Associate of Fine Arts In Musical Theatre

The AFA major in musical theatre provides a comprehensive education in the practical and academic aspects of musical theatre. Each semester is based around development of skills and competencies in the central areas of musical theatre performance: acting and voce, dance and singing. The degree offers a broad and holistic approach to the musical theatre, one that not only concentrates on performance from a participatory perspective (that is to say, on being a performer), but also prepares the student for the wide and exciting range of careers available in the performing arts industry. While musical theatre performance remains a central aspect of the program, students are also prepared for the vast array of work that supports and produces performance, such as directing and staging, creating written material for performance, production, management, marketing and funding of the performing arts. The program concentrates on live musical theatrical performance (with elements of recording used for diagnostic and development purposes), but at the same time a graduate is prepared for further study in the cognate specialisms in the performing arts, as well as for direct entry into a professional career. This is because the degree produces a wide spectrum of transferable skills such as effective presentational technique, expertise in using the voice and the body as communicative instruments, interpretational and compositional competency with written texts, management, marketing and fundraising abilities, and organizational skills. These are applicable not only in the context of the many career paths within performing arts, but also in a wide variety of social, cultural and business vocations.