Artists need a supportive, diverse and respectful environment in which they can learn; the freedom to experiment, fail, succeed and triumph; and the guidance to know which has happened.

We are dedicated to mentoring and nurturing the individual student so that each can discover the artist within. The College of Communication and Fine Arts, which houses the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music and the departments of art, architecture, communication, and journalism in addition to the Department of Theatre & Dance, provides a perfect environment in which to study a multi-disciplinary profession like Musical Theatre.

The BFA is a four-year pre-professional degree in which students take approximately 70 percent of their coursework in their major the area of study and 30 percent in other areas. This gives students the opportunity to grow and develop as theatrical artists while gaining a broader educational perspective. We believe that the more you understand the world you live in, the more successful you will be in the theatre.

The professional coursework in the Musical Theatre program includes intensive studies in Dance (ballet, tap, musical theatre styles), Theatre (acting, history, technical production), Music (voice, piano, theory), and Musical Theatre (performance, history and more). The liberal arts coursework includes required studies in college-level writing, literature, social sciences, math and the natural sciences. Academic and professional electives are required and most students choose to graduate with more than the minimum required coursework in order to explore other areas of interest.

It is our goal to teach students the skills necessary to be successful in the popular and competitive professional musical theatre world. To develop that skill-set, students receive a broad education in all three areas of Music, Theatre and Dance. More importantly, in musical theatre one is called upon to use all three of these areas together at any given moment in performance. Therefore, additional training is given in Musical Theatre specifically to help students learn how to use all three of these areas together in the particular genre that is the American Musical. As part of the degree, students also have opportunities to learn about career strategies, audition techniques and a wide array of performance skills.