Theatre and Dance

The Theatre and Dance production season serves as a laboratory for the department’s curriculum while fostering cross-campus collaboration with open participation and auditions. All students attending Western Washington University can be involved regardless of their major.  Each season students can utilize what they have learned while collaborating on productions with faculty and peers, creating theatrical and dance performances for the community to enjoy.  The production season is primarily supported by DRAC and traditionally includes 7 to 8 shows each academic year. DRAC funding provides WWU students with opportunities to perform, direct, stage manage, choreograph, create costumes, build scenery, design lights, create sound effects and to serve as crew members backstage during a production.

In addition, DRAC funds help to employ our students in the Costume Shop, Costume Storage, Scene Shop, and Administrative Office. Student employees are essential to our main stage productions and work side by side with our professional employees learning valuable career skills. As with our productions, these positions are open for all students to apply.

Each year the Theatre and Dance Department supports student travel to conferences such as the United States Technical Theatre Conference, the American College Dance Association and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. These conferences allow students to attend performances, workshops, auditions, portfolio reviews, and interviews while providing a platform to participate in competitions for scholarships. DRAC dollars help offset the travel expenses for student participants and serves as an important extracurricular educational experience open to all WWU students.

These conferences have also garnered impressive recognition for WWU students;

• 2019 Theatre graduate Megan Huynh was the winner of the Irene Ryan acting competition
• 2020 and 2022 Theatre graduates Jay Chavez and Jessica Moreland were recipients of the Kennedy Center’s National Undergraduate Playwriting Award. As regional award winners, both students were invited to the national Kennedy Center Conference in Washington DC, funded by the Kennedy Center.
• In 2019, 2021 and 2022, WWU students won the Student Directing Initiative Fellowship with Audrey Delaney-Hanna, Erin Smith, and Katie Ginther representing the program nationally
• 2022 Elijah Rakha-Sheketoff was one of the two regional finalists for The Institute for Theatre Journalism and Advocacy for this year’s KCACTF competition. Elijah represented the region nationally that spring!

For the 2019 conference, WWU’s student-devised production HereToo-WWU, was selected to be showcased at the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Fort Collins, CO.  This prestigious commendation was the result of a nomination by a jury of theatre professors who select the best productions in the region to highlight at the conference. This honor to represent Western Washington University with an original performance created by a collaborative ensemble is a wonderful opportunity for our students.  HereToo-WWU went on to receive national awards from the Kennedy Center as did our production of how to clean your room (and remember all your trauma) by Jay Chavez.

DRAC funding has helped to bring guest artists to campus to work with students including Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Spectrum Dance Theater Company, Blessed Unrest, Hand to Mouth Theatre, the Liz Gerring Dance Company, socio-political artists Anya Cloud and Rebecca Bryant, as well as artists from the Trisha Brown Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

The Spectrum Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey, Liz Gerring, and other choreographic residencies introduce WWU students to internship and career opportunities with these professional companies. Working with these internationally recognized choreographers has been invaluable for our students and audiences as it shares the power of dance for social justice.

DRAC has also allowed professional designers, stage managers and directors to work on our season productions, giving our students a chance to work alongside the best in the field.  This opportunity for networking and connection are critical for success in the artistic community.

The Theatre and Dance production season serves as a laboratory for the department’s curriculum, although auditions and participation in productions are open to all students attending Western Washington University regardless of their major.  Each season students can utilize what they have learned while collaborating on productions with faculty and peers, creating theatrical and dance performances for the community to enjoy.  The production season is primarily supported by DRAC and traditionally includes 7 to 8 shows each academic year. DRAC funding provides WWU students with opportunities to perform, direct, stage manage, choreograph, create costumes, design and build scenery, design lighting, create sound effects and to serve as “run crew” backstage during a production.  Due to Western Washington University’s quality productions, and the experience our students have working on them, Theatre and Dance has earned two dedicated internship spots each year at the OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL.  This is a huge asset for our students to have this opportunity to intern at the largest and longest running repertory theatre in the country!  Currently we have 3 recent alumni who have gone on to accept full time positions with the company.

Each year the Theatre and Dance Department supports student travel to conferences such as; the United States Technical Theatre Conference, the American College Dance Association and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. These conferences allow students to attend performances, workshops, auditions, portfolio reviews, interviews and to participate in competitions for scholarships. DRAC dollars help offset the travel expenses for student participants. This travel serves as an important extracurricular educational experience and is open to all WWU students.  These conferences have also garnered impressive recognition for WWU students; 2019 Theatre graduate Megan Huynh was the winner of the Irene Ryan acting competition, and 2017 Theatre graduate Zoe Jovanovich was the co-recipient of the Kennedy Center’s National Undergraduate Playwriting Award.  As regional award winners, both students were invited to the national Kennedy Center Conference in Washington DC, funded by the Kennedy Center.  For the 2019 conference, WWU’s student-devised production HereToo-WWU, was selected to be showcased at the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Fort Collins, CO.  This prestigious commendation was the result of a nomination by a jury of theatre professors who select the best productions in the region to highlight at the conference. This honor to represent Western Washington University with an original performance created by a collaborative ensemble is a wonderful opportunity for our students.

DRAC funding has helped to bring guest artists to campus to work with our students including; Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Spectrum Dance Theater Company, Blessed Unrest, Hand to Mouth Theatre and The Liz Gerring Dance Company. DRAC has also allowed professional designers, stage managers and directors to work on our season productions, giving our students a chance to work alongside the best in the field.  In addition, DRAC funds help to employ our students. Student employees are essential to our main stage productions and work in the Theatre and Dance Scene Shop, Costume Shop and Costume Storage side by side with our professional employees learning valuable career skills.

(For more information, please visit the website here)