Theatre & Dance Program

Theatre & Dance

If you can dream it, you can do it

Theatre & Dance Program at UCCS

Theatre & Dance offers exciting major options within the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. A confluence of acting technique, movement, technical theatre, directing, and theatre and dance history, Theatre & Dance endeavors to develop our students' myriad skills to create a whole artist and scholar.

The Theatre & Dance Program is dedicated to the liberal arts model, creating a holistic approach to the performing arts that combines practice and scholarship. We are similarly dedicated to cutting-edge curriculum development, working across disciplinary boundaries to integrate diverse pedagogical methods and performance traditions. Our students are defined by their rigor and their intensity - we engage them not only in the classroom, but also through contributions at all levels and positions within the performance world (performer, designer, director, dramaturge, and more). Our faculty is made up of scholar-artists who all have active artistic practices.

Academics
Faculty
Facilities
Productions
Alumni Stories
Giving
Scholarships
Contact Us

Director's Welcome

Dr. Kevin Landis
Director, Theatre & Dance Program

The Theatre & Dance Program is a one-of-a-kind undergraduate experience and we hope that you will join us as audience members or as students. We offer a major and minor in both theatre and dance.

The basic sequence of required courses is designed to provide the student with a theoretical/historical grounding in the art of the theatre and dance and the opportunity to put theories into practice in performance situations. But the program is so much more; we offer world-class opportunities for our students and patrons. Students have the chance to work at TheatreWorks, a professional regional theatre company; travel to London and New York; meet some of the world's greatest theatre and dance practitioners during their visits for the Prologue Lecture Series; and devise, direct, and create in the Overlook Dance and Movement Studio and Osborne Studio Theatre.

The philosophy of the program is that "if you can dream it, you can do it," and we endeavor to help you fulfill your scholarly and artistic dreams.

Kevin Landis, Ph.D., M.F.A.

Academic Programs

 

Course Descriptions

Theatre & Dance Faculty

VAPA faculty in Theatre & Dance are celebrated historians and theorists of their craft as well as performers, choreographers, directors, and dramaturgs in their own right. Come learn with some of the most vibrant faculty on campus.

Program Facilities
three people dancing in studio with large windows overlooking Front Range
Landis Family Overlook Studio

This studio is a practice and performance space with unobstructed views to the south and west. Fully outfitted for dance, the space has ballet barres and state-of-the-art sprung marley floors. 

Osborne Theatre with minimal set design
Osborne Theatre

The Osborne Theatre is the main performance venue for full-scale collaborative theatre productions and for VAPA Theatre student productions. A flexible black-box theatre with a professional control booth, the Osborne can be rearranged in multiple configurations and seat up to 120 people. 

Dusty Loo Bon Vivant theatre space with no people or scenery
Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater

The Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theatre is the home of Theatreworks, the professional theatre company at the Ent Center for the Arts. Student productions are scheduled here once yearly. This black box theater seats up to 300 and has a partially trapped floor and a rolling gantry, designed to facilitate flexible performance configurations. 

Acting studio with eleven people in masks
Acting Studio

The Acting Studio adjoins the Osborne Theatre and is VAPA Theatre & Dance's main acting space. Classes and rehearsals for main stage productions start here, in a beautiful room with sprung floors, floor to ceiling mirrors and breathtaking views of Pikes Peak. 

Arts multi-use classroom with storage, tables/chairs, and podium
VAPA Interdisciplinary Arts Lab

The VAPA Interdisciplinary Arts Lab (ECFA 245) is a multiuse, collaborative space for the interdisciplinary curriculum of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts programs (Film Studies, History of Art & Visual Culture, Music, Theatre & Dance, Visual Arts), equipped with an array of technology and resources including multi-media technology, installation and sculpture capabilities, sound, green screen for film, and more.

Ent Center Set Shop
Ent Center Set Shop

The Ent Center Set Shop is VAPA's headquarters for technical theatre classes and production builds. The shop is outfitted with the best tools and equipment and includes our Tech Classroom, complete with a lighting grid and plenty of space to practice construction, painting and design. 

Alumni Stories

Staci Mize
Actor and Stage Director

Staci Mize is a stage director and actor in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from UCCS in 2018 with a BA in Theatre before completing an MFA in directing from UCLA. Before coming to UCCS, Staci wasn't sure whether the school would meet her goals, but upon meeting with Professor Kevin Landis, she knew the program was a great fit because Landis and other faculty had the kind of background and experience she needed. Landis, along with other faculty members, helped Staci find her path through college. Mize found that one of the greatest perks of UCCS was the number of opportunities she found, both to create her own work and to network with other creators. One of her favorite classes in the Theatre major was “Clown Performance,” which she says has allowed her to stand out from other artists in LA. She also enjoyed “Nationalism, Romanticism, and Melodrama” because it gave her, “a good dramaturgical look at art,” and allowed her to “come at [art] from a very different perspective than a lot of schools are teaching.” Mize’s advice to students who are looking at UCCS’s Theatre program? "Jump in with both feet. Immerse yourself in the entire experience."

