Music Theater

Program of Study

SPECIAL NOTE: Because of the pandemic, we have made the following changes to music theater certificate requirements to make life easier for the Classes of 2021-2024:

CLASS OF 2021: Please get in touch with Program Director Jane Cox at janecox@princeton.edu if you are concerned about completing your tech credits or your senior year independent work.

CLASS OF 2022: We understand that many things have been disrupted for your year in particular. We will work with all juniors to complete their tech credits over the remainder of this academic year, and if necessary, into your senior year, in a way that doesn’t unduly complicate your life. If you are confused about the requirements for completing a certificate or for proposing a project, please reach out to Program Director Jane Cox at janecox@princeton.edu or Program Associate Joe Fonseca at jfonseca@princeton.edu.

CLASS OF 2023: Although the program information states that THR 402, the junior seminar, is mandatory in order to propose a project, we have decided NOT to make the junior seminar mandatory going forward. In the 2021-22 year only, we will be offering the junior seminar in the spring in the 2021-22 year, not in the fall, to be certain that it can happen entirely in person. Students who plan to propose a show for our season are encouraged to participate in the spring THR 402 class, but you are not required to do so in order to propose a project for our season. Stay tuned for a meeting after mid-terms to talk more about the junior and senior year of a certificate student.

CLASS OF 2024: Although the program information states that THR 402, the junior seminar, is mandatory in order to propose a project, we have decided NOT to make the junior seminar mandatory going forward. Students who plan to propose a show for our season are encouraged to participate in the fall junior THR 402 class, but you are not required to do so in order to propose a project for our season. We suggest that students take THR/MTD 101, which will become mandatory for the class of 2025; and starting in the 2021-22 year, will be offered in both semesters. Since this is not currently in the program requirements, this will not be mandatory for the class of 2024, but the course is encouraged as a good basis for an education in theater.

 

From opera to Broadway musicals to experimental music theater, the many hybrids of singing, acting, and movement are among the most historically significant, socially relevant, and artistically adventurous forms of performance. With a liberal arts education as its base, Princeton’s Certificate Program in Music Theater encourages students to explore music theater as an intensely collaborative art form, as a key component of world cultures, and as an entertainment genre that shapes and is shaped by history, economics, politics, and technology.

The Program in Music Theater encompasses Princeton’s curricular tripartite of creation, performance, and study. Students in the Program take courses in Music, Theater, and Dance, as well as related courses in other departments, taught by faculty across the university who compose, write, create, perform, and research music theater’s various forms that combine music, dance, text, and design. Additional classes are taught by visiting guest artists. Students can create new music theater work, participate in music theater production, and/or produce new scholarship in music theater history, theory, and criticism.

INTERESTED IN MUSIC THEATER?

I might want to pursue a Music Theater certificate at the Lewis Center for the Arts. What should I do in my first four semesters?

  • Plan to take at 1 studio course in Music, Theater or Dance. The certificate requires a minimum of 5 courses, plus substantial independent work during senior year and technical hours.
  • All students pursuing DAN, THR and MTD certificates are expected to have completed a certain number of tech hours by the end of Senior Spring and are strongly encouraged to start these hours during their first four semesters.
  • Look into whether related tracks in the Music or English Departments (such as “Theatre/Performance Studies”) might be right for you.

 

Will every interested student be accepted in the Music Theater (MTD) and Theater (THR) certificate program?

Yes, those students interested in pursuing certificates in MTD or THR can declare at any time but are strongly encouraged to do so no later than Sophomore Spring (in order to fully participate in the following year’s season proposal process). Review the music theater certificate registration form

 

Review a list of FAQs about Lewis Center courses and certificate programs »

Check out a helpful visual guide about pursuing a certificate in a program in the Lewis Center for the Arts »

CERTIFICATE

The Program in Music Theater is open to all students who are committed to music theater practice and/or scholarship. Students may begin taking courses that count toward certificate requirements in their first year at Princeton and most classes have no prerequisites. There is no application—all students are accepted into the Program in Music Theater.

