Theatre Arts Degree Program

Explore the Theatre Arts degree program

A major that goes beyond acting, our Theatre Arts degree program dives deep into the heart of storytelling and stagecraft. If you have a love for the spotlight, Wayne State can build your foundation and make you a well-rounded performer. Mainstage productions at Wayne State give you the opportunity for acting, directing, costume design, special effects, lighting, and more.

In the Theatre Arts program, you'll have the opportunity to participate in the annual Kennedy Center American Theatre Festival Region V and tour with our children’s theatre. Or, join the WSC Drama Club, a thriving student organization with a busy programming schedule.

With a Theatre Arts degree, you’ll be prepared to steal the show on the big screen, or you can use your speaking talents to become an announcer, on-air personality, or even a salesperson. No matter what route you take, you’ll gain skills that are beneficial to any career, such as design, production, management, and even cultural awareness.

View program courses Download program fact sheet (PDF)

Fast facts

Degree options:

B.A. or B.S. in Communication Studies/Theatre Arts
Minor in Theatre

Delivery format: On campus (Wayne)

Program credit hours: 36 or 48

Communication studies core (18 credit hours)
Theatre arts concentration (18 or 30 credit hours)

Note: Students must also take 30 credit hours of General Studies courses. A total of 120 credit hours are needed to graduate from WSC. Additional majors or minors can be added to help meet graduation requirements.

School: Arts and Humanities

Department: Communication Arts

Prepare for your future

Opportunities and outcomes

Theatre and communication topics covered

Acting techniques and performance theory
Scene design, drafting, and construction
Directing methods and theories
History of American theatre or modern global drama
Stage lighting, color, and lighting equipment
Ethical and effective techniques in argumentation and rhetoric
Interpersonal and group communication
Listening, interviewing, and research
Management of communication in organizations

Student learning outcomes

Demonstrate knowledge of the basic concepts of interpersonal communication, public address, communication theory, organizational communication, and argumentation. Students demonstrate knowledge through exams, written materials, theatre performances, and classroom projects.
Demonstrate communication skill through student presentations in theatre productions, acting, workshops, forensics, interpersonal, small group, argumentation, public speaking, public relations, leadership, and organizational communication classes.
Demonstrate application of communication studies and theatre arts through participation in workshops, forensics, internships, service-learning projects, communication conference participation, and senior portfolio development.

Performance opportunities

Wayne State College offers multiple fall and spring productions each year. In the fall, an annual performance is held in the Black Box Theatre. In the spring, the annual children's play entertains hundreds of area elementary students in Ramsey Theatre. Additional plays in seasonal rotation offer further training and experience for students.

Theatre performance opportunities

Intercollegiate forensics

The Wayne State Forensics Team is a competitive speech team that provides students the opportunity to grow their skills in oral and written communication, critical thinking, research development, creativity, leadership, and confidence. The team competes regionally and nationally in a variety of public address and interpretation event categories, including communication analysis/rhetorical criticism; persuasive, informative, extemporaneous, impromptu, and after dinner speaking; and dramatic and prose interpretation.

WSC Forensics Team

Theatre arts internships

Our outstanding Career Services Office is available to help you find public relations internships and career opportunities. Students recently completed internships at the following locations:

Aquinas High School
Disney

Career services and internships

Graduates of the Theatre Arts degree program work in their chosen field using the skills they learned while at Wayne State College. Each year, eager employers welcome WSC graduates into their organizations.

Jobs of recent graduates:

Actor/Model (self-employed)
Background Actor (self-employed)
Entertainment Costumer – Walt Disney Company (Burbank, Calif.)
Recruiting Specialist – University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Lincoln, Neb.)

job or grad school placement rate
within six months of graduation
Data based on most recent
employment outcomes survey

Cost of attendance

Most Affordable College in Nebraska

- College Affordability Guide, 2024

Wayne State is considered the most affordable four-year college or university in Nebraska. With same rates for in- and out-of-state students, our tuition guarantee, and our generous scholarship packages, it is clear to see how WSC earned the title. In fact, the average remaining annual cost of attendance for 2024-25 is $2,268 for undergraduate students after financial aid and scholarships.

Communication studies core courses (18 credits)

Choose one of the following courses:
- CNA 201 Small Group Communication (3 credits) - Explores the functions of discussion in our society, problem-solving, group dynamics, and analysis of the operative forces within the group. Emphasis on skills of group discussion, participation in decision-making groups, leadership, organization, and evaluation.
- CNA 210 Interpersonal Communication (3 credits) - The study of theories and models of interpersonal communication that enhance understanding and development of interpersonal relationships. Skills are developed in listening behavior, dyadic interaction, relationship and conflict management, verbal and nonverbal communication, and intrapersonal processing.
Credits: 3
Description: This course sets the foundation of communication theory by setting the stage of the first roots of the western heritage in rhetoric. Students will learn how the art and skills of rhetoric evolved beginning with the Greeks of Plato and Aristotle, through the Romans of Cicero and Quintilian, through the Christianization of rhetoric in St. Augustine, and ending with the Ramian and Cartesian turns leading into modern thought and practice of communication theory.
Prerequisite: CNA Principles of Human Communication
Credits: 3
Description: Introduces students to the art of collaborative inquiry, deliberation, and decision-making. The course explores diverse approaches to ethical and effective inquiry, deliberation, and advocacy, as well as developing the skills necessary to their practice. The course focuses particularly on development of critical thinking and reasoning abilities, self-reflexivity, empathic listening, reading, viewing, and speaking skills, dialogic inquiry, and ethical and effective advocacy skills.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
Note: For students in the Organizational Leadership and Public Relations program, BUS 350 Managing Behavior in Organizations may be substituted for this course.
Credits: 3
Description: Explores the nature and function of communication in organizations. Emphasis on concepts, skills for effective management of communication, analysis, and evaluation of formal and informal patterns of communication in organizations.
Credits: 3
Description: The study of various theories and models typically employed in communication studies today. Students explore the central assumptions, questions, and approaches in the study of human communication.
Credits: 3
Description: Capstone course that involves the investigation of recent and ongoing research and theory in major field and their implications for continued research and field applications. Extensive training in listening, interviewing, and research skills. Completion of program portfolio required. Topics will vary from offering to offering. Cannot be repeated.

