Although Ohio University has schools of music, dance and theater, it is not one of the 12 universities in Ohio that offers a bachelor degree in musical theater.
OU has many resources but is missing an outlet for university produced and sanctioned musical theater works, said Steven Huang, director of Orchestral Activities.
“I think in terms of long-term educational goals for the College of Fine Arts and the university that it’s really important that we reflect the worth of musical theater and we can certainly start discussing the possibility of having a program and figure out how we can make something like this happen,” he said.
The first step would be to get the music, dance and theater schools to collaborate, said Philip Christiansen, director of Opera and Music Theater.
There have been some collaborations already, such as the musical Assassins in November 2012, but Christiansen said to his knowledge there has never been a musical theater program.
“As the schools become more strict in their discipline, and the training becomes more specialized, it becomes harder to do a variety of things well,” he said.
Another major problem is scheduling, Huang said.
Musical theater productions require three times as much time to tackle all of the challenges associated with rehearsals, set building and designing, costumes, and more, said Madeline Scott, professor of dance and the director of the School of Dance, Film and Theater.
“While we have some of the resources on hand for this, they are dedicated at this time to the delivery of our existing degree programs,” she said. “Without additional resources it would not be possible to create and deliver an effective degree program.”
Though he doesn’t want a musical theater degree for himself, Greg Atkin, a senior studying theater performance, said a musical theater program would be a good addition to the university.
“I think it would be a point of connection between the School of Music and the School of Theater, which is something I wish was a bit stronger,” he said.
Instead of diving into a large program right away, starting off with some fundamental classes would be helpful, said Paul Mayhew, assistant professor of music.
“It would be a great benefit to have classes in the history of musical theater and to incorporate dance classes and movement for stage,” he said.
While no plans are official, the dean has established a committee to look into the feasibility of opera, and possibly musical theater, productions on campus and the discussions will be ongoing, Scott said.
“It seems, however, that considerations to add something to our performance or program offerings will require a willingness to cut back something else, and what that is remains to be seen,” she said.
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