student stretching their neck while sitting on a stage with other students in the background

Theatre and Dance

Do you love acting? At the 91短视频 there are several curricular paths to studying the craft of acting. No interview or audition is required for initial entry into the BA Theatre degree, where students complete foundational courses in acting, script analysis, and theatre production. 

As students near the successful completion of their first year of study, they are invited to audition for the BFA Acting for Film and Theatre Concentration. The curriculum includes classes in Directing, Stage Management, Voice and Speech, Physical Performance, and all levels and traditions of Acting, including Shakespeare, devised theatre, contemporary approaches, and acting for camera. Students are also encouraged to take electives in other areas of the visual and performing arts that will supplement and expand their abilities as performers.

Our acting BFAs graduate with strong and rigorous training in performance for the stage and screen, having performed across a number of genres and trained in classical and contemporary works. Our alumni can be found across the state and region, working nationally and internationally as performers, theatre practitioners and in adjacent fields--from Broadway to the Golden Globes, from Fort Peck to Disney, we see and celebrate our acting graduates and look forward to mentoring the next generation of proud Montana-trained actors.

Performance Opportunties

  • All performance opportunities in the School of Theatre and Dance are open to anyone who auditions. Auditions for these opportunities are open to anyone, with priority given to students whenever possible. BFA Acting students are required to work as both crew and cast members across multiple performance opportunities during their time in the program.

  • The School of Theatre and Dance mounts multiple mainstage performances each year. The mainstage season is selected to meet the curriculum needs of our student body and to encourage attendance by the local Missoula community. They include the opportunity to collaborate with faculty and graduate-students directors, faculty and student designers, and student choreographers and dancers.

  • From time to time, faculty, graduate students, and guest directors work with actors on projects open to the public in a less-structured format than a mainstage-season show.

  • Students have the opportunity to be cast in Media Arts undergraduate and graduate student films, commercials, and animated projects throughout the academic year. These opportunities provide authentic experience working with the camera and leave actors with the beginning material for a film reel.

  •  is the professional theatre-in-residence at the 91短视频. Montana Rep provides paid opportunities for students as performers and technicians working alongside professionals in their local and touring productions. Montana Rep works under an agreement with Actors' Equity Association and is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG).