Minor in Theater

Minor

Theater

On Campus

The theater department is home to an incredibly vibrant community of people with diverse talents in the performing arts. This minor is a great way to enrich your liberal arts experience and develop creative thinking and communications skills, while building a foundation in the areas of theater study and production.

Shot of the actors in a scene of the theater production of "Rage"

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Program Overview

In the Minor in Theater program, you’ll explore the fundamentals of acting, directing, playwriting, design and theater history, and have the flexibility to shape the program to reflect your interests.

Our affiliations with local venues offer a unique opportunity to work with professional directors and actors in collaborative workshops and to stage performances. You also can earn credit and gain hands-on experience working on a one of the many Theater for the Community productions that are staged throughout the year.

Director’s Message

Student actor singing dramatically into a microphone

Welcome to QU Theater!

A Letter from Abbey Copeland

Quinnipiac Theater is the exciting home to new musicals, world-premiere student-written and student-directed plays, theater for the community and so much more!

We offer an exciting theater minor that explores all areas of theater production, performance and design. We also have many on and off-stage opportunities including faculty and student-directed productions, a student theater organization, an improv troupe, theater workshops, musical theater and new play development. These opportunities are open to all Quinnipiac students, regardless of major.

You will work with guest artists from New York, New Haven, and around the world to develop new plays and musicals, as well as imaginative interpretations of the classics. Be a part of a world premiere!

Quinnipiac Theater also works in partnership with individuals and organizations in using the power of theater within the community. Projects in recent years have included the musical Rage and the As We Emerge project, which focused on gun violence and stories of those recently incarcerated, respectively.

This program is highly individualized and you will be sure to find a path that’s right for you.

Are you a prospective student or current student interested in our Theater program? Please contact Kevin Daly to discuss all academic opportunities.

Are you interested in the performances Quinnipiac Theater produces each semester? Please contact Abbey Copeland to discussion all Quinnipiac Theater has to offer.

Past Theater Productions

Quinnipiac Theater has a proud tradition of presenting dynamic and diverse performances that engage and inspire audiences. Our past productions showcase the remarkable creativity and talent of our students, who bring a wide range of stories to life on stage.

View past productions

Quinnipiac actors and actresses seated at a formal dinner during the Friend Animals production. — “Friend Animals” By Marella Martin Koch; Directed by Timothy Koch. March 1-3, 2024. Despite their identical holy gowns, three friends harbor secret, rebellious dreams: Karen Marie Katharine is on a mission to lose her virginity; Laura Mary hopes to birth the next messiah; and Alex Chloe fantasizes about tequila and atheism. Why do we hate ourselves and try to destroy one another?

the full cast at posing at the end of a musical number — “BABES IN ARMS” Book by Douglas Carter Beane; Music by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart; Directed by Rory Pelsue. October 20-28, 2023. “BABES IN ARMS” is a musical about teenagers putting on a show in the face of rampant oppression, dubious allyship, raging hormones, and a less-than-hopeful future. Radical for its time and set during the Great Depression, no other Broadway musical has contributed so many lasting standards to the American Songbook.

A male student actor on stage in front of a full moon backdrop — “Bulgaria! Revolt!” Written by Miranda Rose Hall; Directed by Elizabeth Dinkova. March 3-5, 2023. “BULGARIA! REVOLT!” A fantasia based on real historical events, this musical begins in 1925, with the jaded Bulgarian poet Geo Milev on the eve of his disappearance; he has written a poem to commemorate a failed peasant revolution and his people’s deaths at the hand of the government, but what is a poem good for?

A female student actress looking at a postcard on stage — “Fallen Angels” Written by Noël Coward; Directed by Rory Pelsue. Fall 2022. Jane and Julia live lives of comfort and leisure. But when their mutual old flame Maurice comes back into their lives, Jane and Julia question their straight and narrow paths. Has domestic contentment destroyed the passion they once felt with Maurice? Or is the true passion in their lives not found in Maurice, but in each other?

Three female student actors on stage for the production, Three Sisters — “Three” By Anton Chekov, translated; Directed by G.D. Kimble. October 29-November 6, 2021. This is the story of a tight-knit group of friends and family centered around the Prozorov Sisters, three incredible young women who feel trapped in their small lives in a small town, and dream of returning home: their beloved Moscow.

Three female student actors on stage for the production with orange lighting background, An Iliad — “An Iliad” By Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare; Directed by Danilo Gambini. March 18-27, 2021. “An Iliad” spins the familiar tale of gods and goddesses, undying love and endless battles told through an original and immediate voice. Seven performers share the narrative in this sweeping account of humanity's unshakeable attraction to violence, destruction and chaos. Has anything really changed since the Trojan War?

A group of student actors on singing stage for the production, Rage — “RAGE” Book & lyrics by Elizabeth Dinkova; Original music and additional lyrics by Frederick Kennedy; Directed by Elizabeth Dinkova. February 27-March 1, 2020. The play with music “RAGE” tells the story of a writer’s decades-long struggle with his first novel, Rage, a diary of a school shooter, which “inspired” readers with deadly results. As the writer plunges back into his early work to discover the causes of teenage disenfranchisement and violence, he is forced to confront uncomfortable truths about the thin line between creation and destruction.

A group of actors on stage for Baltimore — “Baltimore” By Kirsten Greenidge; Directed by Aleta Staton. Fall 2019. When a racially charged incident divides her first-year students, reluctant resident adviser Shelby finds herself in the middle of a conversation she does not want to have. As pressure to address the controversy mounts from residents, the new dean, and even her best friend, Shelby must decide if she will enter the fray or watch her community come apart at the seams. Sharp, funny and searing, Baltimore is a timely drama about racism on college campuses.

Theatre Arts Center

Exterior photo of the Theater Art Center building.

This state-of-the-art facility, located at 515 Sherman Avenue in Hamden, houses the university’s main stage theater, where the university’s annual theater productions are held. The Theatre Arts Center also houses faculty offices, rehearsal rooms, a design studio, a fully equipped scenic shop, dressing rooms and more. All university theater productions and student-run theater productions are housed in this building along with music concerts, dance shows and other performances. In the summer, the building hosts professional theater companies from around the world.

Learn more about our Theatre Arts Center and view a list of upcoming and past productions at our Quinnipiac University Theater site.

Explore Theater at Quinnipiac

Students select courses from an array of offerings in acting, directing, playwriting, design, stagecraft, theater administration and theater history. Students also may earn theater practicum credit by working on the Main Stage productions (18 credits).

Course List
Code	Title	Credits
Theater Minor Required Courses
DR 140	Stagecraft	3
or DR 257	Design for the Theater
DR 160	Acting I	3
DR 230	Directing I	3
or DR 350	Playwriting: The Ten-Minute Play
or DR 391	Playwriting: The Full-Length Play
Take one of the following courses:		3
DR 270	World Theater History and Dramatic Literature I
DR 275	World Theater History and Dramatic Literature II
DR 282	Landscapes and Lenses
DR 375	History and Dramatic Literature of the Contemporary Theater
Electives
Select any DR course		3
Select any 200-400 level DR course		3
Total Credits		18