Eastern Illinois University's Department of Theatre Arts is an important part of an exciting and growing arts community on campus. Its faculty members represent diverse backgrounds and are well-trained in all areas of theatre study. The theatre arts major at Eastern offers a broad-based curriculum designed for the undergraduate student. The department offers courses that center on history and lite
rature, performance and technical theatre studies. Students majoring in theatre arts receive either a bachelor of arts degree in theatre arts or a bachelor of arts degree in theatre arts with teacher certification. There is also a theatre arts honors program and a well-structured theatre arts minor. All programs are fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre. The EIU Department of Theatre Arts is housed in the Doudna Fine Arts Center, which houses a 286-seat proscenium space (The Theatre), a flexible 100 to 150-seat space (The Black Box), and a 40-60 seat experimental space (The Globe Studio). A fully equipped costume and scenery production area are in close proximity to all performance spaces. The instructional rooms include a traditional classroom of 40 seats, a 20-station drafting lab and a 20-station computer lab. Each season, the department produces four faculty-directed productions represent a wide variety of styles and genres. Additionally, a youth theatre tour is presented during the fall term, and a variety of student-directed productions provide plenty of performance and technical opportunities for the major or the minor in theatre arts. Students from all disciplines on campus participate in all areas of theatre production. Some of the most visible and active of Eastern's alumni are Tony Award-winning actress Joan Allen, Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Randall Arney, and actor/director/producer John Malkovich.
