Fine & Performing Arts Theatre–Design & Technical Production

Description

The design and technical production option is for those desiring concentrated training/education in scenic, lighting, sound, and costume design, as well as technical theatre production. The training the student receives in this program allows him or her to seek an entry-level position in professional theatre, television or film industries, or pursue further education at a graduate school or internship program. It is the goal of the faculty to give the student the classroom instruction, practical experience, and individual attention needed to form clear goals pertaining to a career in technical theatre.

Degree at a Glance

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
ACE Requirements		30
Some ACE outcomes may be satisfied by courses taken for other requirements
Theatre Core Requirements		27
Design & Technical Production Option Requirements		48
Electives		15
Total Credit Hours		120

Major Department Admission

A separate application and portfolio review is required for acceptance into the design and technical production option. The acceptance process for both new and transfer students includes an interview and analysis of the overall academic record, and determination of the potential for success through the course of study.
 

College Requirements

College Admission

Requirements for admission to the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts are consistent with general University admission requirements. These include:
 

• English (4 units)
• Mathematics (4 units)
• Social studies (3 units)
• Natural sciences (3 units)
• Foreign language (2 units)

NOTE: One unit equals one year of high school credit.

One of the following performance standards must also be met:

New Freshmen: Minimum ACT 20 (composite), minimum SAT 950 (combined), or rank in top half of high school graduating class.

Transfer and Readmit Students: Completed 12 or more semester credits from a post-secondary institution with a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA and 2.0 GPA during the last semester of record at the time of application. (Emerging media arts majors: minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA and 3.0 GPA during the last semester of record at the time of application.)

International Students: Minimum TOEFL 70 (Internet) or 523 (paper).

Individual departments may have higher standards for acceptance into the different degrees and options. Please check with the individual departments for these standards.

Auditions/Portfolio Reviews

Auditions are required for admission to the Glenn Korff School of Music for music, music education, and dance majors. Auditions are also required for admission to the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film for the acting major. A separate application and portfolio review are required for acceptance into all other programs in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.

Admission Deficiencies/Removal of Deficiencies

Students who are admitted through the Admission by Review process with core course deficiencies will have certain conditions attached to their enrollment at Nebraska. These conditions are in this catalog under “Removal of Deficiencies.”

Students with one deficiency, two deficiencies but not in the same category, or two deficiencies in foreign language who receive a Deferred Admission or Admission by Review, may be considered for admission to the college. Students who are admitted through the Admission by Review process with core course deficiencies will have certain conditions attached to their enrollment at Nebraska. These conditions are explained under Admission to the University, Removal of Deficiencies in this catalog.

College Degree Requirements

College General Education Requirements

Foreign Languages/Language Requirement

The languages requirement serves to help students gain a working familiarity with a language and a culture other than their own.

All students pursuing bachelor of arts or bachelor of music degrees are required to complete the intermediate level in one foreign language. Some or all of these courses may be completed while in high school. Courses approved to satisfy the languages requirement are offered by the Department of Classics and Religious Studies and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in the College of Education and Human Sciences. A student is required to successfully complete 202 to fulfill the languages requirement. (Exceptions: In Japanese, a student must complete JAPN 201 Second-Year Japanese I and one additional course from JAPN 202 Intermediate Grammar and Reading I, JAPN 203 Second-Year Japanese II, and JAPN 204 Intermediate Grammar and Reading II; in Greek, the student must complete two 300-level courses; in Latin, a student must take LATN 301 Latin Prose I and LATN 302 Latin Poetry I.) Instruction is currently available in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, and American Sign Language. View the College page for a full listing of approved courses.

