Academics
The Department of Theater offers a major, a minor, a Multicultural Theater Certificate, and a graduate program that allows for specialization in one of five areas. Our productions are a laboratory for our students, and we welcome campus community members to be artists and audiences with us.
Our training has led alums into careers in theater, both onstage and behind the scenes; in television and film; and in a whole host of fields where collaboration, creative problem solving, and thoughtful research are valued.
Our 2023–2024 Season
Surrealism and slapstick, the beautiful and the bittersweet—the 2023–2024 UMass Theater season encompasses what's thrilling about live theater!
This Season
Join us as we explore what it means to make a family (with a little help from a magical house), and contemplate political farce with a leading lady who makes Lucy Ricardo look sedate. Take a seat in the audience as a brilliant scientist dissects the "love vs. career" dichotomy, and delight in a classic comedy of unrequited love and mistaken identity. And mark the end of the season with a festival that illuminates what the next generation of theater-makers has in store for us.
Upcoming Events
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Not just for STEM: Our students get recognition for their research
Research is a word typically associated with the sciences, but it also applies to theater artists, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recognized that by awarding four students with the Rising Researcher award between 2019 and 2020. While individually grateful for the honor, these theater artists also see the value for theater as a whole each time one of them is recognized for their work.
In the News
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Justin Townsend '97 becomes the first UMass Theater design alum to win a Tony
Moulin Rouge won an impressive ten Tony Awards, but for UMass Theater, one win was particularly wonderful: Lighting Designer Justin Townsend ’97 became the first UMass Theater design alum ever to win a Tony.
Professor Lighting Design Penny Remsen, who was Townsend’s mentor at UMass and is still in touch with him, said, “Justin is such a thoughtful, creative, and passionate designer, and I’m thrilled to see him receive this recognition for his work."
Build the Future of Theater
Please consider a gift to our general gift fund so we can continue to offer state-of-the-art theater programming and enrichment that helps our talented, dedicated theater-makers build rewarding careers and creative lives, and that best serves our community of up-and-coming theater artists.
Monumental Creativity
In 2021, when our ability to produce in-person theater was severely curtailed due to the pandemic, we presented Monuments of the Future, "a series of installations that Seven beings rise up from the earth, Seven symbols move across a campus. Seven spokes on a wheel take us through the never-ending cycle of change."
Conceived by Professor Anya Klepikov, the series drew in faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate student collaborators both on the design team and as performers. While the presentation itself was unusual, the piece serves as an excellent example of the way students at all levels have the chance to leave their creative fingerprints on events we offer to the public.