Music students participate in jazz and orchestral performances, operas, and chamber groups in every medium. Dance students perform a repertory of ballet and contemporary works that is unsurpassed in its diversity. Actors are cast in challenging works from the world's repertory of classical and contemporary plays. Theatrical design and production students light the shows, design and build costumes and sets, and manage the productions. There is no better preparation for careers in the arts than professionally mounted productions, in facilities designed to professional standards.
Graduates emerge ready to enter the profession.
Students are connected to the professional world through many channels, including their faculty, guest artists, and touring performances around the country and abroad. Also vital to the emerging artist is the professional network of thousands of successful alumni who are putting their training to work on the stages and screens of the world. School of the Arts alumni have distinguished themselves from the Metropolitan Opera to the Houston Ballet, from the Great Lakes Theater Festival to Merce Cunningham Dance Company, from Broadway to Hollywood. Virtually every orchestra in this country has had a School of the Arts alumnus in its ranks. Some of the finest ballet, theater, and opera companies the world over feature dance alumni in the corps, in starring roles, and behind the scenes.