See PIPPIN, directed by Jennifer S. Holmes, March 2019.
For more info, visit shannoncenter.org.
Our curtain rises to welcome you, to the Department of Theatre and Communication Arts at Whittier College.
Located 23 miles from the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the Department of Theatre and Communication Arts at Whittier College strives to provide a balanced preparatory foundation, exposing students to multiple approaches and applications of theatre. As part of a liberal arts institution, the department focuses on providing both breadth and depth in the field, encouraging students to develop interdisciplinary connections, to demonstrate the collaborative nature of this discipline, and to articulate their own critical presentation of theatre, both as an artistic art form and as a cultural artifact.
Each year the Department of Theatre and Communication Arts produces up to four faculty directed productions in the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts. As a student, these productions afford you multiple opportunities to engage in theatre as a collaborative process. You may contribute as a performer, stage manager, assistant stage manager, assistant director, designer, assistant designer, and/or as a member of various construction and running crews, including: scenery, costumes, lighting, and props. Any student enrolled at Whittier College is eligible to participate in these productions, regardless of his or her major. These productions are presented in either the Robinson Theatre, a beautiful four-hundred seat proscenium theatre, or in the Studio Theatre, a black box theatre that seats up to 100 people.
You will also gain theatrical experience by acting in student-directed projects, performing in public class presentations, showcasing your designs at the end of each semester, and by presenting your senior project to an invited public. The department also sponsors various workshops and classroom visits by visiting theatre artists, as well as theatrical excursions to downtown Los Angeles and other southern California locations, including the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory Theatre, and the Odyssey Theatre.
Graduating majors from the Whittier College theatre program will have the tools to pursue a professional career, graduate studies, or continue their path as life long appreciators of the theatrical arts. Recent graduates have found that their education in the department has prepared them for careers in personnel, education, sales and advertising, business, law, and publishing, as well as acting, directing, design and technical direction, writing, film, television, and the themed entertainment industry.
