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At Casper College you will receive the instruction and opportunity to begin your career in theatre. Our students earn associates degrees in four areas of theatrical study, preparing them to enter baccalaureate programs throughout the country with the confidence that only experience can give.

In addition to meeting the education needs of theatre and dance majors, our department provides cultural and artistic resources and opportunities to the broader Casper College community and fulfills the role of an intellectual and cultural leader for Central Wyoming.

Performance Opportunities
We offer practical opportunities, the most important component in theatre and dance development. While at Casper College you will have many opportunities to be involved both on stage and back stage in plays, musicals, and dance concerts. Production opportunities serve as an extension of all classes as students develop acting skills, polish dance abilities, and construct and run all of the technical elements in each production. As a student, you will find that there is no better way to understand the classroom work than to apply it to real production situations.

Facilities
The Department of Theatre and Dance is centered in the Gertrude Krampert Theatre Complex, a modern, well-equipped facility that was built in 1985 and was expanded in 2003. There are four spaces for students to learn their craft.

The McMurry Main Stage, a thrust stage, surrounded by an audience of 400, all within 30 feet of the stage, which makes it one of the most "actor-friendly" stages you’ll ever experience.

The Black Box an experimental theatre providing a second theatre performance space for smaller productions of many types, from the avant-garde to classics, with a greater range of plays, performance events and subject matter than is possible on the McMurry stage as part of the main season.

The Scifers Dance Performance Space for dance productions prepared by the dance classes and the Flight Dance Company. The dance performance space is also a fully equipped studio space and is supported with a second studio space. Both studios have state-of-the-art dance floors.

The Ken Ury Little Theatre for student scenes and productions. This is a 50-seat space for a variety of types of small productions.

These spaces are equipped with the latest in technical equipment, with ETC computerized lighting control boards, intelligent light instrument, and digital sound. Costume students work in the renovated and expanded costume shop, constructing costumes from the body out. The focus of all these performance spaces is providing student opportunities.

Guest Artists
Perhaps the finest education for theatre students comes with working with theatre professionals. We bring in a professional guest artist to our program at least every other year so that every theatre student has the opportunity to work with professional theatre artists. We also vary the kinds of artists we bring to the program. In recent years, the patron program supported Anything Goes and Chicago director Kurt Stamm, Summer and Smoke director Dr. Jerry Henderson, a professional actor, Anthony Zerbe, and Blair Gulledge, a guest costume designer for A Christmas Carol. Read more about past guest artists >>

Theatre Trips
Each year, the theatre and dance faculty accompany students on a theatre trip. Because of our location, we believe it is important that students experience as much professional theatre as possible. While the trips usually center on the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and dinner theatres in the area, trips have also been taken to Las Vegas and Minneapolis. These trips will prove vital in your assessment of where and how you will eventually enter in the theatre or dance world.

National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST)
Casper College is the first and only Theatre department to be accredited by the NAST in the State of Wyoming. This agency has been founded to help ensure the viability of its member institutions. As a 2-year college, holding this accreditation has aided, and continues to aid our students as they transfer to 4-year programs. The Colleges and Universities see that accreditation and know immediately that the Casper College Department of Theatre and Dance is thorough and rigorous, and a graduate will be well prepared to succeed in thier program.

MEET A FEW OF OUR GIFTED FACULTY!

Tom Empey. Department Chair and Resident Director
Phone: 307.268.2216
Email: tempey@caspercollege.edu

Tom has built the theatre and dance program at Casper College around professional production values and strong academic standards. One of the leading theatre practitioners in the Rocky Mountain Region, Tom is active in the National Association of Schools of Theatre, and recently served two terms on the Wyoming Arts Council (1999-05) serving as chair for the final two years. In 1998, Tom was awarded the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award. Currently Tom serves as one of five Governor appointed board members of the Wyoming Cultural Trust.

Tom teaches Introduction to Theatre for majors and non-majors, and Backgrounds in Dramatic Literature. He also directs two to three of the main stage productions each year. During Tom’s tenure at Casper College, his students have transferred to schools all around the United States and many are working in theatre professionally or in colleges from coast to coast.

