For instance, a costume designer with a fashion background and strong rendering skills might qualify for exemption from certain studio classes but need to augment his or her training with undergraduate dramatic literature and history of theatre classes. The reverse might be true for a student with a strong theatre background, someone who is well read in dramatic literature but needs to supplement his or her basic training with intensive work in figure drawing, architectural rendering, or studio painting classes. Both theoretical and practical work characterize the training in all programs. Students participate in design teams, and in collaboration they conceive and plan, on paper and in models, theoretical productions for specific theaters. In their final year of study, each student develops, with faculty supervision, a thesis project which is executed in minute detail in accordance with the highest professional standards.
Designers complete full designs and technical planning for a production.
Production students present detailed budgets and either plans or patterns for a production design to be produced in a specific theater. The Theatre Education program provides a unique opportunity for unusually experienced, able, and mature theatre artists hoping to become professional trainers in movement, voice, and speech or other related theatrical crafts. Drawing on the professional training expertise of the faculty, Theatre Education students and their faculty mentors lay out individualized programs of study that focus on strong teaching specialties set in a full understanding of all aspects of performance and production. A minimum of two years is normally required to complete such programs of study. In their final year of study, each student develops, with faculty supervision, a thesis project which is executed in minute detail in accordance with the highest professional standards.