The department's Open Space program gives students opportunities to direct and act in studio productions of their own choosing. Students in the directing class produce a series of one-act plays each fall. Students have arranged summer internships in acting, directing, technical theatre, and design with professional theatres throughout the country, including Seattle Repertory, Pan-Asian Repertory, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Actors' Theatre of Louisville. Other students have interned with Iowa Public Television. Grinnell theatre students also have the opportunity to work as crew members at various public events and touring productions at the college.
Students often take initiative and create independent student theatre groups.
Students also are encouraged to do their own independent study. In the past two years, students have developed independent projects in playwriting, advanced lighting design, sound design, CADD drafting, stage management, advanced acting, Asian American theatre, contemporary critical theory, and production management. Facilities Grinnell's Bucksbaum Center for the Arts has two theatresRoberts, which seats about 500, and Flanagan Studio, which has variable seating with a maximum of 120. Construction on a major addition to the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts, which will allow the theatre department to expand academic and performance offerings, began in the summer of 1996 and will be completed by the spring of 1999. Career Opportunities Theatre majors at Grinnell pursue diverse careers.