NOTE:

• A student who has completed three years of one foreign language study in high school may fulfill the languages requirement by taking a fourth-semester-level course.
• A student who has completed the fourth-year level of one foreign language in high school is exempt from the languages requirement.
• Any student who achieves a specified scaled score in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) subject exam in French, German, and Spanish, levels 1 and 2, will be exempt from the languages requirement and will also receive credit for the fourth-semester course in the language.
• A transfer student with 11 or 12 semester hours of accepted credit has two choices: 1) to complete 6 hours in the same language at the 200 level; or 2) with permission of the chair of the department to enroll in a fourth semester course.
• A student from a foreign country who has demonstrated acceptable proficiency in his or her native language (other than English) is exempted from the languages requirement without credit toward the degree. American students who present acceptable evidence that their second language is English are exempted from the languages requirement without credit toward the degree. All such students should see the Dean’s Office, 102 Woods Art Building, for this exemption.

Minimum Hours Required for Graduation

A minimum of 120 semester hours of credit is required for graduation from the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. Students in the College are required to maintain a minimum current and cumulative GPA of 2.0. Individual departments may require a higher current and cumulative GPA.

Grade Rules

C- and D Grades

The College will accept no more than 15 semester hours of D grades from schools outside of the University of Nebraska system.

Grades lower than C earned at Nebraska or transferred from other schools cannot be applied toward requirements in a major, but may be applied toward total hours.

Pass/No Pass

University regulations for the Pass/No Pass privilege state: The Pass/No Pass option is designed to be used by a student seeking to expand his/her intellectual horizons by taking courses in areas where he/she may have minimum preparation without adversely affecting his/her grade point average.

1. Neither the P nor the N grade contribute to a student’s GPA.
2. P is interpreted to mean C or above. Some professional education courses require a C+ or above.
3. A change to or from Pass/No Pass may be made until mid-term (1/2 of the course). This date coincides with the final date to drop a course without the instructor’s approval.
4. The Pass/No Pass or grade registration cannot conflict with the professor’s, department’s, college, or University policy governing grading option.
5. Prior to the mid-term deadline, changing to or from the Pass/No Pass requires using the MyRED system to change the grading option or filing a Drop/Add form with Husker Hub, first floor Canfield Administration Building. After the mid-term deadline, a student registered for Pass/No Pass cannot change to a grade registration unless the Pass/No Pass registration is in conflict with a professor’s, department’s, college, or University policy governing Pass/No Pass.
6. The Pass/No Pass grading option cannot be used for the removal of C- or D or F grades.

Pass/No Pass privileges in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts are extended to students according to the following additional regulations:

1. Pass/No Pass hours can count toward fulfillment of ACE requirements up to the 24-hour maximum.
2. Freshmen and sophomores may enroll for no more than 6 hours of Pass/No Pass work per semester.
3. Students may not elect to take courses on a Pass/No Pass basis to fulfill degree requirements in the major. Departments may allow up to 6 hours of Pass/No Pass to be taken in the minor offered by the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
4. Departments may specify that certain courses can be taken only on a Pass/No Pass basis.
5. The College will permit no more than a total of 24 semester hours of Pass/No Pass grades to be applied toward degree requirements. This total includes all “pass” grades earned at Nebraska and other schools.

Individual departments vary in their policies regarding Pass/No Pass hours as applied to the major and minor. Consult the individual departmental listings for these policies. Students who wish to apply Pass/No Pass hours to their major and minor(s) must obtain approval on a form that is available in the Dean’s Office, 102 Woods Art Building.

GPA Requirements

Students are expected to maintain a minimum 2.0 grade point average each semester. Some programs within the College may have higher GPA requirements to keep in good academic standing.

Transfer Credit Rules

Ordinarily, hours earned at an accredited college are accepted by the University. The College, however, will evaluate all hours submitted on an application for transfer and reserves the right to accept or reject any of them. The maximum number of hours the University will accept on transfer from a two-year college is 60.

Normally, credit is not given for pre-university work. In some instances, however, it may be possible to receive credit through satisfactory examination.

All transfer students must complete the Residency Requirement (see “Residency Requirement”), and at least 9 hours in the major field must be completed at the University regardless of the number of hours transferred.

The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts will accept no more than 15 semester hours of D grades from schools other than UNO or UNK. All grades may be transferred from UNO or UNK. However, transfer courses within a student’s major or minor will be evaluated by that unit and held to the same minimum grade standards as courses taken at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Transfer Credit from Foreign Institutions

Credit for courses taken at foreign universities and colleges will be transferred only after validation by the appropriate department. This evaluation may include examination of the student over subject matter studied at the foreign institution.

