Musical Theatre
The Department of Fine and Performing Arts (DFPA) comprises four distinct areas of study: dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. More than 400 student majors and minors benefit from dynamic artistic and academic opportunities, and work closely with faculty members actively involved in creative work, performance, and independent scholarship.
DFPA is housed in new and recently renovated facilities at the Lake Shore Campus. The Ralph Arnold Fine Arts Annex, opened in January 2007, offers specialized studios for ceramics, metalworking/jewelry, and sculpture. The new dance studio features spring flooring, piano and sound system, ballet barres, and dressing rooms.
A small art gallery displaying student and professional artwork also serves as an event and study space.
The newly renovated Mundelein Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, opened in Fall 2007, contains a theatre resource center and reading room, music resource center and listening lab, art history resource center, classrooms, offices, and auditorium theatre. Additional features include eight fully-equipped private practice rooms, Macintosh computer labs, a state-of-theart digital music lab outfitted with 18 Korg keyboards, and the Sky Student Lounge.
The Minor
Loyola University Chicago’s new musical theatre minor provides a cross-disciplinary program for students majoring in the performing arts. Required courses in theatre, music, and dance help prepare students for performance careers in the musical theatre industry.
The musical theatre minor currently offers two tracks for students majoring in music or theatre. Students are required to take courses in the two performing arts forms outside their concentration, along with a capstone in musical theatre repertoire. The capstone course is both a history and performance course where students study the history of musical theatre and receive performance instruction related to each genre. This course culminates in a Musical Theatre Showcase.
DFPA produces one full-scale musical per year. In addition, musical theatre students have the opportunity to participate in a yearly workshop specializing in the development of new musicals done in partnership with aprofessional theatre in Chicago.