Roles of Theatre in Higher Education: Liberal Education and University Theatre Programs in Canada

Abstract

I came to the question concerning the roles that our theatre and drama programs are playing in the lives of our students through several paths. First was the language of “professional” or “pre-professional” training that seeps into so many interactions with students, university administrators, and the public. This bothered me because the thousands of theatre and drama graduates every year are obviously not all working in the industry, so there seemed to be a disconnect between what many of our programs implicitly promise and the reality of employment. It bothered me because we often seem to speak out of both sides of our mouths, sometimes touting liberal education or liberal arts, depending on the moods at our institutions, while at other times marketing to potential students by hyping our industry star grads. It bothered me because I could find no analysis or actual research that examined any of the claims about our programs. Call this the “stick” path.