BA Theatre

Learn More About NEC's Theatre Program

Program Details

• Live What You Learn

  • You are involved in theatre productions from your first semester on campus.
  • Each year you’ll help produce three shows: a major fall production, an important winter staged reading, and a spring production. All theatre students are directly involved in each of these productions.
  • All theatre classes involve getting up and participating directly in what you’re learning. You’ll use every technique and tool and apply them to the work at hand.
  • The summer after your junior year, you will participate in an immersion program with our summer professional company: The Open Door Theatre. You’ll spend your mornings in master classes with faculty and company members, your afternoons working on the technical elements of the production, and evenings in rehearsal.
  • You will create your own portfolio. Students focused on acting will create an audition package. Technical students will create a portfolio of their work. Your portfolio is critiqued by the professional company, and during the fall remount of the summer production, your work is presented for evaluation.
  • Production Analysis and Theatre Lab are specifically built to directly reflect the work of our semester productions. Because the work is always changing, they can be repeated for credit.

• Career Opportunities

  Training in the theatre develops skills that are highly sought after in the workplace: communication and interpersonal skills, writing, critical thinking, collaboration, team-building, problem-solving, and self-motivation.

  • Actor
  • Director, Producer
  • Stage Manager, Set Designer, Light Designer, Costume Designer
  • Company Manager, Production Manager, Artistic Director, Producing Director, Managing Director
  • Theatre Education: education director at theatre companies, summer camps, and after-school programs

  Graduate programs our students have recently attended include Cal Arts, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, The New School at The Actors Studio, Columbia University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, San Diego State University, and the University of Georgia

  In addition to working in the commercial or educational theatre, our graduates have become chefs, doctors, lawyers, film makers, and entrepreneurs among many other professions.

• Accomplished Alumni

  Many NEC alumni have been recognized in the field of theatre and entertainment. Some of our prominent alumni include:

  • Chris Flaherty ’97 serves as Lighting Director and Special Projects Team at WMUR TV. He has earned two Emmy Award nominations and an Emmy Award for Set Design and Construction, 2019 Boston Chapter.
  • Cris Graves ’93 is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who has worked in film, television, and online. Her credits include The Amazing Race, Whale Wars, and Living Undocumented.
  • Jayscott Crosley ’93 is a Program and Administrative Associate at Harvard University. As a stage manager and member of Actors’ Equity, he has worked in several Boston-area theatres. He was also the Founding President and Artistic Director of Black Rabbit Theatre Company in San Diego.
  • Megan Euler ‘90is a theatre faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
  • Adam Pagdon ’89 is a theatre and television artist in Brooklyn, NY, where he performed in the sold-out run of Want & Need. His other credits include The Pee Wee Herman Show on Broadway; Comedy Central’s Crank Yankers; Disney Channel’s Gaspard & Lisa; puppet wrangling for Nick Jr.’s Lazytown; live Muppet appearance on Martha Stewart, Live with Regis & Kathy Lee, and the Today show.
  • Jay Kulick ’85 is a six-time Emmy Award-winning camera operator.
  • Luc Nicknair ’83 worked on films including Batman

Past Productions

Faculty

• Russ Rattray

  Associate Professor; Associate Director, NEC Libraries
  Office: Danforth Library, Henniker Campus
  Phone: 603.428.2344
  Email: rrattray@nec.edu

  Expertise and Achievements
  Russ is a highly experienced librarian generalist, with 30+ years’ service at NEC in library administration, collection development, acquisitions, systems, cataloging, and other technical services. He carried out the first automation of the Danforth Library and has since overseen multiple system migrations. He most recently helped lead the merger of the former New Hampshire Institute of Art’s Teti Library with the Danforth Library on the Henniker campus. Russ currently serves as the Vice President of the GMILCS, Inc. library consortium.

  Educational Background
  MLIS, University of Rhode Island
  BA in English and History, University of Maine at Presque Isle

  Research Interests
  Russ has varied interests, including library administration and technical services in small college libraries, along with college theatre and acting.

  Bio
  Russ Rattray has been a librarian at NEC for over 30 years. Initially hired as a cataloger and the College’s first systems librarian, he has added on multiple other roles over those years, including collection development, acquisitions, and library administration. While his primary duty is serving as the Associate Director of the NEC Libraries, Russ is also closely involved with the NEC Theatre Department. He performs in NEC theatre productions and has directed several shows, in addition to teaching within the department. Russ has been active in college and community theatre for nearly 40 years and has been a company member of NEC’s summer professional theatre, The Open Door Theatre, since 2008.

Degree Requirements