Founded in 1993, the African American Theatre Program is committed to staging works by new and established African American dramatists.
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The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage presents the Voice of the Griot Podcast. This is our inaugural program, "Traveling While Black: Louisville's Struggle to Desegregate Public Transportation."
Many of our graduate students provided voice acting for this episode. Check it out HERE
Voice of the Griot seeks to affirm, inspire, liberate, and restore our historical and cultural memory by telling our tales of struggle, resistance, and triumph over racism. This inaugural episode of Voice of the Griot features the story of one community's resistance to racist efforts to create a segregated society by depriving African Americans of equal access to public transportation in Louisville, Kentucky, post-Civil War years.
As part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Theatre Arts Department is committed to a liberal arts education for undergraduate students. The ancient art of theatre is most fully understood and exists at its deepest and most intimate level through the creation of performances shared with an audience. Doing so demands a deep array of knowledge and skill combined with a professional attitude and work ethic that can serve students throughout their lives in whatever profession they choose.
We believe that these goals, abilities, and attitudes should be evident daily in both our classrooms and our rehearsal rooms. Students who internalize this way of thinking and working are prepared extraordinarily well for any goal they pursue in the future.
The Theatre Arts department fosters creativity, collaboration, discipline, and artistic growth in its students and embraces the theatre as a means of creative expression, cultural understanding, social development, and historical perspective.
The University offers a B.S. in Theatre Arts which trains students in the fine art of theatre, voice, movement, scene study, and design and also teaches the historical and literacy context of the theatre as a humanist and liberal art. This knowledge includes the ability to understand the theatre arts, to appreciate them, and to create works of art that enhance the human condition. All students are exposed to the diversity of multicultural theatre.
Minor in Black Performance Studies in the African American Theatre Program
Master of Fine Arts in Performance
Graduate Certificate in African American Theatre
The Theatre Arts program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST).
Theatre Arts majors will find careers in onstage and behind the stage of productions both large and small. TA majors can apply their ability to think analyze scripts, interpret and research historical context of characters, and communicate effectively and clearly. The professionalism that TA majors will ascertain here at the University of Louisville will make them invaluable assets to any production team. Listed below are some common careers that Theatre Arts majors can expect to find.