Learn about... NYFA Hollywood
“Most scenic campus in America”
–Rolling Stone magazine
“Among the top 10 colleges nationally for combining academic quality and outdoor recreation”
–Outside Magazine
The University of Montana was founded in 1893 in the burgeoning pioneer town of Missoula, less than 90 years after Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery explored the area. Since then, the University has nurtured a tradition of cultural and scientific exploration.
Today, “The Discovery Continues” at UM – from a local, regional and global perspective into the next frontier of space.
Students receive a high-quality, well-rounded education and training for professional careers in the University’s three colleges – arts and sciences, forestry and conservation, and technology – and six schools – journalism, law, business, education, pharmacy and the fine arts.
Located at the heart of western Montana’s stunning natural landscape, UM is a magnet not only for top-notch teachers and researchers, but also for students from across the country and around the globe.
A city within a city – with its own eateries, stores, medical facilities, banking and postal services, and zip code – UM has an increasingly diverse population and rich culture.
UM Fast Facts
Enrollment: (fall 2007) 13,858 total, 11,799 undergraduates, 2,059 graduate students.
Student Profile: 54 percent female, 46 percent male, 81 percent full time, 69 percent Montana residents, 31 percent out-of-state residents, 430 international students (from 61 countries).
Faculty: 581 full-time, 250 part-time, 19:1 student-faculty ratio.
Estimated semester costs for freshmen (2007-08)
Montana resident: Tuition and fees, $2,570, Room and board, $2,930, Books and supplies, $425, Total costs, $5,925.
Non-resident: Tuition and fees, $7,752, Room and board, $2,930, Books and supplies, $425, Total costs, $11,107.
Financial aid: More than 67 percent of UM students receive some form of financial aid, including scholarships, grants, loans and work-study programs.
Academic calendar: Fall and spring semesters with a three-week winter session in January and two five-week summer sessions.
Campus: 156 acres at the base of Mount Sentinel and next to the Clark Fork River; includes 64 buildings, a 23,500-seat football stadium. UM's 180-acre South Campus offers housing, a golf course and soccer, softball and track fields.
Housing: Nine residence halls; three apartment complexes for students with dependents; and one apartment complex for single junior, senior and graduate students.
Campus organizations: One-hundred and fifty clubs dedicated to academics, volunteer service, diversity, recreation, Greek life, politics, religion and many other interests.
Varsity sports: Men (Grizzlies) football, basketball, indoor and outdoor track, cross-country and tennis. Women (Lady Griz) volleyball, basketball, indoor and outdoor track, cross-country, tennis, golf and soccer.
Club and intramural sports: Eighteen club sports and more than 30 intramural sports.
Some Very Cool Links!
Check out Campus Recreation!
Take a 360 degree Virtual Tour!
Schedule a Campus Visit!
Take a Look at Housing!
Scholarships & Financial Aid
At The University of Montana we understand the importance of funding your education, and realize that your education will be one of the largest investments you will make. Nearly every student is eligible to obtain financial aid to help finance the cost of their education.
More than 67 percent of UM students receive some form of financial aid, including scholarships, grants, loans and work-study programs. UM offers many Montana Resident and Non-Resident scholarship opportunities and other sources of need-based financial aid.
Learn more about Scholarships & Financial Aid!
Admissions
Balance. The University of Montana is the symmetry between education and place...Students choose Montana because they aspire to challenge and change the world while living the life they want. They seize their education with the same passion that calls them to the wilds of Montana.
Solid friendships are formed through shared adventure. Students live, learn and find meaning here. They are inspired by professors whose knowledge is surpassed only by their conviction.
Montana is a state of being where truth and learning coexists in all of its pristine environments.
Contact Us
Enrollment Services - Admissions
Lommasson Center 101
Missoula, MT
59812-2232
Phone: (406) 243-6266
Fax: (406) 243-5711
admiss@umontana.edu
And ON THE WEB!
