Theatre
The artist-scholar. That is the animating principle behind Middlebury Theatre, where students immerse themselves in all aspects of theatre making and in the rigorous study of theatre’s many histories, theories, practices, and literatures.
Through a process that is both creative and collaborative, students delve into the latest movements in theatre design, acting, stage management, playwriting, and directing.
At its core, the department aims to be an artistic home where students reimagine traditional distinctions and strive to become innovators and collaborators, capable of shaping our culture.
Get Involved
Auditions
Design and Technology
Master Classes and Workshops
Traditions
Professional Connections
Interdisciplinary Curriculum
The Theatre Department offers a diversity of courses designed to provide a balance between the study of history, literature, and theory, and the making of theatre.
Theatre itself is inherently interdisciplinary, and our students enjoy exploring connections between classes offered in dramatic literature, visual creativity, the creative process, playwriting, acting (improvisation, scene study, acting styles), directing, set design, lighting design, and costume design. As a program in a liberal arts setting, students also reference classes taken outside the discipline in order to provide depth and context.
Our Productions
Each year we stage numerous full-scale productions that involve theatre majors and faculty as well as others from the community who audition. We also offer workshops and smaller-scale performances featuring our many artists in residence. More about productions.
Our Facilities
The performing arts are central to Middlebury’s life and culture. Students have a multitude of facilities available for their use, including a design lab with plotters, drafting, and rendering stations, two scene and costume shops, a lighting lab equipped with a grid and an ETC Ion console, and acting labs. Venues include Wright Memorial Theatre, Seeler Studio Theatre, and Hepburn Zoo Theatre.
Seeler Studio Theatre
The Seeler Studio Theatre is a modern black-box theatre with flexible seating for up to 165 audience members, a full catwalk system, and a fully-equipped shop adjacent to it.
Wright Memorial Theatre
Wright Memorial Theatre is a 350-seat proscenium theatre with a full fly system, lighting grid, and removable fore stage. It is adjacent to a fully equipped scene shop.
Learning Spaces
- Rehearsal Studios
- Design Studios
- Lighting Lab
- Scene Shops
- Costume Shops
- Hepburn Zoo Theatre
Featured Events
More Events-
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Art vs. the Apocalypse Movement Workshop "Embodying Stories"
This movement workshop led by Theresa May combines embodied practice with questions about how our bodies serve as sources for creativity. The body has knowledge; the body contains memory; the body is a source of stories. How is your body a gateway to creativity, imagination, memory, and freedom of expression? How are imagination, voice, emotion and physicality connected? How can you be present and empowered in and through your body? How is language embodied? What might it mean to have a physical “practice” that opens your heart and creative imagination?
Mahaney Arts Center 232
Closed to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Art / Apocalypse: Fishbowl Symposium
Join us for a dynamic conversation with guest speakers and community members about how art can reflect, engage, and resist apocalyptic ideas and futures.
Wilson Hall, McCullough Student Center
Open to the Public -
Art vs. the Apocalypse Arts Workshop
Ibiyinka Olufemi Alao, Nigeria’s art ambassador to the United Nations, visual artist, filmmaker, architect and author will lead a visual art (painting) workshop as part of the Art vs the Apocalypse event. Alao’s paintings center redemption, peace and love, and lately reflect a long-standing fascination with fireflies. Materials provided. Open to Middlebury College students.
Mahaney Arts Center 221
Closed to the Public