Creativity and collaboration are hallmarks of theater at Connecticut College

The College's theater program emphasizes both performance and study of literature and theory. We challenge students to work in all aspects of theater—acting, directing, playwriting, design, technical theater, dramaturgy and dramatic literature—so that they understand and engage in the process of creating theater, from initial creative spark to performance and post-performance evaluation and criticism.

We believe that a broad liberal arts education in theater produces graduates who are adaptable and self-directed. They are strong communicators, resourceful and resilient leaders, and creative and team-oriented collaborators. Theater study and training is ideal preparation for a life as a thinking artist and productive member of society.

You can participate in our main stage productions as well as in independent productions sponsored by the department or by student groups. Works recently staged include “Cloud Nine;” “Detroit;” “As You Like It;” “Four Dead in Ohio: Antigone at Kent State,” an ensemble-adaptation created by the students; and “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel,” a collaboration with the departments of music and dance.The College's performing arts series, onStage, brings professional theater companies to campus for performances and workshops.

Other highlights:

  • Any student can audition for virtually any theater production. You don't have to be a theater major to audition or take part in a production.

  • All students are eligible for up to $3,000 for an internship, so you can take everything you’ve learned and put it to work. You can intern anywhere in the world, or locally through the College's long-standing affiliations with the nearby Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, and the Labyrinth Theater Company, which holds its annual training and developmental retreat here on campus. In recent years, students have completed summer internships at NYC's Pearl Theatre, the Culture Project, Signature Theatre, and The Public Theater, among others.

  • Theater students may choose to polish their skills in conservatory-based study away programs, such as the National Theater Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center. Our students have studied theater in Russia, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Many theater majors intend to make theater their career—as actors, directors, playwrights, stage-managers, technicians, producers or educators. Connecticut College alumni are administrators in New York theaters, stage-managers for professional companies, and actors in regional repertory companies, on television and in film.

Visit the theater department's website for more on the student experience, study away, research and news and events.

Events at a Glance

Box Office
 
 

Theater

Three Muses by Maurice Denis

Three Sisters

Tansill Theater, Hillyer Hall

Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, 2 p.m.

Play by Anton Chekhov

A new version by Sarah Ruhl

Based on a literal translation by Elise Thoron with Natasha Paramonova and Kristin Johnsen-Neshati

Directed by David Jaffe

Assistant Director: Jo Duckett ‘25

Director David Jaffe and company develop a new approach to Chekhov’s quintessential Russian story of three sisters who seek a way out of a provincial Russian town and yearn for the city of their childhood, Moscow. Of her version, Sarah Ruhl writes of her intention to focus on the sisters’ desire to defy their fate, rather than complain about it. This production seeks to activate Chekhov’s world in ways that speak to all of us who struggle with our dreams, our loves, and our families.

 

Purchase Tickets

Tickets: $10; Seniors: $5; Students: $5; CC Faculty & Staff: $5; CC Students: $5 (General Admission)

 

Theater

The Fountain by Marcel Duchamp

Urinetown

Athey Center, Palmer Auditorium

Friday, March 1, 2024, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 2, 2024, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 3, 2024, 2 p.m.

Music and lyrics by Mark Hollman

Book and lyrics by Greg Kotis 

Directed by Tess Cruz ‘16

Greed, love and revolution become monopolized in this year’s musical! Winner of three Tony Awards®, Urinetown satirizes capitalism, the legal system, populism, public toilets and “do-good” musical theater itself. Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Urinetownis wildly irreverent and no one is safe from its scrutiny and sharp wit.

Urinetown was produced on Broadway in September 2001 by the Araca Group and Dodger Theatricals in association with TheaterDreams, Inc., and Lauren Mitchell.

 

Purchase Tickets

Tickets: $15; Seniors: $10; Students: $10; CC FACULTY & STAFF: $5; CC STUDENTS: $5