Home > Tour the Colleges! > Montana > University of Montana
The Acting Program At...
University of Montana
The Department of Drama/Dance at University of Montana
The Department of Drama/Dance is housed in a fine, multi-million dollar performing arts complex which includes three theatre/dance performance spaces and National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting System studios.
The program is production-oriented with approximately ten major productions presented each year including contemporary, historical, period, musical, and experimental plays, as well as dance concerts. The Montana Repertory Theatre, a professional touring company based at UM, often involves students both on and off stage. The faculty is strong, possessing a diversity of educational and professional theatre and dance backgrounds.
The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Drama provides the student with a broad liberal arts education and a general focus in drama. The degree allows the student to complete an additional major and may form the basis for further training on the graduate level. The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Drama and an area of specialization in Education Endosement Preparation is designed for the student seeking teaching endorsement in the field of drama.
The Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Drama or Dance and an area of specialization in Acting, Choreography and Performance, Design/Technology, or Studio Teaching is a professionally-oriented degree designed for the student who plans to pursue a career in theatre, dance, or a related field.
BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS IN DRAMA: Acting Emphasis
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in acting is an emphasis within the School of Fine Arts, the purpose of which is to train students in the development of a personal performance process and acting technique.
Within the context of a liberal arts education, the program builds on the objectives of the department’s core curriculum to develop within a student a deepened, strengthened and professional level of competency in acting skills that prepares them for advanced graduate study in performance or entry into the profession of theatre practice.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Acting is an expressive art form in which the actor is the instrument of that expression. The training of the actor is a process that prepares one physically, mentally, emotionally and personally for expression.
Key to the training of the actor is the development of an affective mode of understanding and expression that requires the development of strong kinesthetic, verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal and spatial understandings and tools of analysis and expression. Further, the program exists to provide production and studio opportunities for students to develop, deepen and refine their theatre practice skills.
The program is concerned with developing the student’s ability to utilize these skills and tools to communicate dramatic story in the context of theatrical production. Students are expected to make continued progress in deepening, and clarifying their ability to communicate story and truthfully play character action.
At the end of the second year of the program the student must successfully pass a mid-program review of their skills and abilities in order to be accepted into upper division study. The mid-program audition assesses a beginning competency in the principles listed below. Upper division study then expects a growing mastery in these competencies by the end of the fourth year.
The fourth year of the program, requires of the student, a Senior Project, which consists of the successful development and performance of a significant role in a departmental production and accompanying paper documenting their working process and including a self-assessment of the final work.
FACILITIES
The Performing Arts/Radio Television Center completed in 1985, houses the office complex of the Dean of the School of Fine Arts, the Henry Meloy Gallery, the offices of the Department of Drama/Dance and the Montana Repertory Theatre, the Montana Theatre, Masquer Theatre, Open Space Performance Lab, and shops for scenery, costume, lighting and sound.
Also housed in the building is the Broadcast Media Center which includes studios for KUFM/National Public Radio studios and KUFM-TV Public Broadcasting System.
Read more about our wonderful FACILITIES!
MEET A FEW OF OUR GIFTED FACULTY
Mark Dean, Chair and Professor, Drama/Dance
Office Telephone: 243-2879
Fax Number: 243-5726
E-mail: mark.dean@umontana.edu
Mark Dean, Professor of Drama, serves as Chair of the Department of Drama/Dance at The University of Montana, where he teaches Lighting Design and Computer Aided Drafting. A native Montanan, Mark earned a BFA in Design/Technology from UM in 1987, and an MFA in Sceneography in 1991 from Wayne State University, where he was a member of the Hilberry Repertory Company.
Mark has designed the lighting for numerous UM Department of Drama/Dance productions including Hair, God’s Country, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Grapes of Wrath, K2, Sweeney Todd, The Tempest and Amadeus. This past December, Mark served as Lighting Designer for the Department’s production of A Christmas Carol. He designed for the Montana Repertory Theatre’s productions of The Glass Menagerie, Smoke On The Mountain, To Kill A Mockingbird, Death of A Salesman and My Way. Mark has extensive design credits with companies throughout the West including Festival Opera, Western Washington University, the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, and the Missoula Children’s Theatre.
