The Hollins theatre department is a vibrant, creative community embodying our core values of curiosity, collaboration, and care. Our mission is to teach life skills through theatre, cultivating the development of artists, thinkers, and leaders with a passion for the performing arts.
We promote life-long learning and collaboration by encouraging students to actively contribute to our departmental vision, policies, and programming. In our classrooms, rehearsal halls, scene shops, and on stage, we nurture an environment where students can explore, create, and express their personal creative visions. Through this holistic approach, we prepare our students not just for careers in theatre, but for lives enriched by curiosity, teamwork, and artistic expression.
Core Values
Curiosity, collaboration, and care.
Mission
Teaching life skills through theatre.
Vision
Promoting life-long learning and collaboration.
Theatre Major
Hollins theatre department is a diverse theatre community developing holistic theatre-makers from an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and creative curious perspective. Theatre major students at Hollins take part in every aspect of theatre production, including acting, arts management, design, directing, playwriting, stage management, and technical production. With a focus on the development of holistic artist/scholars, the program encourages students to learn through theory and applied practice in production.
All senior theatre majors participate in a collaborative senior project by creating a theatre company and producing work that embodies the core values and aesthetic of the students involved. Senior projects regularly include the development and production of original student work.
Theatre Minor
The minor is compatible with many other majors. These include business, communication studies, dance, English, film, history, and philosophy.
Certificate Programs
Musical Theatre Performance Certificate
Musical theatre is one of the most exhilarating art forms on the planet. The unique combination of acting, singing, and dancing allows performing artists to carry audiences to extraordinary heights. At Hollins, the musical theatre performance certificate offers a toolbox for the student who knows musical theatre will somehow be part of her future, as she prepares to walk into the spotlight on a stage she has built with her own tools.
Certificate in Arts Management
This certificate in arts management connects your major in one of the arts with career interests in various fields of arts management. You’ll take courses in business and communication studies, complete two internships in an area of arts management, and create a final project. You can meet the certificate in arts management requirements through prudent choices in your general education courses and electives without adding to your total credit hours.
Theatre & Production Spaces
Our charming 550-seat proscenium theatre is remarkably intimate with an automated rigging system and industry-standard light and audio equipment.
We also have a 99-seat black box theatre that serves as an acting studio and workshop space, as well as fully-functioning scenery and costume shops.
Original Student Work
Hollins theatre department encourages the creation and development of original student work both in playwriting and design.
The department regularly develops and/or produces original student plays. The developmental process takes students from first draft to a public reading or workshop production. These readings/workshops also create opportunities for our student designers.
Our collaborative relationship with our graduate playwriting program allows our students to learn and grow as playwrights and dramaturgs through J-term and summer internships. In fact, the director of our graduate program teaches our script analysis and playwriting classes!
Professional Development
At Hollins, you will be encouraged to practice your craft outside of the department through professional internships, participation in undergraduate research, attending and presenting at theatre conferences, performance opportunities at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and internships with our Playwright’s Lab Graduate Program.
Conferences
Hollins theatre majors have the opportunity to attend the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) annually where they participate in panel presentations in collaboration with faculty, portfolio reviews, professional auditions, workshop, and SETC’s job fair. Students are also encouraged to submit to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) for the opportunity to attend both the regional and national festival with the potential to receive awards and scholarships.
Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC)
Every March, students from Hollins accompany faculty to Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), which is the largest theatre conference in the nation. Students are able to participate in diverse workshops as well as audition and interview for summer theatre employment.
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF)
Every year, we actively participate in Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). In recent years we’ve had three productions selected to be showcased at the regional festival and compete for the top honors at the national level as well as multiple original scripts. Our students compete regularly with some of the finest college talent in the country for the Irene Ryan Scholarship Award.
Some of the many past honors received by the Hollins Theatre Institute include:
- 2022: Two students won awards from KCACTF-Region IV for their work on The Skriker in Fall 2021. Elizabeth Dion ’22 received the Stage Management Fellowship Award and Nabila Meghjani ’22 won the Heart of the Art Award in Costume Design.
