About the TMA Department
The study of theatre and media arts is truly a study of humankind and our attitudes toward ourselves as revealed in artistic expression. Since art is a mirror of human society, the specific disciplines of theatre and media arts cover our innermost attempts at comprehending our existence through all time.
The BYU Theatre program is designed to educate students in a basic foundation of dramatic literature, theatre history, theory, performance skills as both actor and director, and techniques in all areas of theatre design technology and production.
The BYU Media Arts program is designed to educate students in a basic foundation of film history, theory, and criticism, along with the fundamental production competencies in film, television, animation, or interactive multimedia.
History
The two disciplines of Theatre and Media Arts have a rich history at Brigham Young University. Theatre has been taught at Brigham Young University since 1901, when Miriam Nelke first began teaching courses in literary interpretation, Shakespeare, and oral expression. Brigham Young was also one of the first universities to create a formal department for the production of motion pictures in 1953. In fact, BYU President Ernest L. Wilkinson boasted in 1963 that BYU was one of only two universities in the nation with a film production department (the other being the University of Southern California). In 1974, the Theatre and Media Arts departments were merged into one, forming a union which has fostered a healthy collaboration between these two artistic disciplines for over thirty years. Today, the department services more than 450 students and has 21 full-time and 54 part-time faculty members.
TMA Success
Theatre students from our department have performed in Broadway casts of Mama Mia!, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Thoroughly Modern Millie and 42nd Street. Additionally, students have been with the Broadway national tours of Cats, Fosse, Footloose, Titanic, Sunset Boulevard, and Annie Get Your Gun. Graduates have also worked with the Boston Ballet, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and the Sacramento Ballet.
Film students from our department have created several successful independent films (Napoleon Dynamite, God's Army, Pride and Prejudice, Saints and Soldiers, The Singles Ward, Out of Step, Brigham City, and Charly). Many of our students have competed in prestigious film competitions such as the Sundance Film Festival and Slamdance. They've also been on the crews for national television programs (Touched by an Angel and Everwood). Additionally, students in the newly created Animation program have received awards such as the Student Emmy.
TMA graduates have gone on to pursue degrees at the Boston Conservatory, the Old Globe in San Diego, the University of California at San Diego, the University of Texas at Austin, New York University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Iowa, the University of Illinois in Champagne, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Nottingham, and many others.
In short, the Department of Theatre and Media Arts provides its students with an enriching environment in which they can pursue their creative, scholarly, and spiritual interests.
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