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Theatre Arts: Technical Theatre and Design

Build your technical theatre and design craft from the ground up – hands-on, behind the scenes.

While backstage, you will walk the catwalk, construct elaborate theatre sets, and design intricate theatre costumes that will bring theatre performances to another dimension.

Technical management requires a diverse set of skills. The B.F.A. in Technical Theatre/Design sequence of courses focuses first on developing creative expression through acting, improvisation, and script analysis. To assure comprehensive training, once you've built a foundation, you may choose to pursue elective courses that lead to a concentration in scenic, lighting, sound, or costume design, or stage management.

Top Reasons

Opportunities for realized production projects on the mainstage

Students in each specialization will have opportunities to create designs and production work that will be fully produced on our mainstage. Student work is the center of our focus, and is featured in multiple productions. We present five shows each year, directed by full-time faculty and professional guest directors, providing multiple opportunities to design, stage manage, and produce quality practical work as part of our Festival of Fine Arts season.

One on One Mentoring

Small class sizes and individual mentoring is a key component of our program. Each student creating projects for the mainstage will have a direct faculty advisor to guide them through their projects from beginning to end. This mentorship ensures that students will not only be able to produce a quality final product, but also that they will grow artistically and scholarly from the process.

Expert Faculty

Study with faculty that include recipients of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival award as well as design awards from the Orlando International Fringe Festival.

Holistic approach to theatre education.

Students have the opportunity to explore the key elements of the creative process and how they help communicate the story. Elements include: costuming, lighting, scenic, and sound design, as well as acting, directing, and script analysis movement.

Meet Our Mocs

Nour Lofty
Rachel Nickolos

"...the play's the thing..."

Holistic approach to design and technical training

Our approach to training begins with the final product – the play. We emphasize a collaborative approach to our training, so that the production is the aim of the entire company – not just the scenery, lighting, or acting, but the whole product. Theatre requires the technical/design elements to support the acting and directing. All of these elements are necessary to produce a successful and artistic creation. Our training emphasizes the value of each component of the creative process, rather than concentrate on individual area. We aim to create a mutually supportive ensemble of producing artists, while honing skills in a chosen specialization.

Learn from Award-Winning Faculty

The industry regularly recognizes our faulty for their artistic achievements. They include recognition multiple times for scene designs and theatre technology by Broadway World Orlando, and the Orlando Frings Festival, and a three-time recipient of Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival awards, as well as a finalist in BBC’s Voice of Musical Theatre International Competition.

Clubs And More

The Vagabonds Theatre club is the oldest running student organization on campus and remains active with fundraisers, organizing annual staged readings, producing a biennial ten-minute play festivals, and fully staged studio productions. In addition to the Vagabonds, the college hosts an improv troupe called “Studio Box” who perform regularly for enthusiastic sell-out crowds on campus.

Program Details

AVAILABLE IN:

BFA

Admission Requirements

There is a separate portfolio requirement to be accepted into this major. 
  • Students may be accepted into the Theatre Arts: Technical Theatre and Design BFA program only through a submission of a portfolio in their area of expertise.
  • Scholarships are awarded based on the portfolio and interview by the theatre faculty. BFA auditions will automatically be considered for scholarship eligibility.
Learn More about theatre auditions


First-Years

All freshman applicants to Florida Southern Colleges full-time degree programs must submit the following information:

Transfers

Applying to Florida Southern as a transfer student is easy.  

If transferring less than 24 credits, we also need your:

  • Official high school transcript 
  • SAT and/or ACT scores

Learn More

Internationals

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Program Contact

James Beck James Beck, MFA

Associate Professor of Theatre Arts

Department Chair

Buckner Theatre

 863.680.4227

 863.680.4457

Office of Admissions Office of Admissions

France Admissions Center

 863.680.4131