- 2021: Anna Johnson ’21 received the Kennedy Center Award for Excellence in Sound Design for her work on Hollins Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was presented virtually in October 2020.
- 2018: Todd Ristau and the Playwright’s Lab received the Kennedy Center’s highest award, the Gold Medallion, for “extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theatre.”
- 2013: Meredith Levy ’12 (M.F.A. ’18, playwriting) received the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Award (considered a gold medal) and the regional David Shelton Award for her original script, Decision Height.
- 2013: The Kennedy Center awarded the Hollins Theatre production of Natasha Trethewey’s (M.A. ’91) Bellocq’s Ophelia with the equivalent of four silver medals for production of a new work, performance and production ensemble, scenic design, and choreography, the last by Lexi Martin Mondot ’12.
- Theatre department chair Ernie Zulia (retired 2021) was named outstanding teaching artist by KCACTF.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Hollins theatre students have the opportunity to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and experience the largest international art festival in the world! In the summer of 2023, two original senior thesis plays were performed at the festival, giving our students the chance to learn self-marketing and what it means to adjust expectations when touring a show. In addition, students attended performances by theatre companies from around the world and participated in museum tours, open mics, and even a proper Scottish High Tea.
Undergraduate Theatre Research
Hollins theatre majors are invited to participate in undergraduate theatre research, in the classroom, at conferences, and as participants in the Summer Research Symposium at Virginia Tech. Past research topics have included:
- “Queering Intimacy: Reimagining Staged Intimacy Practices for Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, and Nonbinary Bodies” by Mattie Tindall
- “‘To speak and to thrive and to live’ or, The Jupiter Bird: the Body, the World Not Quite Here, and Theatre as Movement Towards Queer Utopia” by Deirdre Price
- “Sustainability in Theatre: Pathways to More Sustainable Educational Theatrical Practices” by Chloe Riederich
- “One-Woman Shows: A Statement About Womanhood” by Clare Dorothea Stephenson
- “Theatre for All” (a study of accommodations for disabled and neurodivergent individuals in theater) by Lillian Savage
Current honors thesis research topics include explorations of organizational behavior in theatre, staging trans trauma, sci-fi stories on stage, approaches to accessibility in theatre, and studies of the South African Theater of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Hollins Theatre Internships
Hollins Theatre encourages students to participate in professional internships to help build their skills and creative networks prior to graduation. Past internships include:
- Dixon Place, New York City
- The National Theatre, Washington, D.C.
- The Glimmerglass Festival, Cooperstown, NY
- Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Winchester, VA
- Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke
- Hollins Playwright’s Lab, Roanoke
- Ursula’s Café, Roanoke
Students also have the option of interning at one of several professional theatres in London during a Hollins’ London Theatre Semester Abroad.
Hollins Playwright’s Lab and No Shame Theatre
Hollins Theatre provides a home for the Playwright’s Lab, our dynamic M.F.A. graduate program in playwriting, and undergraduates have the opportunity to work with our renowned faculty to explore playwriting at the undergraduate level, and can pursue a concentration in this area.
2025-26
Guest Artists and Instructors
Shelby Love
She Kills Monsters Stage Manager
Shelby Love is a professional stage manager for over 18 years, credits include Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, Irish Repertory Theatre, Arts Power National Touring Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Mill Mountain Theatre, and the Wick Theatre.
Shelby holds an M.F.A. in playwriting from Hollins University’s Playwright’s Lab. Her plays The Gymnast and The Story of Us have previously appeared as summer readings here in Roanoke.
Anuradha Marwah
Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence
In fall 2025, Hollins will welcome distinguished Indian theatre artist, novelist, and scholar Anuradha Marwah as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence.
From August through December 2025, Marwah will engage students, faculty, and the broader Roanoke community, offering new insights into literature, performance, and socially engaged theatre. Dr. Anuradha Marwah is a professor of English at Zakir Husain Delhi College and an acclaimed novelist and playwright. Her books, including The Higher Education of Geetika Mehendiratta, Idol Love, and Aunties of Vasant Kunj (2024), are noted for their sharp social insight. Her work features in academic syllabi, including NCERT and ICSE texts. A Fulbright-Nehru and Charles Wallace fellow, she has taught at the University of Minnesota. Her plays, including Ismat’s Love Stories, have received critical acclaim. She also runs an NGO in Ajmer, Rajasthan, supporting underprivileged youth. Dr. Marwah continues to influence both literature and education in India.
