If you have questions that are not included here or additional questions about the program in theater, film, and media studies, contact the chair of the department, Joanne Klein, at jrklein@smcm.edu.
Can I get involved in shows and films if I am not a major?
Absolutely! Auditions for main stage theater productions are open to the entire campus community, and casts typically include students from a mix of major programs. Many of our key players in shows and films have been historians, biologists, psychologists, and other majors or double-majors. Opportunities for performing on stage, working behind the scenes, or getting involved in film productions are equally available to all students, regardless of their major.
Do you cast first-year students in shows?
We frequently cast first-year students in main stage shows, even in leading roles. One of the benefits of a small college is that so many opportunities are available to everybody, regardless of class standing. You can become involved in whatever you are qualified to do, almost instantly.
Can I combine a major in theater, film, and media studies with another subject?
Our students often combine theater, film, and media with a second major. We have had students graduate with double-majors in art, psychology, music, English, history, philosophy, and so on. One student even graduated with a triple-major in theater, political science, and economics! Another attractive opportunity is combining theater, film, and media studies with one of the cross-disciplinary minors, such as Asian Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, Environmental Studies, or Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Can I major only in theater, film, and media studies?
The Department of Theater, Film, and Media Studies offers majors in two focus areas: 1) theater studies and 2) film and media studies. The two focus areas share some course work, but each has its own curriculum. Each focus area also includes some electives within its requirements so that students may further specialize in areas of their particular interest within the field.
View requirements of the theater studies major and film and media studies major.
Do you offer minors?
Yes, we offer minors in theater studies, film and media studies, and dance/movement. Minors require 20 credit hours of course work, which typically means completion of five courses. Some courses are specified and some are electives.
What opportunities do you offer for students who want to be involved in making films?
Students make films in conjunction with classes, as independent projects, or for the sheer fun of it. Opportunities for becoming involved as performers or behind-the-scenes assistants are plentiful and are publicized on our bulletin boards, web site, local media, fliers, and through e-mail distribution lists.
What kinds of films do students make?
Some students make short or even full-length fiction films, some make experimental films, and others make documentaries on a variety of local and international subjects. In the recent past, teams of students, faculty, and staff have collaborated on such projects as a full-length original thriller, two short expressionistic films, a documentary about the local housing crisis, a documentary on child gymnasts, a documentary on campus feminism, and ethnographies on Ghana, Nicaragua, and Senegal.
What kinds of shows do you do?
We select the shows for each season in order to produce a wide array of theater from various cultures, time periods, and performance styles. Students have the opportunity to assist with season selection. The department has been widely praised – even by notables such as Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner – for the quality and ambitiousness of its choices. A typical season of shows might include a Shakespeare, a student-written Japanese noh performance, an American classic, and an outdoor agit-prop extravaganza performed with the world-famous Bread and Puppet troupe. For more examples of our range, see our Gallery of productions.
Do you ever do musicals?
We collaborate with the Department of Music on a musical every three or four years. Past musicals have included A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Blood Brothers, Happy End, The Threepenny Opera, and The Colored Museum. Our 2005-2006 season included a production of Hair and our 2009-2010 season featured Cabaret. In spring 2013, TFMS and Music co-produced Studs Terkel’s musical-of-the-working class, Working. Students have also produced musicals and musical revues in the student-run theater lab and participated in productions of opera and opera scenes.
See our Gallery of productions
See our Gallery of productions
Do you have a dance program?
Our dance and movement program thrives on steady offerings of courses in modern dance, African dance, hip hop, dance improvisation and composition, dance history, and a variety of movement skills that may include clowning, stage combat, mask, period styles, and characterization. Students have formed several dance clubs that sponsor workshops and performances. We produce a dance concert as part of the main stage season at least every three years, sometimes more frequently, and offer a dance/movement minor for those interested in pursuing a concentrated course of study in this area.
Do you have a student-run season?
We have a second performance space, The White Room, that is completely run by students, who annually elect a committee to oversee the shows produced in this lab. All students are welcome to serve on the committee and to propose projects that might be student-written, student-directed, and/or student-designed for production in the lab. Some years are more active than others, depending on student initiative, but a typical year would include 4-6 student productions in this space.
What are your filmmaking facilities like?
There are currently four filmmaking and post-production facilities on campus, one located in the Baltimore Hall Library (the Media Center) and the other three located in Montgomery Hall (the Pro-Lab, Learning Lab, and the TFMS Editing Room, or Digital Video Lab). Each facility is variously equipped with an array of technology for supporting high-end digital video work, including an audio/video editing and recording studio, editing stations, and utilities for story-boarding and for producing professional-level DVDs. Students have produced a range of creative projects by using these facilities and their technologies, from short-form interview documentaries to full-length movies with special effects.
Can I get involved behind the scenes?
We offer all kinds of opportunities for students to become involved on crews or in design and technical positions off stage. Regardless of major or class standing, students are welcome to help build and paint scenery, sew costumes, run sound or lights, stage manage shows, manage properties, or even design, if their qualifications are fitting.
For more information about these opportunities, visit the Majors Handbook
Can I direct a show?
We offer several kinds of opportunities to students who would like to direct. Any student can propose to direct a show in the student-run lab, The White Room. Students also serve as assistant directors in the main stage season.
Can I design sets, lights, or costumes?
We offer several kinds of opportunities to students who would like to design scenery, lights, and/or costumes. Any student can design a show in the student-run lab. Students also serve as assistant designers and designers in the main stage season and they have the opportunity to propose designing a fully-mounted St. Mary’s Project on the main stage during their senior year.
What kind of courses in theater studies do you offer?
We pride ourselves on offering a full curriculum of up-to-date courses in theater history, dramatic literature, performance theory, acting, directing, design, technical theater, dance, and movement. In addition to this solid array, we offer courses in Japanese performance, film and media studies, African-American theater, auditioning, voice and speech, and various kinds of performance experiment. Our curriculum supports our belief that a liberal arts education is the best preparation for theater scholars and artists.
Click here for more information about our theater studies curriculum.
What kind of courses in film and media studies do you offer?
Film and media studies courses are taught across the College curriculum by faculty in theater, film, and media studies, art and art history, English, international languages and cultures, political science, and history. Exemplary courses include study of film history, international cinemas, genres, media, art history, production design technologies, performance, and time-based digital video.
Click here for more information about our film and media studies curriculum.
Can I undertake a St. Mary’s Project in theater, film, and media, even if I’m not a major?
Yes. Students who have majored in biology, chemistry, and sociology, for example, have undertaken creative St. Mary’s Projects in theater as theater festival producers and playwrights; and recently, students have produced both short interview documentaries and full-length films as SMPs. If non-majors would like to do a creative project in theater or in film/media, we strongly encourage them to consult with a faculty member in TFMS before proposing a project.
Is it possible to collaborate on St. Mary’s Projects in theater or media studies?
Absolutely. Students have collaborated on St. Mary’s Projects by producing a theater festival at SMCM that showcased work from local high schools and by directing, performing, and designing for our main stage season. Opportunities abound for collaborative creative projects in theater as producers, designers, directors, performers, or choreographers, as well as in film/media as screenwriters, film directors, or production designers.