Emerson College’s Department of Performing Arts offers eight different undergraduate degree programs—each focused on a specific aspect of a career in performing arts. It also offers a cross-departmental undergraduate degree program and two minors.
Housed in the School of the Arts, all Performing Arts majors include a core liberal arts curriculum designed to develop students as stronger, more versatile artists, with a deep understanding of the role that arts play in society—and their role as both an arts-maker and a citizen of the world.
Bachelor’s Programs in the Department of Performing Arts
Acting (BFA)
The on-campus Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Acting is intensive, designed to help students develop a clear process that will sustain their professional work. The program, therefore, is intended for students who find themselves craving more trust, connection, and exploration through ensemble work and a strong individual focus on the craft itself.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre
The on-campus BFA in Musical Theatre nurtures important foundations in the student such as teamwork, preparation, managing the business, and seeking conclusions about the nature of the creative process. Through the supplementary study of liberal arts, the program provides students with a more holistic approach to the craft.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Stage & Production Management
Classroom learning and hands-on experience assist students in the on-campus BFA in Stage & Production Management program in discovering and developing their skills in collaboration, process, and leadership within the art of theatre. Through this, the Stage and Production Management curriculum thoroughly prepares students for a career as a stage or production manager.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre
The on-campus BFA in Theatre offers dynamic, comprehensive training grounded in the liberal arts. With a programmatic structure artfully balanced between study and practice, breadth and depth, arts and academics, our students explore the world of the theatre and theatre in the world.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre & Performance
The on-campus BFA in Theatre & Performance is an outstanding actor training program that combines the rigor of sequential studio courses with the flexibility to explore a diverse world of possibilities.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Education
The on-campus BFA in Theatre Education integrates the fields of theatre arts and education in the classroom, in the community, and on the stage. Our students and faculty believe in the transformative power of theatre to shape society and to change lives; they are artists who see education as the tool with which they create the future.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Education & Performance
In the on-campus BFA in Theatre Education & Performance program, students master the fundamentals of dramatic arts and learn how to employ the experience of stage performance in classrooms and communities. Through hands-on learning, they start on their path to becoming well-rounded educators and artists.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design & Production
The on-campus BFA in Theatrical Design & Production prepares students to enter the theatre industry as a professional in their craft: fluent in the language of design and technology, conversant in the tools they will encounter at theatres throughout the country, and with a strong understanding of the essentials of design.
Cross-Departmental Program
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Comedic Arts
At Emerson, we believe that great comedy stems from a huge bank of knowledge. The on-campus BFA in Comedic Arts sustains an intense focus on comedy, while remaining rooted in the liberal arts by exposing students to a wide range of perspectives.