“Theatre programs aren’t just electives — they’re cultural engines. And when accreditation becomes a political tool, the stage goes dark for too many of them.”

“You don’t get to market yourself as a place of discovery, growth, and personal development while simultaneously telling your artists they don’t matter.”

“I was recently made aware of a situation where a student has threatened legal action against their university’s theatre department. Their claim? That they were denied an equal education because they were never cast in a single production during their years in the program.”

“If we’re going to keep evolving how we teach the next generation of artists, we’ve got to think beyond just performance. We’ve got to prepare students for a world where storytelling, presence, and collaboration are needed everywhere — not just on stage.

“Majoring in theatre doesn’t guarantee a specific future—but it opens the door to a thousand possibilities. And often, the path you least expected becomes the one you love most.”

“If we agree that theatre is best learned by doing, then we have to protect the opportunity to do—to rehearse, to perform, to take risks on stage—for the students who have made theatre their primary academic pursuit.”

“When you’re auditioning for a BFA program, you’re performing for faculty who have seen everything. They don’t need to be shocked. They need to see your skills. They want to know that you understand text, can make strong choices, and—most importantly—have good instincts about what is and isn’t appropriate for this setting.”

“In a move that has sparked heated debate, the final performances of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at Northwestern University were canceled due to complaints over a racial slur in the show’s script.”