Robbie Armstrong
Broadway Stage Manager

Professional stage manager Robbie Armstrong III currently manages the Broadway show Once Upon a One More Time. He began acting in middle and high school, but knew he would rather work behind the scenes. Armstrong notes that UCCS was a great choice because it allowed him to “dabble and play” with different aspects of theatre production and that faculty taught him how to make art that moves him without his being the performer. Some of Robbie’s favorite memories at UCCS are of classes and of community building during his time as a Resident Assistant, experiences he credits with giving him the foundational leadership and communication skills that he uses daily as a stage manager. Armstrong says that the program in Theatre & Dance gave him many opportunities to meet people in the theatre community and to network with these other creatives. He adds that UCCS is unlike any other school he has seen because students “get the maximum value of everything” relative to UCCS’s size and price. Robbie’s advice to prospective UCCS students is to take advantage of the fact that UCCS is an “opportunity school--you can always find a way to be a leader or take charge in whatever you want."

Theatre & Dance Productions and Prologues
People watching Eiko Otake perform
Eiko Otake

Renowned dance artist Eiko Otake performing in the lobby of the Ent Center during a residency

people around table with animated expressions and musicians in background
Indecent

VAPA Theatre & Dance production of Indecent by Paula Vogel

people in dance studio during workshop
David Dorfman dance workshop

UCCS Dance students participate in a workshop by David Dorfman

actors on stage with reindeer sculpture
Peer Gynt

VAPA Theatre & Dance production of Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen

people posing for photo with actress Allison Janney
Allison Janney workshop

UCCS Theatre & Dance students after workshop with Oscar-winning actress Allison Janney

two actors on a couch in costume, one with a paper and one laughing
A Flea in Her Ear

Image from VAPA Theatre production of A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Feydeau

Dohee Lee dancing in field with flag and mountain backdrop
Dohee Lee

Performance during Heller Center dance residency with Dohee Lee

people at a table with wine in glasses and one person standing
The Art of Dining

VAPA Theatre & Dance production of The Art of Dining by Tina Howe

two people seated in chairs on stage, one with a mic
Prologue

Prologue with Kim Fields and Bonita Hamilton

people on open-air stage with couch and cage
No Exit

COVID-era production of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

students on set and screen in Manual Cinema workshop
Manual Cinema residency

Part of a workshop during the Manual Cinema residency

people on stage with swords
Everybody

UCCS Theatre & Dance production of Everybody by Branden Jacob Jenkins

person in costume acting as Medea
Medea

VAPA Theatre & Dance performance of Medea by Euripides

dancers in mood lighting on moving stairs
Hecatomb

Theatre & Dance student Olivia Langley's senior dance performance project, Hecatomb

Sam Waterston talking with audience after Prologue
Sam Waterston workshop

Acting workshop with Sam Waterston in VAPA Theatre & Dance

people dancing on stage with confetti
Hair

VAPA Theatre & Dance production of Hair by Galt McDermot

people on outdoor patio under strings of light telling stories
Campfire at the Heller Center

The Campfire, a storytelling and performance event at the Heller Center for the Arts & Humanities

Prologue Series

With support from VAPA and the Chancellor's Office, Theatre & Dance produces Prologue: Forums on American Theatre, a series including talks, performances, and hands-on workshops featuring prominent, active theatre-makers. The series provides opportunities for UCCS Theatre students to meet some of the top names in the field--actors, directors, and more--in small-group conversations outside the public talks.

View Past Events

 

Giving Opportunities

Excellence in Theatre Arts Endowed Scholarship Fund

This fund provides scholarship awards, which may include research-related expenses, for students involved in dance or theatre within the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at UCCS. Recipients will have a minimum GPA of at least 3.0.
Landis Family Endowed Theatre and Dance Travel Award Fund

The Landis Fund provides annual travel awards to students in the VAPA Theatre & Dance Program at UCCS.

Scholarships

UCCS offers two scholarships specifically for students in theatre and dance:

  • Landis Family Endowed Theatre and Dance Travel Award Fund: Provides annual travel awards to students in the Theatre & Dance Program in the UCCS Department of Visual & Performing Arts 

  • Excellence in Theatre Arts Endowed Scholarship Fund: Provides scholarship awards, which may include research-related expenses, for students involved in dance or theatre within the Department of Visual & Performing Arts at UCCS. Recipients will have a minimum GPA of at least 3.0.

For more information, please contact the Program Director.

Contact Us

Want to learn more about how UCCS Theatre & Dance can support your professional and academic goals? Interested in learning more about a faculty member's work? Contact us for more information.

 

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