productions on campus (except for Hum Play), but non-majors are certainly welcome to participate, both as actors and as tech support.</p>
<p>Thanks! What sort of student-run productions are there? And how many per year? Any musicals?</p>
<p>There are student-initiated productions outside of the department’s regularly scheduled mainstage shows. Senior thesis productions are a major one, usually completely student-run, with opportunities for acting and tech work. The number depends on how many students that year are doing performance/directing/production-oriented theses. There are opportunities to act for the directing classes, which culminates with a public showcase of short scenes (though it is an ‘official’ theatre dept event, it is still very student-run). RAW offers grants to artists from all disciplines and has sponsored student performances in the past. There are ‘official’ theatre-focused student groups, like the improv group or Hum play, but more often it is less formalized and just a bunch of students who decide to do something together. Maybe someone really wants to direct a certain play, so s/he’ll find interested collaborators and make it happen, or someone wants to do a staged reading of a play they wrote. The frequency depends on the students that year. Two years ago there was a robust cohort of theatre makers and so it seemed like there were student-initiated performances happening all over the place… but it can wax and wane. The theatre department is generally supportive of students who initiate their own things, and may give them rehearsal/performance space or tech support.</p>
<p>You can get a sense of the senior thesis plays from the schedule here: [Reed</a> College | Theatre | Season Performance Schedule](<a href=“http://academic.reed.edu/theatre/productions/schedule.html]Reed”>Season Performance Schedule - Theatre Department - Reed College)
There doesn’t tend to be a ton of musicals, though someone did a version of Rocky Horror this year. But if you really want to put on a musical, then make it happen.</p>
<p>This is liberal arts. Everything is open to non-majors. We want cross-collaboration between disciplines. So you can absolutely major in something else and still be able to act/direct/design/run/paint/SM pretty much any show, whether faculty-run or student-run.</p>
<p>I’m going to clarify my earlier answer. </p>
<p>If you are really asking, “Are there opportunities for non-majors to get involved with theatre productions outside the faculty-directed and run mainstage shows?”, then the answer is yes.</p>
<p>If you are asking, “Are there several ad hoc student groups dedicated to making theatre (esp. musical theatre) completely unrelated to the theatre department?”, then the answer is not so much. There are some performance-based ‘official’ (by which I mean incorporated and funded) student organizations including the improv group, Hum Play, the fire spinning group (WMD), glow opera… But all of those have specific ‘programs’, none are going to stage like Sweeney Todd or Othello. Besides those, there are a handful of students who do their own thing independent of official productions, theses, and classes, and could potentially stage Sweeney Todd or Othello. Sometimes the performances are a part of RAW, Paideia, or Renn Fayre. I can think of 1 or 2 this year, and maybe 3 or 4 a couple years ago. It is relatively easy to start your own student group at Reed and seek funding, or find interested collaborators and do a student-initiated project, but it might be harder to find the time to do so. It depends on the person. There are also students who participate in off-campus workshops and productions in the greater Portland theatre scene. </p>
<p>Does that answer your question?</p>