Reader Question One: The Drama Department

First off, I just wanted to apologize for the lack of new posts over the past week. I hit a bit of a rough patch with my work where I had four things due at once, so, very unfortunately, didn't have the time to post. What can be learned about Vassar from this? Well, that the homework really isn't overwhelming, most of the time. The exception to this comes when you have the misfortune of having all your classes scheduling tests, papers, problem sets, and presentations for the same week.

Now that I've got that off my chest, on to business! Today's question:

My daughter is VERY interested in Vassar... we visited this summer & she fell in love with pretty much everything. She's intending to major in theatre... might you be able to share any interesting tidbits about that department?

First of all, let me just say that Vassar is a fantastic school for those interested in any of the arts. Not only are the dance, drama, music, and art departments all strong, but the extracurricular art scene is also quite impressive. There are two major dance groups on campus (VRDT and flypeople), eight A Capella groups (and one whistling group), six performing arts groups, five comedy & improv groups, a film group, and a variety of choral and instrumental groups offered both by the music department and student clubs. The best part about all these offerings, in my opinion, is how easy it is to become involved in them, regardless of major.

As to the question of a major in theatre... at Vassar, your daughter would probably be majoring in drama. I believe the department has somewhere between ten and fifteen professors and offers classes in both the performance and production aspects of theatre. Majors are required to take classes in both of these parts of the program, in order to encourage well-roundedness. Most of the classes are heavily grounded in theory: I have a friend who took the 102. Introduction to Theatre-Making: Theory & Practice course last year and remember him talking a lot about all of the theories of different directors and actors on performance and production that he learned in the course. At the same time, however, he did mention that they learned these theories partially through performance (scene studies, I think he called them). I haven't taken a drama class myself, but from what I've heard, the classes stress a combination of theory and performance.

The drama major consists of 10 1/2 credits, which is a bit less than most of the other majors offered at Vassar (all other departments that I know of require 11 to 13 credits). It also requires no senior thesis or project. This, I imagine, is partially because the department expects students involved in the department to be putting on performances and taking part in productions. It also, however, makes double-majoring in drama and a second department more of an option.

If you're looking for more information, I recommend you check out the Vassar College drama website: http://drama.vassar.edu/index.html.