black student sining in front of a group of other students singing.
A scene from the musical satire, ‘‘Urinetown: The Musical’’ performed by theater students in Oberlin’s Wurtzel Theater. Photo credit: John Seyfried
Program Overview

Theater

Program Type: Major, Minor
  • Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department: Theater

A major or minor in theater provides opportunities to study acting, directing, design and production, theater history and criticism, and playwriting within the broader context of a liberal arts education. Oberlin theater majors engage in all aspects of performance, both artistic and technical.

Program Director

Caroline Jackson Smith Professor of Theater and Africana Studies

Contact

440-775-8152

Why Study Theater at Oberlin?

4
Performance Venues
10
Productions per year
10
Study Away Programs

Oberlin Student Theater Association

The Oberlin Student Theater Association (OSTA) is entirely student-run theater. OSTA produces five fully staged shows a year, sponsors playwriting workshops, and holds staged readings. The group hosts a 24-hour theater competition twice a year, which challenges students to create and stage new pieces in one day.

Oberlin Musical Theater Association

The student-run Oberlin Musical Theater Association (OMTA) coordinates, finances, promotes, and produces student alternative musical theater, as well as workshops and works-in-progress. OMTA presents a weeklong show each semester and for a week after winter term. Past shows include Assassins and Godspell.

Sample Courses

  • THEA 100 - Acting 1: Fundamentals 4 credits
  • THEA 260 - Lighting Design 4 credits
  • THEA 312H - Stage Management Practicum 2 credits
  • THEA 315 - Acting III: Black and Brown Playwrights 4 credits
Curriculum and requirements

Theater Faculty

Theater faculty are accomplished professionals in their own right. They teach a range of courses that nurture the natural and developing abilities of students, thus providing a sound liberal arts grounding in theory and practice of theater. Faculty support student-directed work and actively mentor them throughout their academic progress.

Explore Faculty within Theater

“The artistic landscape of Oberlin College is vibrant, diverse, and exciting. All of our departments—dance, cinema studies, art, and creative writing as well as theater open the door for students to explore multidisciplinary arts projects, often working with each other and students from the Conservatory of Music.In our classes and productions, students are drawn from across the college.”

Caroline Jackson Smith, Professor of Theater and Africana Studies
See Profile

Theater Faculty

Theater News

four pepple spread out in a room making an audio recording.

From Main Stage to Airwaves

November 17, 2020
The curtain has closed on many professional, community, and college theaters throughout the country due largely to the global pandemic. Yet those who have the audacity to reimagine the theater and the arts in new ways are discovering the options are varied and rewarding.
View all Theater news