DEPARTMENT OF

DRAMA & DANCE

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About the Department

Deepen your appreciation for the performing arts and gain practical experience on stage and behind the scenes to pursue careers in the theater, dance, and beyond. Hofstra’s proximity to New York City enriches the curriculum and provides access to innumerable professional performances, auditions, internships, and extracurricular workshops.

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Drama

Studying Drama will prepare you for a career in: Acting, directing, design and production in the competitive worlds of theater, film and television. Many graduates have gone on to success in film, television, on Broadway and off-Broadway. Hofstra’s proximity to New York City enriches the curriculum and provides incomparable opportunities for internships and other experiential learning projects within these arenas.

Dance

Studying Dance will offer you a well-rounded education in many forms and styles of dance and choreography. Our dance program’s focus is modern/contemporary dance with a strong ballet component, supported by a variety of dance genres, including: African, Irish, tap, jazz and others. Our program attracts nationally and internationally known faculty, as well as guest artists from New York City. Students are encouraged to visit the city often for performances, classes and auditions.

One of the Top Acting Schools in New York

One of the Top 10 Best Drama Schools in New York

One of 9 Great New York Acting Schools and Universities

One of The Top 30 College Dance Programs for 2019-2020

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Performance Tickets

The department presents six plays and two dance concerts per academic year, including the annual Shakespeare Festival, a large-scale musical, and the Student Rep. Learn what’s in the works and how you can see the professional quality productions.

Performance Schedule

Degrees & Programs

Hofstra’s drama programs offer a comprehensive, undergraduate-only curriculum with majors in acting, directing, stage management, design, and technical direction, as well as a minor in musical theater. With no graduate students, undergraduates have full access to performance, production, and design opportunities from their first year.

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES & PROGRAMS

BFA in Theater Arts (Performance) BFA in Theater Arts (Production) BFA in Dance BA in Drama BA in Dance BSEd in Dance Education Minor in Dance Minor in Drama Minor in Musical Theater

UNDERGRADUATE Courses

Dance Drama

Faculty

Meet the Faculty

Drama faculty have outstanding credentials in performance, direction, and production. Students praise the nurturing and professional atmosphere of the department.

The Student Experience

Opportunities

The department stages a dynamic season of six plays and two dance concerts each year, offering students wide-ranging performance experiences across genres, styles, and scales. Productions span intimate black box works, major classics, a large-scale spring musical, and the annual Hofstra Shakespeare Festival. Dance students perform in faculty- and guest-choreographed works, historic reconstructions, and student-led concerts that connect rigorous training with professional-level production.

Explore the Opportunities

Department Facilities and Equipment

You will design and perform in the campus’ two recently renovated theaters, learn and work in state-of-the-art teaching spaces, and have access to on-campus costume and scene shops.

About the Facilities

Grants and Scholarships

Each year, we offer Talent Scholarships to incoming students, but all continuing drama and dance majors may apply for one of our Activity Grants for current students. Talent Scholarships and Activity Grants are applied to tuition and serve as a subsidy to students heavily involved in departmental rehearsal and performance or production activities that make outside employment inadvisable.

Explore Grants and Scholarships

Student Clubs and Organizations

Students run nearly 300 clubs and organizations on campus, and there are several focused-on Theater and Dance, which offer many supplementary opportunities.

More About Student Clubs and Organizations

What Sets Us Apart

A Living Shakespeare Tradition

Hofstra is home to the longest-running consecutive Shakespeare Festival in the United States, performed each year at the country’s most authentic reproduction of the Globe Theatre. For Drama students, it’s more than a point of pride — it’s a chance to perform in a world-class venue and connect with one of the great legacies of the stage.

The Space to Create

The Drama program’s professional-grade facilities support every aspect of production — from an intimate, flexible black box theater to an extensive wardrobe and costume shop that puts real resources in students’ hands.

Where Training Meets the Spotlight

Each year, students come together for a major spring musical, one of the program’s most celebrated productions. Seniors cap their experience with a showcase in New York City, putting their work in front of industry professionals where it matters most.

Prepared for Anything

Hofstra’s Drama program opens doors across the field. Alumni have gone on to careers in acting, directing, producing, stage and costume design, and arts administration — taking their talents to stages, screens, and arts organizations across the industry.

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Internships

Drama students are encouraged to pursue one or more internships during their time at Hofstra. Recent examples of internships completed by drama students include ABC Television, Airmid Theater Company, Atlantic Records, Beyond the Box Productions, Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Fat Lemon Productions, HBO, New York Fringe Festival, New York Neo-Futurists, Pentacle (NYC arts management organization), Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Rabbit Hole Ensemble, Richard Frankel Productions, Walt Disney World, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Yale Repertory Theatre.