Richard Burk. Program Coordinator and Resident Director
Phone: 307.268.2228
Email: rburk@caspercollege.edu

Richard has studied acting at the Actor’s Center in New York City with Robert Cohen and Slava Dolgachev (associate artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre). As part of the Master Acting Teacher Institute, he participated in workshops with Catherine Fitzmaurice and Dudley Knight (voice), Michael Miller (teaching actors), and Peter Francis James (acting Shakespeare). He has also studied voice with Arthur Lessac, movement and stage combat with Steve Pearson, acting with David Knight and Susan Miller, and mime with David Berendes.

Richard has appeared on the CBS series True Detectives, and acted professionally in the Midwest, including extensive touring with the Old Creamery Theatre Company. He has directed a number of world premiere productions, and had one production selected for American College Theatre Festival Regional competition in Oregon. His teaching credits include Whitman College, New Mexico State University, University of Northern Iowa, University of Illinois and Catawba College.

Richard directs one to two productions per year, and acts in approximately one production every two years. He teaches acting, voice for acting, musical theatre performance, movement for acting, and team-teaches auditioning and musical theatre performance with James Olm.

James Olm. Musical Theatre Director and Instructor
Phone: 307.268.3716
Email: jolm@caspercollege.edu

James is a Composer/ Playwright/Director/Educator of Musical Theatre. In the spring of 2003, his original musical Emerald Green, was developmentally read at the Off-Broadway York Theatre in New York City. His newest musical, Mary of Magdala, has had three developmental read-throughs in New York City in February and October, 2004 and August, 2006. He has written two other original musicals: Mulberry and Obits. James’ commissioned compositional works include choral pieces written for professional and high school choirs and theatre programs in the Midwest, as well as for faculty at UW-Whitewater.

Through the years, James has directed over thirty musicals and dramas, from professional theatre to community and high school theatre. He has also been a public school teacher for twenty-one years in both choral music and drama, as well as adjunct theatre faculty at UW-Rock County.

At Casper College Jim is musical director for the musicals, teaches private voice lessons for musical theatre students, musical theatre history, and musical theatre techniques and co-teaches the auditioning class and musical theatre performance classes with Richard Burk.

Learn more about our wonderful faculty by CLICKING HERE!

Performance Troupe & Club: The Bakkhai

The Bakkhai is a student organization dedicated to the support and promotion of theatre, dance, and learning. Members have the opportunity to participate in and even initiate theatre based activities in addition to what is already offered by the department of theatre and dance.

Theatre can be extremely time-consuming, with little time for relaxation. The Bakkhai is in a position to sponsor relaxing and exciting activities to help break the stress of production, and bring everyone together.

Each year the Department of Theatre goes on a theatre trip to visit major theatre centers around the region. While we usually go to Denver, we have gone as far as Minneapolis and Las Vegas in the recent past. The Bakkhai, as an organization, is the principle fund-raising entity. Funds raised are used to offset the cost to Bakkhai members. Because of this function, the Bakkhai takes a strong hand in planning the activities of each year’s trip.

Membership in the Bakkhai is open to anyone with an active interest in theatre and dance.  We encourage all majors to join.  Membership is simple - express an interest, pay the dues ($10 per year) and get involved!

Department Scholarship: The Activity Award

These awards are made available to students so that there will be a talent pool for productions staged by the Department of Theatre and Dance. Recipients of the activity awards in theatre form the core of the theatre and dance program at Casper College.

Activity Awards in the Department of Theatre are available to students in the following areas: Theatre Performance, Technical Theatre, Musical Theatre (This Award is shared with the Department of Music) Theatre education students will receive either a theatre performance or technical theatre scholarship in preparation for transfer to a theatre education institution. These awards are made so that students will be able to complete the first two years of their college education at Casper College and participate in the theatre and dance production program.

Applying to the Program

There is no special application process for majoring in theatre or dance. All you have to do is apply for and be admitted as a Casper College student. Here are the requirements briefly: Casper College admits any graduate of a Wyoming high school or any graduate of an accredited high school from another state who has attained a 2.0 grade point average. A high school transcript is required. Applicants must provide an ACT test score. There is no application fee.

Learn more about applying and scholarships by CLICKING HERE.

Casper College, 125 College Drive, Casper, WY 82601

307-268-2100

1-800-442-2963

And ON THE WEB!