Degree Requirements
Junior Qualifying Exam and Senior Thesis
The Theatre Degree is made up of a variety of classes and production opportunities for work on and offstage. Two crucial parts of the Reed Degree for all students across the college are the Junior Qualifying Examination and the Senior Thesis.
In Theatre, a student typically takes the Junior Qualifying early in the second semester of the junior year. The Theatre Junior Qual is based on the close study of a play, which is given to a student in advance for preparation. The examination assesses the student's ability to analyze the play in its historical and cultural context, engage in deep dramaturgical analysis, and close read the text. Each student then uses their close reading to envision their own production of the play, and then writes a series of short essays detailing their ideas for the play in performance. The faculty asks the student to think as actor, director, and designer and to anchor their ideas about production in a close reading of the play text. The final part of the Junior Qualifying Exam asks students to start brainstorming about possible areas of research for the senior thesis. A student's results on the examination factor into decisions about thesis research subject and possible production components.
A student who majors in Theatre/Literature will take a qualifying exam in each department. The student's exam will be evaluated in Theatre by the Theatre faculty, and in Literature by faculty from the interdisciplinary Theatre/Literature committee. Faculty will evaluate the Theatre/Literature exam based on the student's ability to close read a dramatic text, incorporate dramatic and literary theory, and craft an argument that blends approaches from both Theatre and Literature.
A student undertakes the senior thesis over the course of the senior year. In Theatre, a senior thesis is always centered on in depth research into a high stakes question about theatre and performance. Each student works with a faculty thesis advisor on this research and writing. Some students engage in production work as a means to test out the central question of the thesis. This production work must be proposed to and approved by the faculty; the faculty consider results on the junior qualifying exam, record of department participation in production, and academic standing, and needs of the department budget and calendar, when considering the possibility of production work. Students have engaged in production work in the form of workshops, staged readings, full productions, and in all areas of theatre including devising, dramaturgy, design, acting, playwriting, and performance studies.
Requirements for the Major
See the college catalog for .
Minor in Theatre
The goal of the theatre minor is to ensure a strong understanding of theatre practice and theory across the field, including production work through the theatre laboratory. We encourage students to focus on a path of study according to their own interests in terms of research and practice.
Requirements for the Minor
See the college catalog for .