Mission and values

and how they relate to our expectations, Policies, and casting

Mission

The mission of the Department of Theatre and Dance is to produce innovative artists and scholars through a pursuit of academic and creative excellence.

Values

The Department of Theatre and Dance values:

Engaging in the highest quality of professional training
Providing an experiential approach to the collaborative nature of theatre and dance
Integrating production experience with a scholarly understanding of theatre and dance as artistic forms
Encouraging innovative exploration through classic and contemporary methodologies in theatre and dance
Developing excellence in research and creative expression in the classroom and production process
Encouraging and celebrating diversity in our community
Providing active leadership in the contribution to South Florida culture
Engaging with our various campus and regional communities

Additionally, the Department of Theatre and Dance defines specific criteria for those students in the MFA and BFA degree programs. With the recognition that these programs are intended to develop students who are prepared to enter the professional arena, the standards for these students are more rigorous and the expectations for achievement are set higher.

Student Diversity Commitee

The Purpose of the committee is to inform policy and represent the student voice in our department and for our education. This committee works with faculty on policies and procedures in the department, including reviewing areas such as casting polices, show selection, MFA, BFA, BA criteria, etc.

MFA Standards and Policies:

MUST AUDITION FOR ALL MAINSTAGE PRODUCTIONS*
Must accept roles as cast
Must attend all rehearsals to which the actor is called (emergency requests to be excused from a rehearsal must be submitted to the director of the production for approval)
Must attend all scheduled performances (emergency requests to be excused from a performance must be submitted to the director of the production and the Chair of the department for approval)
Must arrive to rehearsals and performances on time and prepared
Must demonstrate professional behavior in rehearsal and performance and recognize that they are mentors and role models
Must participate in the end-of-semester evaluations and commit themselves to continued artistic growth
Must attend all departmental MFA meetings
Must fulfill all assistantship assignments
Must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or above with the recognition that any course grade below a B+ is cause for concern. Any course with a grade of C or below will not count towards graduation and will need to be retaken.
Must fulfill all expectations for the Graduate Production Project. The performance, the written paper, and the verbal defense will be assessed by a panel of faculty in the performance area. All three areas must receive an assessment of Satisfactory or “S” in order for the student to successfully complete the program.
Must remain open to the training process, be an enthusiastic proponent of their own development and growth, a supporter of their peers, and a positive contributor to the program and department

*Under circumstances of extreme hardship (ie. emergency medical or family situations) a student may petition to be exempt from auditioning. PETITIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR PRIOR TO AUDITIONS. The Chair will present the petition to the faculty for a determination and then inform the student of the decision.

Failure to comply with the above expectations will result in:

1st Infraction: A written warning and placement on probation
2nd Infraction: Recommendation to the Graduate College that the student be dismissed from the MFA program. Students who are dismissed from the MFA are not eligible for re-admission.

Please Note: While circumstances of hardship may present the need to hold an outside job, said employment is incompatible with participation in the MFA. The demands and time commitment necessary to successfully progress in the MFA program are such that holding an outside job with a regular schedule is not sustainable. Requests for approval for any temporary outside work must first be submitted in writing to the Chair of the Department who will then bring the request to the faculty for approval. If it is determined that a student has been holding an outside job without prior approval, said student may be put on probation and may be recommended for dismissal from the MFA.

Graduate Assistantship Guidelines

Assistantship hours

Graduate assistants in Theatre Performance and Theatre Design and Technology are assigned twenty hours per week of assistantship work. There are a few reductions in these hours:

Theatre Performance GAs receive a five hour per week reduction in their Assistantship Assignment to compensate for time spent in the rehearsal hall, reducing the number of hours in the lab to fifteen per week. This is applied to all Theatre Performance GAs whether cast in a particular show or not since the overall rehearsal demands among grads will even out over the long term.
When any Graduate assistant is assigned to teach, that assignment will be considered as carrying a 7.5 hour per week Assistantship load. This includes three hours per week for classroom contact, three hours per week for office hours, and 1.5 hours per week for grading and class preparation. This will result in a 7.5 hour reduction in the remaining Assistantship work load. This means Theatre Performance GAs, when teaching, will continue in their regular duties for 7.5 hours per week and Design/Tech GAs will continue in their regular duties for 12.5 hours per week.

