Enchanted April, October 2007
Welcome to the undergraduate programs offered at the Department of Theatre & Dance at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Thanks for checking us out ... we hope you find what you're looking for.
We are a production-oriented program that supports those experiences with top-notch, constantly evolving academic programs for everyone from the Theatre Generalist to the student seeking the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting, Musical Theatre or Design/Technology. In addition, we offer the Dance major/minor and graduate programs at both the Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts levels (more on those elsewhere).
Anyone interested in discovering more about the Minnesota State Mankato undergraduate programs in Theatre should do the following:
• Apply to the university through the Department of University Admissions. This will help guarantee that you have completed all of the paperwork that will allow you to eventually apply to be a Theatre & Dance major. Through Admissions, you will be connected with the Department of Theatre & Dance to meet with the Chair, Dr. Paul J. Hustoles, during a scheduled orientation day, when possible. When you do wish to declare as a Theatre & Dance major, send us a message (noting specifically what you want to do) or stop by the main office, PA 201, to set up an appointment with Dr. Hustoles through Beth Weisbecker, department office manager.
• Explore the different offerings our program has so, when we meet with you, we can get you started on the right path for you. You can download information about each program area: BA/BS Generalist; BFA Musical Theatre; BFA Acting; BFA Design/Tech.
• In the fall, we offer Theatre Freshman Talent grants to incoming first-year students of $1,000. Next auditions for admission to the BFA program will take place on Thursday, Aug. 27. Deadline is Friday, Aug. 14. To get scheduled for an audition, you MUST complete the paperwork and submit it to us in advance. The forms you download will go through in detail what will be expected of you in the audition and/or what you should bring with you, especially when applying to the Design/Technology program; there is no audition, but a personal interview is expected. In addition, this audition can be used when applying to join one of the BFA programs. (Once you are a student in the program, you will be eligible to apply for the nearly 20 endowed scholarships the department offers! The process takes place in February for the upcoming year.)
• Dr. Hustoles is eager to answer your questions so you shouldn't feel unprepared when you join the department. For example, because we have auditions for the first THREE productions of the fall on the first day of class, he will tell you this and help you prepared. In addition to being chair of the department, he is Artistic Director for our professional summer stock, Highland Summer Theatre, so he is here much of the summer as well. You may e-mail him here.
• Find out about the people who will be teaching you.
• Don't take our word for how great this program is. Instead, listen to some of our current students and get a glimpse at what they have accomplished while here. Start with dancer Nicole Curry; when done, scroll to the bottom of her testimonial to access others or return to the Undergraduate Programs page.
• We have an extensive online listing of every show we've done at Minnesota State Mankato, with photos illustrating our work on those since 2002 ... with more coming soon. Take a look by season or by show title here.
