Senior Showcase
Check out our Senior Showcase https://www.jmushowcase.com/ of graduating Theatre and Musical Theatre performers.
Senior Showcase provides opportunities for graduating seniors to be seen and network with theatres, film production companies, arts education organizations, casting directors, and agents. Recent graduates from the School of Theatre and Dance program have worked as performers, managers, technicians, and designers at Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Company, Roundhouse Theatre, National Players, American Shakespeare Center, and on Broadway and the national tours of Company, Chicago, Aladdin, Frozen, Emojiland, Hamilton, My Fair Lady, and Miss Saigon among others They have also worked with experimental companies such as Elevator Repair Service and Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, among many others.
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF)
The James Madison School of Theatre and Dance is proud to participate in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
The aims of this national theater education program are to identify and promote quality in college-level theater production. To this end, each production entered is eligible for a response by a regional KCACTF representative, and selected students and faculty are invited to participate in KCACTF programs involving scholarships, internships, grants and awards for actors, directors, dramaturgs, playwrights, designers, stage managers and critics at both the regional and national levels.
Productions entered on the Participating level are eligible for invitation to the KCACTF regional festival and may also be considered for national awards recognizing outstanding achievement in production, design, direction and performance.
Last year more than 1,300 productions were entered in the KCACTF involving more than 200,000 students nationwide. By entering this production, our theater department is sharing in the KCACTF goals to recognize, reward, and celebrate the exemplary work produced in college and university theaters across the nation.
Our recent KCACTF awards:
2018 Brent Comer, KCACTF Region II Award for Excellence in Classical Acting
Katie Ciszek, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Award, National Finalist
2017 Casey Martin Klein, Musical Theatre Initiative, National Finalist
Sky Wilson, O’Neill Critics Institute, National Finalist
Sierra Carlson, Student Dramaturgy Award, National Finalist
2016 Sierra Carlson, Institute for Theatre Journalism and Advocacy, National Finalist
Emily Mangan, 10-Minute Play Competition, National Finalist
Lauren Chapman, National Award Winner in Dramaturgy
2015 Kelly Rudolph, Don Child’s Stagecraft, National Finalist.
American College Dance Association (ACDA)
Each year JMU brings 16-20 students to our regional college dance conferences. ACDA provides an opportunity for our students to have their choreography and performance adjudicated by professionals in the field of dance, take a variety of classes, and see many dance performances. ACDA is a celebration of inclusive excellence within dance and we love the experience our students have in attending these four day conferences. Recent graduates and faculty have had their choreography chosen for the Gala performance at the end of the conference.