The faculty and staff will establish a schedule of fifteen hours per week that all Graduate Assistants in Theatre Performance are expected to work. This schedule will be coordinated with rehearsals and classroom activities. Design and Technology students are expected to maintain the same schedule, in addition to scheduling the remainder of their hours with their mentor and shop manager.

Attendance and promptness

It is the philosophy of the Department of Theatre and Dance that the assistantship assignments should be treated with the same respect as is accorded to the rehearsal hall and performance calls. We request that each Assistant be present and ready to work at the beginning of the period and return ready to work as soon as the break ends. Do not leave the work area without explicit permission of the Shop Manager at any time.

Please schedule appointments outside of work hours, and come to your hours ready to work. There will not be time to eat or perform other activities during breaks.

Breaks

The shop manager is responsible for the break schedule and only the shop manager may call breaks. Should safety require adjusting a break time, the shop managers may use their discretion to insure safety of all students and property, but will provide the break as soon as possible.

Sign in and out each time you are present

Please make sure you sign in and out each time you are present for work, including what you accomplished during the day. This sign in and out serves as a time card record of your work.

Lateness and unexcused absences

The policy of the department is that being late three times to return from a break or missing your call time will result in a report being sent to the chair of the department about your lateness. You will meet with the chair and your committee supervisor to explain these instances. Missed call times and tardiness will be reported to the faculty at the end of each semester and be used as part of the evaluation process in the continuation of the assistantship.

n2n

BFA Standards and Policies:

MUST AUDITION FOR ALL MAINSTAGE PRODUCTIONS*
Must accept roles as cast
Must attend all rehearsals to which the actor is called (emergency requests to be excused from a rehearsal must be submitted to the director of the production for approval)
Must arrive to rehearsals and performances on time and prepared (emergency requests to be excused from a performance must be submitted to the director of the production and the Chair of the department for approval)
Must demonstrate professional behavior in rehearsal and performance
Must participate in the end-of-semester evaluation auditions
Must attend all departmental BFA meetings

* Under circumstances of extreme hardship (ie. emergency medical or family situations) a student may petition to be exempt from auditioning. PETITIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR PRIOR TO AUDITIONS. The Chair will present the petition to the faculty for a determination and then inform the student of the decision.

Failure to comply with the above expectations will result in:

1st Infraction: A written warning
2nd Infraction: Removal from the BFA Program.
Students who are dismissed from the BFA may be permitted to petition and audition for re-instatement upon approval of the faculty after one term. The student must petition the faculty for reinstatement through an official letter submitted to the department Chair; once the faculty approve consideration, the student will then be given an audition appointment.

Please Note: While circumstances of hardship may present the need to hold an outside job, said employment cannot inhibit adherence to the Standards and Expectations as set out above. Conflicts that interfere with fulfillment of the degree program requirements are incompatible with participation in the BFA. If said conflicts cannot be avoided then the student must withdraw from participation in the BFA and continue on in the BA program.

Casting Policies:

When casting the department productions and with a commitment to providing equal opportunity to all students, the following criteria are considered:

The pedagogical needs of the students especially those of the MFA (primarily) and BFA (secondarily) degree programs
The quality of the audition given especially with regards to the student’s demonstrated preparedness and connection with the material performed
The skillset and talent of the student as demonstrated in the audition
The student’s preparedness to function effectively within an ensemble and meet the demands of the individual
production as demonstrated in the audition
The student’s demonstrated commitment to the department and to their own degree program
The student’s availability and ability to meet the rehearsal and performance demands of the production

The student’s demonstrated professionalism throughout their tenure at the university

Season Selection:

When selecting productions, department faculty and key staff consider the following criteria:

Mirroring the curricular progression of the MFA performance degree program especially with regards to the acting classes and the material covered therein in the following sequence: American Realism, Modern Realism, Classical (Elizabethan, Jacobean, Restoration), Anti-Realism/Post-Modernism
The pedagogical needs of the students especially those of the MFA (primarily) and the BFA (secondarily) degree programs
The size and scope of cast as called for in the script with primary importance placed on serving as large a constituency of departmental students as possible including, but not limited to; BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and gender identifiers
Providing equal participation opportunities to all departmental students
Tending to the fiscal responsibilities and technical capabilities of the department
The period and genre of a play so as to provide the students with as varied a performance experience as possible; mirroring the variety of material students are likely to encounter in the professional arena
Providing students and audience with thought-provoking, artistically engaging, creatively satisfying performance experiences
Providing an entertaining experience for our South Florida community