Students may register for music theater and/or theater certificates as early as their first year and as late as their senior year (although signing up in your senior year will limit your options for realized senior independent work). Signing up for a certificate entitles you to free tickets to program shows (subject to availability), and puts you on all our e-lists for invitations to projects in NYC and elsewhere, program workshops and events, conversations with visiting artists etc.

Requirements for the certificate in Music Theater: 

(1) Coursework (total of 5 courses)

  • 1 course in Theater (THR)
  • 1 course in Music (MUS)
  • 1 course in Dance (DAN)
  • 2 courses that focus on any form of music theater, including opera, American musical theater, and experimental music theater. These courses can be academic or practice-based. MTD courses count, of course, as do many courses in other Departments and Programs not cross-listed with MTD. LCA 101 doesn’t fulfill the course requirement in Music or Theater or Dance. Please direct questions about specific courses to Joe Fonseca or Professor Stacy Wolf.

NOTE: Certain applicable courses taken to satisfy requirements for the Theater certificate can also be used to satisfy requirements for the Music Theater certificate.

(2) Senior Independent Work:

This work might take the form of creating a music theater piece: composing the music and/or writing the lyrics and/or writing the book. It might be the direction of a production, the performance of a major role, or the design or dramaturgy of a production, under the supervision of faculty and professional staff, independently, or in conjunction with another campus-producing organization. This work might be an independent scholarly paper or another music theater-oriented project.

Music Theater students who wish to propose a realized project as part of the Theater program production season, using theater program equipment, space and/or staff, are expected to participate in the Theater Program’s collaborative methods seminar, THR 402, during the junior year.

It is possible to complete senior independent work through the Theater Program’s season without proposing a realized project or taking THR 402 in two ways. One is by writing, acting, designing, directing, stage managing or participating in a project in the theater and music theater season that has been chosen by other students. The other is by proposing an academic theatrical exploration, independent performance studies project or any other project (such as writing a play that you do not expect to be performed) that does not require the use of theater program staff, space, or equipment.

Students may elect to do an independent performance studies project approved by and under the supervision of Program in Theater faculty.

If the student’s department permits, the student might choose to complete one part of the departmental independent work (senior thesis) on a topic approved by the Program in Music Theater faculty dealing with some facet of music theater in relation to that department’s subject matter. This independent work could take the form of a textual, cultural, or theoretical study; or it could be a combination of research and practical work supervised by the program faculty and the student’s departmental adviser.

NOTE: Students also earning the certificate in Theater must complete Senior Independent work unique to the Music Theater certificate.

(3) Technical and Production Support Work:

A certain number of hours of technical work on Program in Theater productions. All technical hours must have been assigned to the student by the thesis proposal deadline date in the junior year, usually late February or early March. At least half of these hours must be completed prior to this deadline; and all technical hours must be completed by the end of junior year.

Students can work in the costume or scene shop, help to build a set or hang lights or locate props, stage manage, run a light or sound board, work on the run crew, or many other jobs. As a benchmark, serving as the stage manager on one production typically fulfills the Program in Theater’s tech hours.

Students interested in directing a music theater production in the Program in Theater season are encouraged to stage manage a production in their freshman, sophomore, or junior year as preparation for directing. Stage managing a production for the theater program fulfills the technical work requirement for the program.

NOTE: Students also earning the certificate in Theater only need to fulfill one set of tech hours.

(4) Community Meetings and Events:

Given that collaboration is at the heart of music theater making, a successful music theater education has to be rooted in an engaged community. At the start of each academic year, students will be required to attend a short meeting of all Theater and Music Theater certificate students. In addition, the Theater and Music Theater programs will require occasional certificate student attendance at workshops aimed at supporting our ability to create art in a collaborative manner. Each year, the Theater and Music Theater programs host, produce, and present a variety of theatrical events and symposia. MTD certificate students are expected to participate in or attend at least one significant theatrical event in each of their junior and senior years. The Theater and Music Theater programs also provide a wide array of workshops, events and trips to the theater for our certificate students.

