Subject at Iowa
Iowa has been pushing the boundaries of theatre for more than 100 years. We're just getting started.
Throughout the theatre arts profession, from regional and big-city companies to college and university programs, Iowa's Department of Theatre Arts is famous for producing two things: innovative new plays and outstanding graduates.
Our university's revolutionary approach to arts education in the 1920s and 1930s, which fostered the legendary Iowa Writers' Workshop, also brought dramatists to campus to what is now known as the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Our first chair of theatre arts, the indefatigable and fearless E. C. Mabie, championed these new playwrights' works, establishing the reputation Iowa still enjoys today as a powerhouse of original theatre.
A couple of years after the UI opened its cutting-edge (for 1936) new Theatre Building, Life magazine predicted that in 20 years, Iowa would become a "cultural wonder of the world." We did exactly that—and we're still going strong today.
Why Iowa?
When you major in theatre arts, you're doing more than enrolling in a degree program. You're joining a supportive and creative community, nestled in the heart of a major university, in America's most celebrated literary city.
Guided by professors drawn from the professional theatre world, you and your student teammates will bring multiple works of original theatre to life in state-of-the-art performance spaces.
You'll train in every aspect of theatre production, using traditional and digital tools and techniques:
- Acting
- Set, costume, lighting, and audio design
- Playwriting/dramaturgy
- Directing
- Tech
- Stage management
You'll explore the ways the theatre arts have shaped and reflected the human experience, and learn to use theatre as a lens for considering and promoting social justice. And you'll have opportunities to work internships and to job-shadow working artists in off-campus professional theatre settings.
We welcome everyone with an interest in theatre--you don't have to audition to join our major. And because the major requires only 36 credits, almost two-thirds of our students have a second major. With more than 200 areas of study at Iowa, you can combine programs to create a personalized education that will help you stand out in the job market.
The Iowa experience
Our faculty and staff are artists and scholars dedicated to teaching, creative production, and research. All faculty members serve as mentors and advisors on student productions, readings, and workshops. They are accessible, supportive, and committed to their students.
Mission and history
Our university's revolutionary approach to arts education in the 1920s and 1930s, which fostered the legendary Iowa Writers' Workshop, also brought dramatists to campus to what is now known as the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.
25-30
Student-led productions of original work each year
64 %
Theatre Arts students with a double major
2:1
Student-to-faculty ratio in the MFA program