Theatre

General Requirements Major

Revised 9/2016

1. Requirements as majors:

Production Participation

• Majors are required to participate in the department production program in some capacity each quarter. (This may be via Application courses, Theatre Lab, or other course as approved by the chair.) Majors must accumulate all the appropriate Application and Theatre Lab credits during their academic career.
• BA students must participate in all department auditions sessions, unless they have enrolled in a production lab, or secured a design or production assignment prior to the audition session that quarter.
•  All BFA-Performance, and BFA-Musical Theatre majors must audition for each production, until all performance Application requirements are completed.
• Freshmen majors are encouraged, but not required, to audition and participate in all productions during their freshman year.  Freshman are encouraged to become involved in the activities of the department early in their college careers.
• All students auditioning must accept the role assigned.
• Once casting has been posted, students will be assigned crew position and must accept that position.
• Students must enroll in the appropriate course associated with production:
• Theatre Majors will enroll in  TH Application courses 201/202/301/302/303/ 401/402/403 –
• Non-major/pre-majors will enroll in TH 300/400 Rehearsal & Performance – (does NOT fulfill major requirements and is NOT a substitute for TH Application)
• BFA Design and Production majors must accept assignments for each quarter, until all Production Application requirements are completed.
• Freshman majors are encouraged, but not required, to participate in productions during their freshman year.  Freshman are encouraged to become involved in the activities of the department early in their college careers.
• Once casting has been posted, students will be assigned crew position and must accept that position.
• Students must enroll in the appropriate course associated with production:
• Theatre Majors will enroll in  TH Application courses 201/202/301/302/303/401 /402/403/440

Non-major/pre-majors will enroll in TH 300/400 Rehearsal & Performance – (does NOT fulfill major requirements and is NOT a substitute for TH Application)

• In extenuating circumstances (personal, academic, or financial) a student may petition the faculty, in writing, to be excluded from casting, technical assignment, or lab for a specific quarter. This petition must be submitted to the Department Chair in advance. The chair will discuss it with the faculty, who may or may not grant the request, but effort will be made to assist students in need. A student may not be excluded from assignments for two consecutive quarters.  Being excused from production for a quarter does not waive any requirements of the degree.
• In rare instances it may be necessary for the faculty to remove a student from the cast or crew of a given production at any point during the design/production process.  These include, but are not limited to: the use of drugs, alcohol, or other substance impairing the student at rehearsal or other work on the production; situations where ensemble members are deemed by the faculty/staff member to be physically unsafe due to the actions of the student; failure to meet the necessary progression toward success production (i.e. unlearned lines, blocking, missing rehearsal/deadlines, or being a disturbance within the process).  Actions the violate the Student Code of Conduct will be referred to Dean of Student Success .

Other Requirements of the major:

• All majors, and cast and crew members must assist with strikes, as assigned.
• Department meeting of all faculty, staff and majors is held each quarter during the first week of classes. Usually, this is the first day of class at 4:00 pm in the Tower Theatre. Every major and minor must attend. Friends are welcome.
• Any requests to be excused from mandatory department calls (strikes, all-department meeting, etc.) must be submitted to the chair at least 48 hours prior to the event. Please plan accordingly.
• Any student not making satisfactory progress toward the degree may be dropped from the major. 

2. Failure to Carry out Department Requirements:

(Letters of Reprimand delivered via CWU email account)

The following was presented by the Student Advisory Committee, to the faculty, and adopted Spring Quarter 2008:

All students who miss mandatory department calls [department meetings, auditions, strikes, advising sessions, department finals night, juries if required by program, production meetings and design meetings] will receive the following:

• First offense: Warning with a copy of the letter in the student’s academic file
• Second offense: Along with the letter in the file, must meet with their faculty advisor.
• Third offense: Along with the letter in the file, will be placed on Production Probation and will not be considered for department awards.
• Fourth offense: Along with the letter in the file, will be placed on Production Suspension and will not be considered for department awards.
• Fifth offense: A fifth and final letter is placed in the student’s file. The student will be terminated from the major. 

Production Probation

Assignments on, and casting in, shows will be considered on an individual and special basis.  Although the student may participate in production, care will be taken to assure the student has their priorities in the proper order and understand the importance of a well-rounded and successful academic career as first priority.

Production Suspension

Student is withdrawn from all production and will not be allowed to participate in production until the suspension is removed.

Note:

• Students who receive an F in a theatre course will be placed on Production Probation and moved directly to Offense Three.
• If a student cannot attend a department call for a legitimate reason, the student is required to get permission to miss the meeting by emailing the Chair at least 48 hours prior to the mandatory call. After-the-fact requests for release will require appropriate documentation and are strongly discouraged.
• When a student completes all course requirements for the major, he/she is excused from mandatory department calls. If you receive a warning letter without appropriate reason, please notify the chair immediately.
• The current and three previous quarters will remain on file when calculating reprimand notices
• Faculty will consider letters of Reprimand in the student file when giving recommendations.

3. Prerequisites for Theatre courses:

Admission to any Theatre Arts course, which has prerequisites, requires either a suitable placement score/audition or grade of  C- or better in each listed prerequisite to that course. Failure to meet this requirement means that the student must wait until the next time the course is offered and repeat the prerequisite course, pass it with a C- or better.