Experience Takes Center Stage

Get hands-on theater experience from your first semester while learning from professional artists in one of the country's most vibrant theater communities.

Theater Opens Doors

Theater is applied learning that builds skills in communication, collaboration, empathy, problem-solving, and leadership. 

Our students learn to listen, work with others, meet deadlines, manage budgets, and pursue a common goal. Those skills open doors to careers as actors, directors, designers, educators, filmmakers, and producers—as well as to careers in law, marketing, entrepreneurship, counseling, and business ownership. 

Whatever path they choose, our graduates bring creativity, confidence, curiosity, and resilience to everything they do.

Department Calendar

2026-2027 Productions

In The Heights

November 13 - 15, 2026

Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Co-sponsored by Buffalo State Theater, Starring Buffalo, and AnsariSaxon Productions

In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind. This In the Heights production will be staged in Starring Buffalo's signature staged concert style!

IN THE HEIGHTS is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. 

Tickets

Wine in the Wilderness

February 24 - 28, 2027

By Alice Childress 

Directed by Gabriella McKinley

Co-sponsored by Casting Hall Productions

First produced as part of a special experimental series of black drama, this compelling and highly imaginative play speaks eloquently of the black experience in America.

WINE IN THE WILDERNESS is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. 

Tickets

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

April 28 - May 2, 2027

Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro, Music by Jimmy Roberts, Orchestrations by Doug Katsaros

Directed by Jennifer Toohey

Co-sponsored by Casting Hall Productions

A musical revue celebrating the mating game! This crowd-pleasing comedy takes on the truths and myths behind that contemporary conundrum known as “the relationship.”

Schedule:

I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

Tickets

Thursday Play Reading Series

Join us as we present FREE play readings and discussions. Enjoy plays selected from our student surveys or submitted by faculty and local directors. All performances will take place in the Flexible Theatre (SAVA 205), from 12:15 - 1:30 p.m.

Schedule:

September 10, 2026 - Liberation, by Bess Wohl

October 8, 2026 - Trifles, by Susan Glaspell

November 12, 2026 - The Thanksgiving Play, by Larissa FastHorse

December 11, 2026 - The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall

Theater Spotlight

Anthony Chase, Lissette DeJesus-Wrafter, Sarah Foote, Steven Maiseke, Cristalis Bonilla Rivera

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