In coordination with the College of Fine Arts mission, the School of Performing Arts enables students to develop knowledge, skills and collaborative tools for a career in the expanding fields of Theatre, Dance or Musical Theatre and for a lifetime of learning and creativity.

To become so infused in the success of other programs across the university and so thoroughly instrumental to the vitality of the metropolitan area that it is widely regarded as indispensable.

• Education: With strong ties to the Wichita community through partnerships, internships and collaborations that extend its curriculum, the School of Performing Arts is an “urban laboratory” that values its role as the area’s leader in preparing students for successful careers in the performing arts.

• Inspiration: We value our potential as a “front door” to WSU through which students and audiences may enter, imagine, discover, learn and be inspired throughout their lives.

• Achievement: The school embraces its responsibility to serve as a significant cultural trust for Kansas and the nation.

• Critical Thinking: Students completing a degree program in theatre, dance or musical theatre will have completed projects that synthesize artistic concepts into actual bodies of work, illustrating critical thinking skills.

• Communication Skills: Students completing a degree program in theatre, dance or musical theatre will be able to express information cogently, completely, and concisely in both written and oral form.

• Knowledge of the Discipline: Students completing a degree program in theatre, dance or musical theatre will have knowledge of the general practices and major components of the arts discipline. Specifically, this knowledge will be demonstrated by an understanding of the art form’s history, theory, criticism, literature, fundamental skill areas, production principles and interdisciplinary collaboration.

• Career Preparation: Students completing a degree program in theatre, dance or musical theatre will acquire a foundation for a career as a graduate student, public school teacher, professional artist, or a professional in an allied field.

• Performance Experience: Students completing a degree program in theatre, dance or musical theatre will participate in the production of plays, musicals or dance concerts as well as classroom performances and practicum assignments. This opportunity for experiential learning will require the demonstration and application of knowledge of both the art and the craft of the disciplinary concentration.

• Creative Development: Students completing a degree program in theatre, dance or musical theatre will develop and communicate a sense of their own creative process, individual style and personal aesthetic.