International Baccalaureate Credit

Students who have studied art, music, or theatre within the International Baccalaureate Program will be given credit for courses at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln according to the guidelines established by each academic unit. Contact the department office for specific course information.

Course Level Requirements

Upper-Level Requirement: Thirty of the 120 semester hours of credit must be in courses numbered above 299.

Residency

Students must meet either of the following residency qualifications:
 

• At least 30 of the last 36 hours of credit must be registered for and completed while enrolled at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
• A total of 90 credits must be registered for and completed while enrolled at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Credit earned during education abroad may be used toward degree requirements if students participate in prior approved programs and register through the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Credit awarded from an institution other than Nebraska will be subject to transfer credit and residency rules.

Experiential Learning Requirement

All undergraduates in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts must complete an Experiential Learning (EL) designated course.

ACE Requirements

All students must fulfill the Achievement Centered Education (ACE) requirements. Information about the ACE program may be viewed at ace.unl.edu.

Catalog Rule

Students who first enroll at Nebraska under the 2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog must fulfill the requirements stated in this catalog or in any other catalog which is published while they are enrolled in the College, provided the catalog they follow is no more than ten years old at the time of graduation. A student must, however, meet the requirements from one catalog only rather than choosing a portion from one catalog and the remainder from another.

Exception: Students pursuing any degree in the Glenn Korff School of Music who fail to take at least one course that will fulfill their major requirements during a 12-month period must re-audition. They will then move to the catalog in effect at that time.

Students who have transferred from a community college may be eligible to fulfill the requirements as stated in the catalog for an academic year in which they were enrolled at the community college prior to attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  The decision to utilize a previous catalog should be made in consultation with academic advisors and must be requested within the first two semesters of enrollment after transferring. Students must complete all degree requirements from a single catalog year and within the time frame allowable for that catalog year.

Eligibility to use a prior catalog is dependent upon:

• Admission to the university as a transfer student
• Enrollment at a community college during the catalog year being used
• Continuous enrollment at the previous institution for one academic year or more
• Proceeding to enrollment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln within one calendar year from the last enrollment at the previous institution
• Maintaining the same major after the admission process

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of theatre–design and technical production will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of basic design principles and procedures, and experience in at least one of the design disciplines.
2. Understand the relationship between lighting, scenic, costume, props, and sound design and how these elements combine to achieve a unity of vision in production.
3. Clearly present research, design concepts, and staging plans in both verbal and visual form.
4. Demonstrate a working knowledge of the most common forms, materials, and approach used for each design discipline in live performance, film, industrial, and commercial applications.
5. Understand the history of theatre, visual styles, and design styles, and be able to utilize them in their work.
6. Depending on design/technical orientation, be able to:
   1. plan a production by drafting a plan, generating a finished model or rendering, all of the necessary design or construction drafting, a budget, and a production schedule that will include an estimated budget.
   2. understand and have the ability from construction drawings and renderings, to both construct and/or supervise work crews in the construction of design elements that are safe, correctly built and cost effective, meeting the expectations of the designer, the director, and the producer.
   3. understand and safely use stage machinery, flying scenery, moving scenery manually, with motors, or with hydraulics.
   4. implement basic scene painting tasks under supervision of painting in-charge person at professional scene shops.
   5. supervise a crew in the hanging and execution of a light plot, understand the programming necessary for lighting control systems, and sustain a design in performance while maintaining a safe working environment.
   6. safely and correctly use and maintain all tools and equipment appropriate to a discipline, maintain a safe building shop, and supervise its personnel.
7. Execute design elements in a timely manner that is safe and satisfies the requirements of the director, the designer, the performers, and the producer.
8. Demonstrate the discipline and sense of responsibility necessary when working in the production team in the “real world.”
9. Enter a graduate studies program in a design field or entertainment technologies or enter the job market in a non-faculty position.

