Bennington: Drama

Drama

Drama students at Bennington gain experience in all aspects of theater production, and the facilities—housed primarily in the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VAPA)—reflect that. Among VAPA’s drama spaces are two theaters fully equipped for professional productions, a scene shop for constructing sets, and the always-colorful costume shop. Consider yourself invited to come see these spaces for yourself. But in the meantime, here’s a preview.

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Teacher-Practioner

The drama faculty is composed of award-winning performers, directors, designers, and playwrights, who use their experience as professionals to inform their work in the classroom, on the stage, and behind the curtain.

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Drama

Year after year, the Princeton Review ranks Bennington’s drama program among the nation’s “Best College Theater.” Between them, alumni and faculty have won every major award for stage and screen—Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Obie, SAG—and headed major film studios, networks, and theater companies.

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Student Work

Central to a Bennington education is the showing or performing of one’s work. In drama, there are one to two faculty-directed plays each term, and two to three productions directed by students with structured faculty guidance and technical support. The opportunities to work on independent projects are endless—anything from staged readings to full student-directed productions.

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Theatre from every side.

As a Bennington student, you are encouraged to take a broad range of courses within the larger drama discipline, including acting, directing, playwriting, theatre history, dramatic literature, design, and stage management, and classes often come together to create collaborative work. Collaboration is essential to the study of drama at Bennington.

For each term that you take a class in drama, you also complete a technical lab, working in the scene shop, costume shop, or technical crew—learning the nuts and bolts of what it takes to produce theatre. Between labs, Drama Forum, and your classes, you engage immediately and directly in the drama community at Bennington. Through Field Work Term you may choose to apply your skills in professional theater settings, or in internships that complement your studies in other ways.

During the weekly Drama Forum, students and faculty present work in progress, and guest speakers lead workshops and lectures. Several productions are staged each term.

The Princeton Review ranks Bennington College in the top five for Best College Theater.