The selection of a season is the responsibility of the full faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance. Decisions are guided by an established production rotation plan.
By December 1, each faculty director will submit a list of plays for consideration in the next season. The Department Chair will establish a process for students to submit suggestions to be included in the selection process. The Season Selection Committee will meet to discuss this list.
By February 15, the season and rough production schedules will be set and Student Works Project Proposals are due.
The season schedule is determined by the full faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance. The schedule is subject to the approval of the Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Production schedules (including production meetings, building and completion dates for sets, props, costumes; light hang and focus schedules, all technical rehearsals, crew calls for performances, and strike) are determined by the technical director in consultation with the Chair and the individual directors and designers.
Audition and rehearsal schedules are determined by each director and are subject to space availability.
Production budgets are established by the Chair and Technical Director in consultation with the directors and designers of each production. The Technical Director oversees the production budget, and regularly reviews bookkeeping with the Administrative Specialist.
All purchases that extend beyond the established production budget require prior approval of the Chair.
Weekly production meetings will be conducted for each department production beginning at least six weeks prior to performance. The technical director will chair the meetings, which shall include the director, designers and stage manager. The Chair may attend at his discretion. The purpose of these meetings is to ensure communication and resolve any problems or issues relating to the production.
Students may receive academic credit for their work on Winthrop Theatre and Winthrop Dance Theatre productions by any one of seven methods:
All stage managers of faculty-directed/choreographed productions will receive two credits and enroll in THRT/DANT 472. Stage managers enrolled for two credits are expected to complete the project and submit the required student self-reflection essay. Students who wish to earn three credits for their work as stage managers on faculty-directed/choreographed productions will enroll in THRT/DANT 473. Those students are expected to complete the project, submit the required student self-reflection essay, submit a resume, and craft a 2500 word written project.
Under no circumstances will students receive academic credit for the same work through more than one method. Under no circumstances will students receive academic credit for work that they are being paid by Winthrop University to do.
Conditions and Expectations of Faculty for Students Involved in Productions: Once a student has been cast in a role or assigned to a production staff position for a departmental production and has initialed his/her name on the notice, it is expected that he/she has made the commitment to the designated rehearsals, production work, and performances until the production is completed. All students participating in a faculty production must be enrolled for credit. Students will be administratively enrolled after they have accepted the role or position. (Some students may have to petition for credit if they already have a full academic load.)
Procedure: If a student needs to drop out of a production, he/she must schedule a private meeting with the director or choreographer with whom he/she is working.
Exceptions: Documented medical illness, injury, or a documented emergency/crisis. If a director or choreographer permits a student to withdraw from a production for legitimate reasons, the student will be removed from the course roster administratively. It is the supervising faculty member's responsibility to inform the Chair of this change in due time.
Resulting action: If a student drops out of any departmental production (faculty-directed, student directed, choreography showcase, one-act, etc.) for any reason, he/she will be prohibited from participating in any other department-sponsored productions for the remainder of the semester in which this incident has occurred, or if the last production of the semester, will be prohibited from participating in the first production of the next semester. This includes any other roles or production staff positions that the student might already have at the time (multiple roles in Winthrop Dance Theatre, one-act festival or choreography showcases, for example).
Grades: If a student, for any reasons other than the stated "exceptions", is cast and signs on for any departmental production for which she/he is enrolled for credit, he/she will receive an "F" if he/she fails to fulfill his/her obligation.
This policy becomes effective with the beginning of the Spring 2017 semester.
The department hires skilled students on a part-time basis per semester as technical assistants in the scene shop, costume shop and box office. Work study students are also employed as assistants in the main office and computer lab. Students are occasionally hired on a temporary basis as technical crews for outside events held in Johnson Hall.
Hiring process for teaching assistants (pdf - 12.6 KB).
The director of each faculty-directed production is responsible for the content of both publicity and program materials, and for selection of poster images. All promotional materials must be approved by the Chair, the CVPA Dean and University Relations.
House Management is the responsibility of the Box Office Manager, who will organize and oversee a staff from the THRA 173 - Box Office Practicum, class.
The box office is operated by the Box Office Manager who is a member of the faculty. Box office hours are from 7:00 p.m. until curtain for evening performances and 1:00 to curtain for matinees. The Box Office is open from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Monday-Friday of the week of performance for all productions. Reservations may be called in to the Box office answering machine x4014 or by e-mailing boxoffice@winthrop.edu.
Reserved tickets must be picked up at least 30 minutes prior to curtain. Any unclaimed tickets will be released for sale at that time.
Winthrop University faculty, staff students with valid student IDs are entitled to special Winthrop-priced tickets. The Chair and Box Office Manager will negotiate group rates, special packages, etc. on a case by case basis. All other tickets are full price. The Department of Theatre and Dance reviews and announces its ticket prices annually.
Theatre and dance majors are entitled to one complimentary ticket to each departmental theatre or dance production. If a major wishes to claim a comp ticket for any production in Johnson Theatre, the student must claim the comp ticket IN ADVANCE. Special conditions concerning studio theatre productions: If a major comes to the box office anytime during the one hour before curtain, the major will not be issued her/his comp ticket. Majors may claim comp tickets for Johnson Studio Theatre productions 15 minutes before curtain. If tickets are available at that time, the box office staff will issue comp tickets to any majors until all tickets are distributed. Special conditions concerning musical productions: For Saturday and Sunday performances of musical productions, majors may claim comp tickets 10 minutes before curtain. If tickets are available at that time, the box office staff will issue comp tickets to any majors until all tickets are distributed. Any non-major who is participating as a cast member, running crew member, or orchestra member in a departmental production is entitled to one complimentary ticket for that production.
Winthrop Department of Theatre and Dance Faculty and Staff are entitled to two complimentary tickets for each production. Directors and choreographers are entitled to a complimentary ticket for every performance of the shows they are directing/choreographing. Faculty members who wish to attend multiple performances and/or bring special guests to performances may request additional complimentary tickets for guests from the Chair or Box Office Manager. When a performance is sold out, faculty cannot expect their requests for complimentary tickets to be accommodated. (As a routine, standard practice in the industry, the Box Office Manager maintains a small block of complimentary tickets for every performance that the Chair or Box Office Manager distributes as needed.) Student and/or guest directors and designers are given staff complimentary ticket privileges for the production(s) in which they are involved.