John DeBoer, Assistant Professor, Acting/Directing
Office Telephone: 243-2018
Fax Number: 243-5726
A native Hoosier, John DeBoer has been acting and vocal coaching for as long as he can remember. After dabbling briefly with a career as a theatre critic, he fell in love with Voice and Speech while taking American Sign Language classes at Indiana University. Prior to joining the faculty at UM, he taught Voice and Speech at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond.
He has vocal-coached productions for Indiana University, the Brown County Playhouse, the Bloomington Playwrights Project, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richard Bland College, the University of Richmond, Barksdale Theatre, and Theatre IV, including Guys and Dolls, Peter Pan, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Foreigner, Caught in the Net, Macbeth, Medea, The Three Sisters, The Rocky Horror Show, Boy Gets Girl, Orphans, and The Importance of Being Earnest.
He is also a proud member of the Actors' Equity Association. Acting credits include Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, This is Our Youth, volume of smoke, Visiting Mr. Green, and most recently played Mitchell Green in the regional premiere of the Broadway hit The Little Dog Laughed at the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. He has trained internationally with noted artists such as folk singer Frankie Armstrong and the Dah Theatre of Belgrade, Serbia. He is an active member of both ATHE and VASTA and his essay "Getting the Gay Out: Sexual Identity in the Voice Classroom" was recently published in the "Voice and Gender" edition of the Voice and Speech Review.
Greg Johnson, Prof. Acting/Directing & Dir. Montana Rep Theatre
Office Telephone: 243-5288
Fax Number: 243-5726
E-Mail: gregory.johnson@umontana.edu
Greg Johnson has served as artistic director of The Montana Rep since 1990. He brought with him a commitment to excellence developed during years of experience in the New York Theatre, working with the best directors, choreographers, actors, designers and playwrights in the country. From Neil Simon and Gene Saks to Hugh Leonard, Elizabeth Ashley, Beth Henley and Bernard Hughes, Mr. Johnson has been privileged to work with the finest. He brings his energy and expertise to every aspect of his involvement with The Montana Rep.
Greg Johnson's Broadway credits include Biloxi Blues, Crimes of the Heart, Is There Life After High School?, Da, and Hide and Seek. National Tours include the Broadway productions of Steel Magnolias, Crimes of the Heartand Broadway Blues. Mr. Johnson spent nineteen years working in the professional theatre in New York City as an actor, stage manager, and director before coming to Montana to run The Montana Rep.
Since joining The Montana Rep, Greg has directed Broadway Bound, Nunsense II, The Heidi Chronicles, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Lend Me A Tenor, Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, The Real Thing, Willi, The Voice of the Prairie, and the national tour of To Kill A Mockingbird. In addition, he is responsible for developing "The Colony, a Gathering of Writers for Stage and Screen" at The University of Montana-Missoula, and "The Young Rep," which presents plays of significant social relevance. He also serves on the faculty of The University of Montana-Missoula School of Fine Arts.
Learn all about our fabulous FACULTY!
Our 2008-2009 Season
The Foreigner by Larry Shue
Masquer Theatre
Coyote on a Fence by Bruce Graham
Masquer Theatre
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
Montana Theatre
To Kill a Mockingbird by Christopher Sergel
MRT National Tour
Montana Theatre
Buried Child by Sam Shepard
Masquer Theatre
Guys and Dolls
by Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, Abe Burrows & Damon Runyon
Montana Theatre
Medea by Euripedes
Masquer Theatre
Dance Concert
Montana Theatre
CONTACT US
Mark Dean, Chair
UM Drama/Dance
Performing Arts & Radio/Television Center, Room 196
Missoula, MT 59812
Phone (406) 243-4481, Fax (406) 243-5726
And ON THE WEB!