Current Students
Known for its collegiality and lifelong connections, Wesleyan’s theater department is a community of active artists, scholars, and students exploring theater making as both a creative and critical practice.This page serves as a hub for essential resources including department policies, academic advising, production opportunities, study abroad and other ways to engage full in the life of the department.
Student Resources
Academics
Accounts and Financial Support
Careers and Additional Information
Senior Capstone Experience
Senior capstone projects allow students to conceive, develop, and realize an original creative or scholarly project. Working closely with faculty advisors and collaborators, students may direct, devise, write, perform, design, or research ambitious productions and performance-based work that reflects their unique artistic voice and interdisciplinary interests.
Examples of past projects include original plays, adaptations, solo performances, devised ensemble work, choreography, immersive productions, and experimental theater projects.
They Alone Know
Spring 2016
Project Type: Senior Capstone Project
Student Contributors:
-
Daniel Maseda ’16 — Adapted and performed
-
Russell Goldman ’17 — Director
-
Nola Werlinich ’17 — Scenic Designer
-
Sofie Somoroff ’18 — Costume Designer
-
Maia Nelles-Sager ’17 — Lighting Designer
-
Miranda Gohh ’17 — Sound Designer
Ida
Spring 2015
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Katherine Malczewski ’15 — Adapted and performed
-
Cicily Clare Gruber — Animation Designer
-
Hanako Rodriguez — Costume Designer
-
Maia Nelles-Sager — Lighting Designer
The Visiting Room
Spring 2015
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Sara Guernsey ’15 — Created and performed
-
Melanie Parziale — Scenic and Props Designer
-
Miranda Haymon — Costume Designer
-
Tawni Stoop — Lighting Designer
-
Michael Edwards — Sound Designer
Starfall
Spring 2015
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Grace Herman-Holland ’15 — Director
-
Max Luton — Music Director
-
Silas Newman — Set Designer
-
Brendan Coakley — Lighting Designer
-
Addie McDowell — Costume Designer
-
Jason Wangsadinata — Sound Designer
The Serpent
Fall 2014
Project Type: Senior Capstone Project
Student Contributors:
-
Sivan Battat ’15 — Director
-
Cara Sunberg — Set Designer
-
Sofie Somoroff — Costume Designer
-
Ben Zucker — Sound Design / Music Direction
-
Rachel Leicher — Lighting Designer
Until We Get It Right
Spring 2014
Project Type: Senior Thesis Staged Reading
Student Contributors:
-
Natalie Sacks ’14 — Writer and Director
A La Ronda / To the Circle
Spring 2014
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Claire Whitehouse ’14 — Adapter and Director
-
Hanako Rodriguez ’15 — Scenic Designer
-
Addison McDowell ’16 — Costume Designer
-
Ariella Axelbank ’14 — Lighting Designer
Fire + Bone
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Lily Haje ’13 — Director
-
Strattor Coffman — Lead Space Designer
-
Aaron Khandros — Space Designer
-
Angela Goldman — Space Designer
-
Ariella Axelbank — Space Designer
-
Bennett Kirshner — Space Designer
-
Paulie Lowther — Space Designer
-
Jenna Weinstein — Costume Designer
-
Ben Zucker — Sound Designer
Super Frog Saves Tokyo
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Tessa Young ’13
The Kindness of Strangers
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production — Solo Performance
Student Contributors:
-
Emily A. Hunt ’13
-
Dominique Moore ’14 — Scenic Designer
-
Ariella Axelbank ’14 — Lighting Designer
-
Paulie Lowther ’13 — Costume Designer
The Tempest
Fall 2012
Project Type: Senior Thesis Project
Student Contributors:
-
Nicholas Orvis ’13 — Writer / Director
-
Emeline Finckel ’14 — Scenic Designer
-
Rachel Leicher ’15 — Lighting Designer
-
Tessa Young ’13 — Mask Designer
-
Christine Treuhold ’13 — Sound Designer
Lift Your Head
Fall 2011
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Sarah Wolfe ’12
-
Tessa Young ’13 — Designer
-
Sarah Corey ’15 — Costume Construction
-
Ross Firestone ’12 — Assistant Lighting Designer
Devotedly, Sincerely Yours: The Story of the USO
Spring 2011
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Samantha Joy Pearlman ’11 — Writer / Director / Choreographer
-
Ian Coss ’11 — Music Director
-
Kimberly Prosise ’11 — Costume Designer
-
Dakota Gardner ’11 — Lighting Designer
Our Day Will Come
Fall 2009
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Ariela Rotenberg ’10
-
David B. Jaffe — Director
-
Dakota Gardner ’11 — Scenic Designer
-
Dakota Gardner ’11 — Lighting Designer
Have At You Now!