Camilla Morrison
She Kills Monsters Costume Designer
Camilla is a Costume Designer and Arts Educator with an MFA in Costume Technology and Design from Louisiana State University.
Camilla is a Visiting Instructor of Costume Design and Technology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the School of Performing Arts! Camilla believes not only in the power of storytelling through live performance to connect and inspire, but also in its power to heal and reflect personal growth. The connection between us and our clothes, character and costume, is something that Camilla finds deeply interesting. She strives to understand this connection even further through every project that she takes on and personally in her daily life. Camilla is inspired to reflect life and our experience as a human through art in new and innovative ways, as can be seen in her internationally recognized work “Nightmares are Dreams, Too.”
Matt Shields
Lighting Guest Speaker
Matt Shields is a native of Virginia, having grown up in Loudoun County, he first moved to the region in 2013 to attend school at Radford University where he graduated with a BS in theatre.
After working for a few other companies, Matt is happy to call MMT his artistic home. In the past few years Matt has served in a variety of jobs around Mill Mountain, including Props Master, Costumes Manager, Teaching Artist, Scenic Designer, and Company Manager. Matt is very happy to now be serving MMT as the Managing Director and is grateful to MMT for all the faith they have put in him over the years.
Edward B Smith
Director for She Kills Monsters and Visiting Lecturer
Smith (he/him) has always approached his work in arts organizations with an eye to developing strategies to eradicate oppressive practices within the work.
As an artist of color, he recognizes the power of experiencing one’s own history and world view manifest on stage and within administrative practices, as well as furthering connections to the stories of others. Smith holds a B.F.A. in performance and an M.F.A. in leadership/administration from Ohio University. For the last 10 years, he has been a mainstay in the acting company at the Stratford Festival of Canada, the largest Repertory Theatre company in North America.
Moneé Stamp
Lighting Designer for She Kills Monsters and Guest Speaker
Moneé Stamp (Lighting Designer) is a 2nd generation Caribbean immigrant born and raised in Long Island, New York. She received her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design and her MFA from Ohio University.
Moneé is an established, award-winning Lighting Designer with a keen eye for detail and a passion for transforming spaces through light. She states, the ability to tell unique stories through design is an example of how Theatre is a medium to express oneself. It has the power to make people laugh or cry, learn new things, empathize or sympathize and to encourage people to think about life. Recently, she designed The Black That I am (Braata Productions), The Amen Corner, (The Lovinger Theatre), and 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, (Epic Players NYC).
Ami Trowell
Improvisation and Practicum Guest Lecturer
Ami Trowell is the founder and creative director of Theatre3 in Roanoke. She has been performing with Roanoke’s professional improvisation troupe, Big Lick Conspiracy, for over a decade.
Ami has studied improvisation at Second City, Chicago, and Dad’s Garage in Atlanta. She has produced and performed in several comedy podcasts including What Just Happened?, All Purpose Cleaner, Purposefully Derpy, and BP & Ami. Her most recent project, Mother and Son Skype Shesh, was the winner of the Agoraphobia Film Festival and The Minefield Film Festival. Ami received her B.A. in theatre from the College of Charleston and an M.A.L.S. from Hollins. She has her M.F.A. in Playwriting from the Hollins Playwright’s Lab and is the proud mother of three smart, funny, and amazing children.
Savannah Woodruff
Lighting Guest Speaker
Savannah was born and raised in Southern Pines, North Carolina but is happy to now consider Roanoke, Virginia their home. They are a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where they received a BFA in Drama with a concentration in Technical Production.
Since joining the staff of Mill Mountain Theatre, Savannah has served in a variety of roles, most recently becoming the Director of Production. Savannah is grateful for the never-ending support of their partner and their family (and their cats) in their endeavors, and for the trust placed in them by MMT over the years.