The Department of Theatre is one of the top undergraduate training programs in the U.S. With nationally renowned faculty and staff, the department is proud to offer one-on-one interaction in all aspects of production that leads to award-winning results. Our production of Othello was a national winner in the American College Theater Festival and was performed at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. The student-designed production of Kiss of the Spider Woman took top honors in region III of the American College Theatre Festival. Western’s program has been selected for regional competition at the festival more than any other university in Michigan. The Department has also had three actors selected for the Irene Ryan Acting Competition Finals at the Kennedy Center as part of the American College Theater Festival and three designers selected to attend the National Festival.

In August of 2004, the Department was honored to perform its production of Women of Troy, Women of War at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In 2008, Seven Passages: The Stories of Gay Christians, was invited to be performed at the worldwide conference of Anglican bishops in Canterbury, England. It is due in part to these celebrated honors and international performance opportunities that the Department of Theatre can produce confident, successful students who are ready to start their careers in the theatre with a competitive edge.