Certificate of Proficiency:

Students who fulfill the requirements of the program receive a certificate of proficiency in music theater upon graduation.

Students wishing to receive a certificate register online at any time prior to senior year. Register now

 

STUDENT DRIVEN THEATER SEASON

The Theater and Music Theater program season of theatrical productions and explorations is primarily comprised of projects chosen by junior certificate students who have fulfilled the necessary requirements in terms of coursework and tech hours. Certificate and non-certificate students may participate in these projects as extracurricular activities; certain projects led by faculty may be pursued as coursework. These productions and theatrical explorations may be used to fulfill the requirement for senior independent work in the certificate program. With permission of the student’s department of concentration, such projects may also satisfy one of the requirements for independent work in the department, in which case it must consist of or be accompanied by written work, such as a scholarly or critical evaluation.

The mission of the theater and music theater season is to support our students’ exploration and development as theater artists. We expect our students to take intellectual and creative risks, and we respect the right of the student and the artist to experiment and to fail. We believe that an atmosphere of generosity and inclusion best supports creative growth. The theater and music theater programs welcome all students on campus to participate in our student driven theater season. No experience is necessary, and students do not need to be earning a certificate to participate in our productions.

COURSE INFORMATION

We anticipate that at least five of these courses will be taught each year in the Program in Music Theater.

  • AMS 315/MTD 315/THR 344/AAS 309: Race & the American from Minstrelsy to Hamilton
  • ATL 494/MUS 301: Sounding Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Alchemy in Music Theater; Making Comic Opera (Note: Various other Atelier courses focus on music theater projects)
  • DAN 321: Special Topics in Dance History: Choreographers on Broadway
  • ENG 376/THR 376: Curious Aesthetics: 20th Century American Musical Theatre
  • ENG 318/THR 310/MUS 338: The Musical Theatre of Stephen Sondheim
  • GSS 337/MTD 302/THR 347/AMS 336: Gender Crossings in American Musical Theater
  • GSS 365/THR 365/ENG 365/AMS 365: Isn’t It Romantic? The Broadway Musical from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim
  • MTD 335/MUS 303: The Development of the Multi-Skilled Performer
  • MTD 341: Acting and Directing for Musical Theater
  • MUS/MTD 220: The Opera
  • MUS 223: The Ballet
  • MUS 214, 219: Projects in Vocal Performance (opera or musical theater topics)
  • THR 334: The Nature of Theatrical Reinvention

Dance Courses:

Program in Music Theater students are especially encouraged to take DAN 213, Introduction to Contemporary Dance, and/or DAN 211/AAS211, The American Dance experience and Africanist Dance Practices, and to participate in co-curricular dance classes.

Music Courses:

Program in Music Theater students are especially encouraged to take MUS 104, When Music is Made, and/or MUS 105/106, Music Theory through Performance and Composition.

In addition to the courses listed above, the Department of Music offers many courses that can be used to satisfy their requirements for the Program in music history, theory, composition, and performance. For additional information on specific courses, students may contact Professor Jamie Reuland, Departmental Representative for the Music Department, at jlgreenb@princeton.edu.

» View Music Theater Courses

MUSIC ENSEMBLES AND LESSONS

Students in the Music Theater Program are encouraged to audition for the Music Department’s choral ensembles, including the Glee Club and Trego. Ensemble singing is an excellent way to build musicianship and be exposed to a wide range of repertory. Students who participate in Music Department ensembles are eligible for voice lesson subsidies. For more information on the Glee Club, please contact Gabriel Crouch, Director of Choral Activities, at gcrouch@princeton.edu. For more information on Trego, please contact Stephanie Tubiulo, Associate Director of Choral Music, at stubiolo@princeton.edu.

Register for the MTD Certificate

Students wishing to receive a certificate register online at any time prior to senior year. There is no application process — all students are accepted into the Program in Music Theater. Register online.

If you have already submitted an application, you may edit/update the form to track your progress toward the Certificate in Music Theater here »