Beyond HWS
The Theatre Department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges features a rich curriculum, complemented by an exciting production season. Students majoring or minoring in Theatre take a variety of courses in performance, production, theatre history / theory / literature, and theatre of/for social change. This cross-curricular approach provides students with richly diverse perspectives that are useful in a variety of professional fields.
Recent graduates have gone on to work at high-profile regional theatres including Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre (DC), Portland Stage Company, Children’s Theatre Company, Climb Theatre, Hilberry Theatre Company, and Illinois Shakespeare Festival. HWS Theatre students have also gone on to pursue careers in fields like Theatre, Non-Profit Management, Development and Fundraising, Law, Nursing, Communications, and Education. In addition to their professional careers, many of our graduates go on to earn graduate degrees in Theatre including Acting, Arts Administration, and Theatre History.
AWARDS
HWS Theatre students have garnered national recognition for their theatre history scholarship. In the past several years, a number of HWS theatre students have earned a spot on the Mid-America Theatre Conference Emerging Scholars Undergraduate Panel or won the Southeastern Theatre Conference Young Scholars Award. Recent winners include:
- Grace Ruble '21 — "Dionysus in Crisis: The Dangerous Environments of Dionysus in 69" (MATC Emerging Scholar 2019)
- Jacqueline Fisher '18 — "'Nethersolian' Expression and Societal Suppression: The Censorship of Sapho" (MATC Emerging Scholar 2017)
- Will Conard-Mally '17 — "Towards a New Theatre: Edward Gordon Craig and the Durable Drama" (SETC Young Scholar Award 2017).
- Loren Hiser '15 — "Sex Sells Some but Abstinence Advertises More Attractively: Spring Awakening, Sex Education, and the Persistence of Hypocrisy" (MATC Emerging Scholar 2015)
- Shannon Savard '15 — "Women’s Theatre Group: Disrupting the Patriarchy Since 1973" (SETC Young Scholar 2015)
PROFILES
Gary DeWitt Marshall '89
Actor and Comedian
"At HWS, I earned my degree in sociology and was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. After graduation, I attended the University of Albany where I was introduced to professional theatre and since that time I have performed locally, nationally and internationally."