Spring 2009
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Sean Chin ’09 — Conceived and choreographed
Fefu and Her Friends
Spring 2009
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Gedney Barclay ’09 — Director
-
Greg Soros ’10 — Set Designer
-
Elizabeth Collector ’09 — Costume Designer
-
Anna Martin ’09 — Lighting Designer
Happy Days
Fall 2008
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Annie Palladino ’09
-
Gedney Barclay ’09 — Director
-
Ian Agoos ’10 — Scenic Designer
-
Ian Agoos ’10 — Lighting Designer
Ghost Vaudevillians on the Summerland Circuit
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Kieran Kredell ’08 — Writer / Director
-
Ian Agoos ’10 — Scenery
-
Silvie Deutsch ’09 — Costumes
-
Matt Bush ’09 — Lighting Designer
A Journey Around My Room
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Emmalee Riegler ’08 — Director
-
Emily Gallivan ’08 — Scenic Designer
-
Lindsay Wright ’10 — Costume Designer
-
Danica Pantic ’09 — Lighting Designer
We Can’t Reach You, Hartford
Spring 2007
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Jess Chayes ’07 — Director
-
Nick Benacerraf ’08 — Scenic Designer
-
Andrea Lipsky-Karasz ’08 — Costume Designer
-
Greg Malen ’07 — Lighting Designer
Bridge of San Luis Rey
Spring 2006
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Rebecca Josue ’06 — Director
-
Michael Kerns ’06 — Scenic Designer
-
Jessica Lane ’06 — Costume Designer
-
Francesca Geiger ’07 — Lighting Designer
-
David Haan ’06 — Lighting Designer
Labyrinths
Spring 2006
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Lillian Whitsitt ’06 — Director
-
Zachary Bruner ’08 — Scenic Designer
-
Sara Ross ’06 — Scenic Designer
-
Andrea Lipsky-Karasz ’08 — Costume Designer
-
Greg Malen ’07 — Lighting Designer
Peripeteia
Fall 2005
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Joshua Lubin-Levy ’06
-
Kaneza Schaal ’06
The Terrible Parable of Leni Reifenstahl
Fall 2004
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Christopher E. Kaminstein ’05 — Director
-
Benh Zeitlin ’04 — Music and Lyrics
-
Ray Tintori ’06 — Set Designer
-
Rob Leitzell ’06 — Set Designer
-
Rebecca Lipman ’06 — Lighting Designer
-
Charlie Morris ’06 — Costume Designer
Natalida Notebook
Spring 2003
Project Type: Senior Thesis Production
Student Contributors:
-
Andrea Wilson ’03 — Director
-
Mikey Feinberg ’03 — Scenic Designer
-
Zoe Levy ’03 — Costume Designer
-
Ata Suanda ’03 — Lighting Designer
Study Abroad
We encourage theater majors to expand their artistic and cultural perspectives through study abroad. Students may spend a semester at one of Wesleyan’s approved international programs or petition to attend programs in countries of their choice. Pre-approved opportunities with a theater focus include programs in London, Dublin, Buenos Aires, and Chile, offering students the chance to engage with performance traditions, theater history, and contemporary global practice while immersing themselves in new cultures and creative communities.
Awards and Prizes
The department recognizes the contributions and talents of theater majors and non-majors with the following prizes:
Awarded annually to the student who, in the estimation of the theater faculty, has contributed most to theater at Wesleyan over the course of their undergraduate career.
Awarded to the senior theater major who, through their work in the Theater Department, has done a significant service in the community.