Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Theatre

The B.F.A. with a major in Theatre prepares students for a broad range of opportunities, including performance,production, design, teaching, arts administration, and many non-arts based careers such as sales, training and development, production, and management. The Theatre program at VSU offers numerous productions throughout the year, providing students with significant performance experience. Theatre graduates learn a host of skills, including collaboration, working to deadlines, self-discipline, patience, perseverance, analytical skills, and critical thinking.

Valdosta State University is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Theatre.

Audition Requirements

All students who intend to pursue the B.F.A. with a major in Theatre in the Performance or Musical Theatre tracks must audition for the purpose of admission to the program. Auditions are regularly hosted on campus, across the region, and at national professional conferences.

All students admitted to either the Musical Theatre or the Performance track are required to audition for theatre area productions every semester that they are enrolled in the program. Exceptions for extenuating circumstances must be requested in writing at least two weeks prior to the scheduled auditions. Failure to meet these conditions will require a petition and audition for readmission to the appropriate track.

Grade Point Average Requirement for the BFA with a Major in Theatre

Students entering the University directly from high school must maintain a GPA of 2.0 or better on all course work undertaken in order to continue as Theatre majors. If in any given semester a student's overall GPA falls below 2.0, the student will have one semester (fall or spring) to bring it back up to or above 2.0. If the overall GPA remains below 2.0 for two consecutive semesters, the student will be requested to change majors. Any student who fails to respond to that request will automatically be transferred to an undeclared major status.

Students who enter the University as transfer students who wish to continue a major in Theatre must have a GPA of at least 2.0 on all course work undertaken. Upon acceptance as a major, a student must maintain an overall 2.0 GPA as described above.

Students changing majors from another program within the University must also have at least a 2.0 overall GPA to transfer to the Theatre major, and they will be subject to the same maintenance requirements already described.

Selected Educational Outcomes

  1. Students will articulate a cultural and historical perspective appropriate to their emphasis.
  2. Students will demonstrate the ability to interact and problem solve with colleagues as group participants and leaders.
  3. Students will demonstrate acting, technical, and design skills, based on the career goals of the individual student.
  4. Students will demonstrate knowledge of professional opportunities for employment.

Examples of Outcome Assessments

Concluding curricular experiences for the theatre student will include:

  1. Participation in professionally oriented theatrical productions.
  2. Development of materials geared to individual students’ professional career goals or post-graduation plans.
  3. A capstone portfolio or audition presentation exhibiting advanced technical, design, or performances skills and assessing personal strengths and weaknesses.