About the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies

Welcome to the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies (TPS).  The scholar-artist is cultivated here. We want to meet our students where they are and encourage their growth and the pursuit of excellence in all facets of their work as undergraduate students. It comes with practice. Our award-winning faculty engages students in a supportive community that combines academic rigor with artistic excellence. That balance is worth pursuing.

We create together in two unique performance spaces: the Stillwell Theater, a 315-seat proscenium theater, and the Onyx Theater, an intimate, flexible seating black box theater. Our diverse season of student work includes plays, musicals, spoken word performances, adaptations of classic literature, storytelling, improv comedy, and new works. In addition to performing at home, our celebrated storytelling ensemble, the KSU Tellers, and K.I.S.S., KSU’s hilarious improv troupe, perform frequently around the metro Atlanta area at schools and professional venues like the Atlanta Fringe Festival.

One of the most unique and valuable aspects of our Department is the opportunity to engage with community.  It’s embedded in so much of what we do.  Through partnerships all throughout the Greater Atlanta and regional community, our students get the chance to experience and practice their skills in a whole host of settings.  Students work with organizations from the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta to Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw to the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.  Our students get to see how theory gets practiced through a broad range of opportunities and experiences.

Our program offers students a BA degree with a choice of four concentrations: acting, musical theatre, design/technology and performance studies. These concentrations allow students to create their own path to pursue their passions. Our unique curriculum, grounded in the professional practice of theatre and performance studies, encourages students to investigate and question circumstance. Our coursework sharpens a student’s ability to critically observe the world. We develop skills in creative problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, presentation skills, conflict resolution, and empathy. We develop through practice. Our faculty of professional scholars and artists work to create partnerships, internships, service learning, undergraduate research, and student job opportunities with the top arts organizations in our region.

Whether you are a prospective student or a theatre patron, I would welcome the opportunity to tell you more about who we are and what we do. Come join us to see where craft and curiosity meet to create unique storytelling.

Chuck Meacham
Chair and Professor
Department of Theatre & Performance Studies
cmeacham@kennesaw.edu