Credits: 3
Description: Practical application of skills in stagecraft, lighting, costuming, acting, and/or directing for mainstage production. Enrollment in CNA T120/220/320/420/520 is required for participation in mainstage productions. Workshop hours beyond those required in Theatre may be taken as electives in the CNA majors, but only with the permission of the advisor and department chair.
Credits: 3
Description: Exploration of basic acting techniques and performance theory through object exercises, monologues, and scene work.
Credits: 3
Description: Fundamentals of scenic construction and painting techniques, sound, properties, and stage management.
Credits: 3
Description: Study and practice of basic directing theory starting with screen-analysis and proceeding to director-actor-designer relationships in the production process. 3 hours lab.
Prerequisite: CNA 223 Acting, CNA 232 Stagecraft, or instructor approval
Choose one of the following courses:
- CNA 333 American Theatre (3 credits) - Study of plays, players, places, and events in American theatre history from the 17th century beginnings to the present.
- CNA 386 Modern World Drama (3 credits) - Readings of representative global dramatists in translations from Ibsen to the Post-Moderns.
Choose one of the following courses:
- CNA 331 Scene Design (3 credits) - Principles and styles of scenic design, drafting, and rendering techniques. Prerequisite: CNA 232 Stagecraft.
- CNA 387 Lighting (3 credits) - Principles and practices of stage lighting, electricity, color, and effective use of lighting equipment.
Students pursuing the 48-credit-hour program will take the above courses from the 36-hour option plus an additional 12 credit hours from the following:
- BUS 208 Business Communications
- BUS 260 Management Theory and Practice (3)
- BUS 270 Principles of Marketing (3)
- BUS 367 Foundations of Human Resource Management (3)
- BUS 374 Advertising and Integrated Marketing (3)
- CNA 140/240/440 Intercollegiate Forensics (0-3)
- CNA 263 Introduction to Mass Communication (3)
- CNA 280 News Writing (3)
- CNA 302 Language and Human Behavior (3)
- CNA 322 Children’s Theatre (3) OR 339/439 Musical Theatre (3)
- CNA 333 American Theatre (3) OR 386 Modern World Drama (3)
- CNA 337 Costumes and Make Up for the Stage and Screen (3)
- CNA 342 Persuasion (3)
- CNA 352 Organizational Presentations (3)
- CNA 374 Public Relations (3)
- CNA 419 Advanced Directing (3)
- CNA 426 Public Relations Through Social Media (3)
- CNA 431 Advanced Design (3)
- CNA 443 School and Community Theatre Management (3)
- CNA 450 Media Design Applications (3)
- CNA 452 Public Relations Case Studies (3)
- CNA 453 Integrated Brand Promotion (3)
- CNA 457 Special Topics in Communication (3)
- CNA 459 Organizational Leadership (3)
- CNA 462 Communication Research Methods (3)
- CNA 465 Qualitative Research Design (3)
- CNA 470 Family Communication (3)
- CNA 471 Mass Media and Society (3)
- CNA 475 Communication Law (3)
- PSY 435 Industrial/Organizational Psychology (3)
- SSC 300 Social Science Research Methods (3)
- SSC 319 Statistics for the Social Sciences (3)

Popular pairings

Many students at Wayne State will add a second major or a minor to complement their program of study, or to focus their studies on a specific topic. Students who recently majored in Theatre Arts at Wayne State also paired this major with one or more of the following programs:

Construction Management (major or minor)
Drafting and Design (major or minor)
Digital Film Production (major or minor)
Music (minor)
Political Science (major or minor)
Pre-Law (minor)

View all majors and minors

Related programs

Students interested in the Theatre Arts degree program may also be interested in:

Communication Studies (B.A. or B.S.)
Digital Film Production (B.A. or B.S.)
Organizational Leadership and Public Relations (B.A. or B.S.)
Theatre Education (subject endorsement)

My favorite thing about the Theatre Arts degree program is the interdisciplinary pool of individuals that participate in it, and conveying stories from books and scripts and the ability to move, enchant, and instill a sense of wonder into the viewer, among other things. Theatre has many things to offer. I have learned skills pertaining to analysis of language and script, directing and managing a theatrical space and other actors, how to design and implement scenic design and lighting design, and how to portray and tell stories.

Dakota Schroll

Wood River, Nebraska

Psychology and Criminal Justice; minors in Theatre, Pre-Law, and Philosophy