THEATRE STUDIES

Theatre Studies at Notre Dame is an engaging, creative and academically rigorous program which provides students with opportunities for study in acting, directing, theatre crafts, communications and literature.  The Theatre Studies program offers the best possible combination of practical and theoretical learning and will be of real use to students in their professional lives.  It is especially good in combination with such other discipline areas as English Literature and Communications, and will equip students for graduate work in education, acting and directing. The Theatre Studies program also provides an excellent pathway to further study, including a Diploma of Education (DipEd) and postgraduate opportunities in Arts Management, Directing and Broadcasting. The following units can be counted towards a Theatre Studes major or minor.		Back to Arts and Sciences Fremantle | Sydney
		Units eligible
		Unit descriptions
		Degree Planner
		Internships
		Study Abroad
		Experience the World
		Honours
		Double Degrees available
		Postgraduate Study

THEATRE STUDIES UNITS

Theatre Studies units are run on a two-year rotation cycle and provide opportunities for practical and theoretical learning as well as for participation in a major theatre production each year.

Eight approved units are required for a major in Theatre Studies; six approved units are required for a minor.

Theatre Studies Units
Theatre Studies offers a range of required and elective units in its program.  For the full requirements of your Major, Minor or Specialisation in Theatre Studies, please consult the Majors and Minors lists available on the School of Arts and Sciences homepage.
TS100	Theory and Practice of Acting I
TS101	Theatre Crafts
TS105	Theory and Practice of Modern Theatre
TS300	Theory and Practice of Acting II
TS301	Text-based Production Workshop; or
TS302	Devised Production Workshop
TS303	Theatre Studies Internship
TS306	Australian Theatre and Cinema
TS307	Music Appreciation
TS309	Fundamentals of Directing
TS310	Music in Theatre
TS341	Drama in the Age of Shakespeare

UNIT DESCRIPTIONS, UNITS ON OFFER and DEGREE PLANNERS

The following resources are published on the School’s homepage and provide information regarding unit availability, unit content and program requirements:

• Units on Offer
• Majors, Minors and Specialisations lists
• Degree Planners
• Unit Descriptions

INTERNSHIPS

Students of a range of Arts majors, including Theatre Studies, Politics, History, Communications and Legal Studies, may be eligible to conduct an Internship as part of their degree.  Offered in Semester Two each year, the Theatre Studies Internship takes the place of one unit and places the student with a performing arts group, theatre, school or other industry location. Students can hope to acquire helpful professional skills as part of the Internship, apply the learning they have so far gained in their discipline area at University, and develop personal and professional networks which may assist them in future employment.

Contact the Internships coordinator, Dr Martin Drum, or the School of Arts and Sciences for further information.

STUDY ABROAD

The Study Abroad program allows Notre Dame’s Theatre Studies students to spend one semester of their degree at an overseas university in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe or Asia while gaining full credit in their degree at home.  Some students may be eligible for a Student Exchange Scholarship to help reduce the cost of airfares, accommodation and other expenses.
Theatre Studies students may be particularly interested in spending a semester with our partners in the United States, Boston College and Catholic University of America, both of which have exceptional Theatre programs.

For more information please contact Notre Dame’s Study Abroad office.

EXPERIENCE THE WORLD

 A variety of opportunities for extended scholarly and service learning exist for those students conducting a degree in Notre Dame’s School of Arts and Sciences.  Participation in these programs will provide students with additional professional and life skills that will not only enrich their learning experience at University, but will make their degree more marketable and attractive on completion.

East Kimberley Community Immersion
Students of such Arts and Sciences degrees as Arts, Arts (Politics and Journalism), Behavioural Science, Communications, Counselling and Science may be eligible to participate in our East Kimberley immersion program. This unique and often life-changing educational experience sees small teams of students travel to remote communities of Australia’s north-west twice a year.  In such towns as Wyndham and communities as Oombulgurri, Notre Dame students spend four weeks living and working with local young people in a project designed to achieve meaningful reconciliation and greater engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.

This program is normally available as an elective within a degree program and may, on approval of the Dean, be eligible to be counted towards a major or minor.

This program is available to students of Fremantle, Sydney and Broome. For more information, please contact the School of Arts and Sciences in Fremantle.

Caritas Australia development program
We believe that university education should be about more than training for a profession.  Rather, we want Notre Dame students to be ready to change the world.

Students of Arts and Sciences at Notre Dame are eligible to participate in an overseas program we conduct each year in partnership with the aid organisation, Caritas Australia.  Teams of Notre Dame staff and students visit an overseas location such as Cambodia, Uganda or India. In an immersion experience of up to four weeks, the team explores the development work conducted by Caritas and studies, among other things, the intersection of poverty, development, politics and globalisation.

The Caritas program may be available as an elective within a degree program and may, on approval of the Dean, be counted towards a major or minor.

HONOURS

Students who have completed an Arts, Behavioural Science, Communications or Science degree, with at least a distinction average in their major, may be eligible to undertake a fourth year in the School’s Honours program.

Honours in Theatre Studies provides a professional finish to your undergraduate degree and should make your educational qualifications more competitive in the industry in which you hope to building your career.  Honours in Theatre Studies may lead students to higher degree research such as a Master of Arts (MA) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Because of the unique nature of Notre Dame’s School of Arts and Sciences, students completing an Honours degree in Theatre Studies have the opportunity to develop an inter-disciplinary research project which may combine their work in Theatre Studies with such other disciplines as English Literature, Communications or Behavioural Science.

Students completing an Honours program in Theatre Studies will undertake a major research project under supervision, complete coursework in Theatre Studies or related units, participate in a regular interdisciplinary seminar series and contribute to a conference program regarding their research activities.

For further information on Honours please speak with any academic member of staff.

INTEGRATED BACHELOR OF ARTS (BA) & DIPLOMA OF EDUCATION (DipEd, Secondary)

Students of Theatre Studies may be interested in a combined Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Diploma of Education in Secondary Education (DipEd), now available at Notre Dame.  This four year double degree program provides a double major in two Arts disciplines and integrates training in Education, including practical placements, throughout the four years of study.

This is a highly professional and demanding degree which offers the best of both worlds: thorough grounding in two key disciplines of study as well as extensive training in Educational philosophies and practices.

The integrated BA/DipEd provides those studying such disciplines as History, Politics, English Literature and Theatre Studies with an opportunity to seek employment in government, private industry or the education sector, and provides students with even greater options for employment upon graduation.  Better still, students enrolled in the integrated BA/DipEd may be eligible to receive a Commonwealth Support Place.

DOUBLE DEGREES

Theatre Studies combines well with the study of other degrees at Notre Dame, including a Bachelor of Communications or Education.  A Bachelor of Arts, Arts (Politics and Journalism), Behavioural Science or Communications is often studied in combination with such professional degrees as Law, Education or Business.

Adding a Theatre Studies major, or other Arts and Sciences discipline areas, to your professional degree will add to your graduate employment opportunities, increase your learning experience at university and provide you with enhanced writing and research skills.

POSTGRADUATE DEGREES

History, Politics, International Relations, Social Justice, Archaeology, English Literature and a range of other discipline areas are available for postgraduate study at Notre Dame.  A Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) are available as postgraduate research degrees by thesis and are completed under supervision by an academic member of staff.