Theatre Department

Degree Requirements

Junior Qualifying Exam and Senior Thesis

The Theatre Degree is made up of a variety of classes and production opportunities for work on and offstage. Two crucial parts of the Reed Degree for all students across the college are the Junior Qualifying Examination and the Senior Thesis.

For the Junior qualifying exam, each student is assigned to write a twenty-page theatre history research and analysis-focused essay about a play. The paper is centered on a close reading of the play.  The whole junior class is assigned the same play. Over the course of JSem, each student develops their own original argument about the play, and then works on developing research skills in order to support their original claim. In JSem, students work on how to do research, how to construct an argument, understanding and using primary/secondary sources, how to work with images to support arguments, how to develop a bibliography, how to incorporate performance research, and more. By the end of the semester, they turn in a draft of the essay, for which the professor offers detailed feedback to each student. The student then has until early-to-mid February to fully revise their essay. Their qual is their completed revised paper. This is the document that is read and assessed by the full Theatre faculty. The final part of the Junior Qualifying Exam asks students to start brainstorming about possible areas of research for the senior thesis. A student's results on the examination factor into decisions about thesis research subject and possible production components.

A student who majors in Theatre/Literature will take a qualifying exam in each department. The student's exam will be evaluated in Theatre by the Theatre faculty, and in Literature by faculty from the interdisciplinary Theatre/Literature committee. Faculty will evaluate the Theatre/Literature exam based on the student's ability to close read a dramatic text, incorporate dramatic and literary theory, and craft an argument that blends approaches from both Theatre and Literature.

A student undertakes the senior thesis over the course of the senior year. In Theatre, a senior thesis is always centered on in depth research into a high stakes question about theatre and performance. Each student works with a faculty thesis advisor on this research and writing. Some students engage in production work as a means to test out the central question of the thesis. This production work must be proposed to and approved by the faculty; the faculty consider results on the junior qualifying exam, record of department participation in production, and academic standing, and needs of the department budget and calendar, when considering the possibility of production work. Students have engaged in production work in the form of workshops, staged readings, full productions, and in all areas of theatre including devising, dramaturgy, design, acting, playwriting, and performance studies.

Requirements for the Major

See the college catalog for current theatre major requirements.

Minor in Theatre

The goal of the theatre minor is to ensure a strong understanding of theatre practice and theory across the field, including production work through the theatre laboratory. We encourage students to focus on a path of study according to their own interests in terms of research and practice.

Requirements for the Minor

See the college catalog for current theatre minor requirements.