The Program in Music Theater is open to juniors and seniors 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.
Requirements for the certificate in Music Theater:
(1) Coursework
- 1 course in Theater
- 1 course in Music
- 1 course in Dance
- 2 courses, either academic or practice-based, that focus specifically on a form of music theater, including opera, American musical theater, and experimental music theater. These courses need not be cross-listed with MTD (Music Theater).
Students may count courses for the music theater certificate that will be used to fulfill the requirements of the theater certificate and/or the musical performance 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.
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.
(3) A certain number of hours of technical work on theater productions staged by the Program in Theater
These are decided on a case by case basis depending on the Program in Theater’s production needs. 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.
A student who fulfills the requirements of the program with satisfactory standing receives 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
There is no application process — all students are accepted into the Program in Music Theater.
Check out a helpful visual guide and FAQs about pursuing a certificate in a program in the Lewis Center for the Arts »
