Musical Theatre enthusiasts can rejoice over the new Musical Theatre certificate being offered by the Department of Theatre Arts in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. The certificate is an interdisciplinary effort between the theatre and music departments that aims to offer a more niche experience for students looking to either expand their theatre knowledge or dabble in theatre from outside of their main major.
Michell Granshaw, an associate professor and director of graduate studies for the Department of Theatre Arts, reached out to her colleagues about the possibility of an interdisciplinary certificate. Granshaw, along with Gianni Downs, a teaching professor and the director of undergraduate studies, Becki Toth, a teaching associate professor, and Annmarie Duggan, the chair of the department, formed a committee and reached out to Roger Zahab, the director of undergraduate studies and a teaching professor, and Susan Rice, also a teaching professor, in the Department of Music, to bring the idea from paper to the stage.
“You can't really understand musical theater unless you also understand how music works because that's so critical to the form and the genre. So, when we reached out to the music department, they were natural collaborators and also really excited about this program. Our goal with the certificate is to really give them that interdisciplinary experience,” said Granshaw. She says they intentionally designed it that way because of the strengths of the Music and Theatre Departments and says she thinks it can become a leading certificate in the country.
The certificate has a 21-credit requirement that includes 12 Theatre Arts credits, 6 Music credits, and 3 musical theatre elective credits. None of the classes are sequential, meaning you can take them at any time, which adds to the flexibility of the certificate.
Granshaw says they hope it provides an opportunity for students who aren’t majoring in Theatre but are interested in it to be involved in the department and future productions.
“We're excited about the musical theater certificate kind of continuing the ways we can serve not only specifically theater majors and minors, but also a lot of the students who it's really their passion, but it's not their major, or not their career direction.”
If you are interested in signing up for the certificate, you can find more information, including the full curriculum rundown, here.