Drama - Minor

Return to: College of Arts & Sciences: Minor Programs

Program Requirements

18 credits total: 3 Discovery hours, 9 Learning Areas hours, and 6 Focused Inquiry hours.

Discovery (3 credit hours)

These courses provide foundational ideas, practices, and methods in theatre, dance, and performance studies.

Choose one of the following courses:
DRAM 2010 - Theatre Design, Technology, & Production Credits: 3
DRAM 2050 - Performance and/as Theory Credits: 3
DRAM 2060 - The Body and Performance Credits: 3

Learning Areas (9 credit hours)

Each learning area includes several mid-level courses addressing key specialties within the fields of theatre, dance, and performance. These regularly offered courses have no prerequisites.

Students will choose one course from three of the following areas.

Interpretation and Invention

These courses explore how we create and tell stories through performance history, text, or creative media.

DRAM 2620 - Sound Design Credits: 3
DRAM 3050 - Making Theatre Histories Credits: 3
DRAM 3080 - Script Analysis: Dramatic Structure and Theatrical Production Credits: 3
DRAM 3710 - Playwriting I Credits: 3
DRAM 3820 - Video Design I Credits: 3

Critical Response and Social Engagement

These courses analyze theatre, performance, dance, and/or popular entertainment within broader political and cultural contexts.

DRAM 3070 - African-American Theatre Credits: 3
DRAM 3090 - Theatre and Social Change Credits: 3
DRAM 4020 - Comedy and American Culture Credits: 3
DANC 3400 - Dance and Culture Credits: 3

Creating Performance

These courses prepare students for embodied, performance-based learning through creative practice.

DRAM 2020 - Acting I Credits: 3
DANC 2300 - Dance Improvisation Credits: 3
DRAM 3420 - Voice for Theatre Credits: 3
DANC 3640 - Screendance Credits: 3

Crafting Performance

These courses explore the complex structures that surround performance through technology, media, management, and engaging an audience.

DRAM 2110 - Lighting Technology Credits: 3
DRAM 2210 - Scenic Technology Credits: 3
DRAM 2310 - Costume Technology Credits: 3
DRAM 3030 - Dramaturgy: Crafting Stories for the Stage Credits: 3
DRAM 3210 - Scene Design I Credits: 3
DRAM 3652 - Producing Theatre Credits: 3
DRAM 3825 - Media Design Studio Credits: 3

Focused Inquiry (6 credit hours)

Working with their advisors, students craft a plan for further specialization or exploration into new areas of theatre, dance, or performance.

6 credit hours of Drama courses at the 2000 level or above.
- 3 of these credits must be at the 3000 level or above.

Possible courses: use the catalog search on the Undergraduate Record website to list all 2000-4000 Drama courses.

Additional Information

The department will generally accept up to three credits of approved non-UVA coursework toward the minor. Transfer and study abroad courses must receive prior approval from the Director of Undergraduate Programs and demonstrate close alignment with departmental learning objectives.

For more information, contact Associate Professor Michael Rasbury, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Department of Drama, Drama Building, 109 Culbreth Rd., P.O. Box 400128, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4128; (434) 982-4542 or (434) 924-3326; www.virginia.edu/drama.