Hello everyone! I was just admitted to Northwestern for the theatre program, and I am so excited about the prospect of attending.
I was wondering if anyone (current students, alumni, insiders) about what it would be like to study theatre at NU. Are a lot of the classes hands-on, liberal arts, or a solid mix? Also, is there a big theatre scene on campus and is the program supported or does it seem more exclusive and/or disrespected? Any input would be awesome!!
Northwestern’s theatre program is very highly regarded & many theatre kids double major.
In the past, NU’s theatre dept. has been consistently ranked among the top 3 programs in the nation. Carnegie Mellon & NYU also have strong programs.
@peacelove123 - there aren’t a lot of NU theatre folks on CC but there’s a short thread from 2018 that contains some good concrete info. This is specifically for musical theatre which is a subset of the larger theatre program so I think a lot of the information provided pertains to both from post #11 on.
I can’t answer your specific questions but I live very close to the university and have been blown away by the level of talent at NU. We adore going to shows!
@peacelove123 You asked for related information in a discussion about NU vs Barnard, and I also posted an answer there. I hope you’ve been able to research the student and main-stage theatre opportunities via the NU website to gain more insight into the theatre scene on campus. Productions are both main-stage (directed by professors and invited guests) as well as student-driven. There are at least 10 StuCos (student companies) that produce about 4-5 shows a year each. See the list here: https://wiki.nustudenttheatre.org/index.php?title=Main_Page Each group has a fb page as well. My D is a theatre major and this year she has performed in 2 musicals and 2 plays, in addition to being involved in the production side of 3 shows - this is a typical year for her. In another post, you mentioned that you are interested in production - in addition to the roughly 50 theatre productions, there are 3 mainstage fully-staged operas and several student-produced operas that also need technical staff. So there are plenty of opportunities for performance and production. Is theatre supported at NU? Well, yes, shows sell out regularly and Northwestern obviously has a well-known rep for theatre so productions are well-regarded.