Theater BA / Arts Management MA - Academic Experience

Students benefit from numerous extended learning and professionalization opportunities throughout the year. Professional guest artists are brought in regularly to teach workshops, direct and design and productions, and lead seminars on topics relevant to the field. Through these guest artists, UB students have been able to be part of several world premiere productions. Our Alumni Lecture Series brings in UB graduates to provide networking opportunities for current students. Through generous alumni funding, students are able to produce several fully funded student productions each year under the mentorship of Theatre & Dance faculty. Students are also able to work alongside professional artists and technicians at the Center for the Arts, and gain experience in a large presenting venue. And finally, in the Arts Management Program, students regularly interact with policy makers, artists, and arts managers through guest lectures (in our Why Manage the Arts Speaker Series and others), site visits, and intensive study opportunities both domestically and abroad.

Performance production, and practice are essential components of this BA/MA curriculum. Our students prepare for professional careers through various research,  creative and management activities both on and off campus at nationally recognized theatres and organizations. 

The Theatre and Dance department produces 8 shows annually. Students can begin working on productions as early as their first semester and perform starting in their second-semester freshman year. Course credit is available for approved production and performance work in off-campus, professional productions. The Department has longstanding relationships with several professional theatres in Buffalo, where our students obtain internships in production, management, and marketing, as well as regularly perform.

In the MA portion of this degree track, students lead projects at arts and cultural institutions in two experiential learning courses. In addition, the Program has established relationships with a number of arts and cultural institutions in Buffalo and on campus that provide paid internships and jobs for students while undertaking their course of study.

The Department of Theatre & Dance offers an immersive study abroad experience in London during the winter session. Students are led on a guided discovery of London’s artistic and cultural world. Instruction takes place on site at some of the world’s most fascinating historic, cultural, and performing arts venues, as well as while attending an extensive line up of performances across a wide range of mediums, genres, and styles.

The Arts Management Program offers an intensive 10-day study program each summer. The location changes each year, but is always built on active experiences and the relevant critical theory needed in order to develop students into effective arts managers in today's global business landscape. That includes, most importantly, exposure to and first-hand experience with arts management models of art funding, subventions, legislations, policies, and practices.  Past study abroad include: Costa Rica, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Singapore, and Stockholm among others.

Dancers Workshop, a student-run organization, also generates a production annually. Workshop advisors are members of the faculty. The Guild, a student theatre and dance organization, develops and supports student-directed workshop productions.

From the Wings is a student organization that offers non-credit performance opportunities for music theatre majors and others in the department with an interest in musical theatre performance. Music Theatre faculty serve as advisors and mentors for this group.

Paid technical assistant positions are available with the CFA Production Department. To apply, please call (716) 645-6926.

See the UB Student Association webpage.

• College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Departmental Award
• College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior Award
• Departmental Honors