Major Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Theatre Core Requirements
THEA 112G	Introduction to Theatre	3
THEA 114A	Basic Acting - Improvisation	3
or THEA 114B	Basic Acting - Scene Study
or THEA 114D	Basic Acting - Musical Theatre
THEA 120	Principles of Design for Theatre and Film	3
THEA 201	Technical Theatre Practice	3
THEA 202	Play Direction I	3
THEA 234	Scripts on Stage and Screen	3
THEA 335	History of Theatre I	3
THEA 336	History of Theatre II	3
THEA 472	Theatre Perspectives (ACE 10)	3
Credit Hours Subtotal:		27
Design & Technical Production Option Requirements
THEA 210	Introduction to Stage Lighting	3
THEA 285B	Practicum: Scene Shop	1
THEA 285E	Practicum: Electrics Shop	1
THEA 285M	Practicum: Prop Shop	1
THEA 285P	Practicum: Paint Shop	1
THEA 285R	Practicum: Run Crew	1
THEA 285T	Practicum: Costume Shop	1
THEA 412	Scene Design I	3
THEA 418	Costume Design I	3
THEA 421	Drafting for the Theatre	3
THEA 423	Rendering for the Theatre	3
THEA 432	Scene Painting	3
THEA 441	Period Styles for Entertainment Designers	3
THEA 442	Evolution of Theatre Design and Technology	3
Select 3 credits of production experiences:		3
THEA 409A	Production Practice: Management Position
THEA 409B	Production Practice: Technical Production Position
THEA 409E	Production Practice: Lighting Position
THEA 409M	Production Practice: Properties Position
THEA 409P	Production Practice: Scenic Art Position
THEA 409R	Production Practice: Audio Position
THEA 409T	Production Practice: Costume Position
THEA 409W	Production Practice: Scenic Design Position
Select 15 credits of the following (additional courses may be taken for elective credit):		15
THEA 204	Stage Makeup
THEA 285A	Practicum: Theatre Management
THEA 300	Stage Management
THEA 368	Digital Media Production
THEA 398	Special Topics in Theatre (Design/Technical Production Topic)
THEA 406	Costume Crafts
THEA 411	Stage Lighting II
THEA 413	Scene Design II
THEA 414	Stage Lighting III
THEA 415	Production Design for Film and Television
THEA 416	Computer Aided Design (CAD) for the Theatre
THEA 419	Costume Design II
THEA 420	Problems in Technical Production
THEA 429	Advanced Stage Lighting Technology
THEA 430	Master Electrician
THEA 434	Business of Design
THEA 444	Scale Model Making
THEA 446	Digital Studio for Designers
THEA 447	Sandbox Mode: Concept Art for Media Genres
THEA 450	Sound Design I
THEA 451	Sound Design II
THEA 457	Stage Rigging I
THEA 488	Digital Portfolio
THEA 494	Internship in Theatre or Film
TMFD 216	Apparel Design by Flat Pattern
TMFD 403	Apparel Design by Draping
Credit Hours Subtotal:		48
Total Credit Hours		75

Additional Major Requirements

Grade Rules

C- and D Grades

Minimum grade for all major requirements is C.

Pass/No Pass

All courses taken for major requirements must be for letter grade unless the course is only offered Pass/No Pass.

GPA Requirements

Students in the design and technical production option are expected to maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA throughout their career. Transcripts will be reviewed periodically to ensure satisfactory progress. Failure to maintain a 2.5 GPA may result in dismissal from the program.

Transfer Credit Used in Major Requirements

A minimum of 9 credits in the major must be completed at Nebraska.

PLEASE NOTE
This document represents a sample 4-year plan for degree completion with this major. Actual course selection and sequence may vary and should be discussed individually with your college or department academic advisor. Advisors also can help you plan other experiences to enrich your undergraduate education such as internships, education abroad, undergraduate research, learning communities, and service learning and community-based learning.

 

Career Information

The following represents a sample of the internships, jobs and graduate school programs that current students and recent graduates have reported.