Fir Acres Theatre is home base for the theatre arts and dance on campus, and it hums with activity from the first morning classes to the close of rehearsals late in the evening.

A late-night audience awaits the opening of Once Upon a Weekend!

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Theatre Department in Action!

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We have two stages – a main stage and a black box theatre – and in any given year they host a wide variety of performances.  Faculty-directed shows on the main stage run the gamut from pre-modern classics by playwrights such as Shakespeare, Moliere and Aeschylus to modern standards by Chekhov, Ionesco and Beckett to contemporary work by such renowned writers as Charles Mee, Caryl Churchill, Tony Kushner, Neil LaBute and Nilo Cruz.  Productions in our Black Box include student-written-and-directed one-acts, senior thesis projects, directing scenes, acting scenes, and devised theatre/performance art.  In addition, our dance program sponsors an annual main stage extravaganza of student-choreographed dance.  An active design and technical theatre program supports all our work, and student designers and technicians are involved on every level of production.

The Theatre Department sees theatre and dance as integral to a liberal arts education.  Collaboration, critical thinking, and creative expression are our first principles.  Our goal is to nurture artist-scholars who are well read in dramatic literature, who understand the social and historical contexts of that literature, who appreciate contemporary performance and dance, who value the intellectual depth of theatre theory in acting, directing, design, and/or playwriting, and who are able to translate their knowledge into compelling artistic choices on stage.  Our productions look outward from the Department to issues and ideas relevant to the campus community and to society at large.  Theatre and dance provide images of human existence that it is our job to shape and share with others.

All productions feature open casting, and we welcome participants from the entire campus to join us in both onstage and backstage work.  Classes are also open to all students, and we encourage various levels of interest and participation.  Qualified students assume production responsibilities up to and including the roles of director, designer, stage manager, production manager, and playwright.  We offer a well-rounded major that exposes students to the full variety of the theatre arts.  At the same time, we expect a depth of understanding.  Each senior Theatre major completes a thesis in their final semester that includes both a significant creative project and a substantial written essay. The Department also offers minors in both theatre and dance.  Lewis & Clark College has long had a focus on off-campus and international programs, and there are three theatre-oriented trips available for interested students:  one to London, one to New York, and one to Scotland.

Theatre and dance are art forms both ancient and enduring; at Fir Acres Theatre we try to renew them every day, through intellectual exploration, artistic experimentation, and beautiful performance.

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Photo Credits (right, from top):
The Blue Room (2009) by Dale Peterson
Urinetown (2008) by Dale Peterson
Dance Extravaganza (2003) by Caley Bell
Anna in the Tropics (2006) by Dale Peterson
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2007) by Dale Peterson