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. Contact us today to begin the process of earning your certificate in arts management.
Facilities
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!
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.
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.
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.
Student Work
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF)
Every year, we actively participate in 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.
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.
Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC)
Every March, students from Hollins accompany faculty to 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.
Guest Artists and Instructors
2024-25
Nelson Barre
Guest Artist
Nelson Barre is a recently tenured associate professor at Roanoke College where he runs the theatre program. He teaches courses in theatre history, directing, dramaturgy, musical theatre, performance ethics, and race in theatre. Over the past two decades, Nelson has dramaturged and directed productions wherever he has been. Recent favorites include Stupid Fucking Bird, Cabaret, Macbeth, and Bodas de Sangre/Blood Wedding. Nelson received his Ph.D. in drama and theatre studies from the University of Galway, where he completed a dissertation on ritual, memory, and performance in the works of Enda Walsh. He has published many articles and chapters on Walsh’s work but has recently shifted his research to focus on contemporary theatre and dramaturgy practices, particularly those related to race, canon, and adaptation. Nelson also currently serves as the dramaturgy coordinator for Region IV of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Erica Evans Johnson
Choreographer for Goodnight Moon and Visiting Lecturer
Erica Evans Johnson is a two time Jeff-nominated performer who has appeared at theatres such as Drury Lane, Paramount, Marriott, Chicago Shakespeare, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Can Can Seattle, and The Ordway. While performing throughout the country, she has had the immense pleasure of teaching theatre and dance at universities, dance academies, and theatre conservatories. Erica enjoys bringing her passion and knowledge into any classroom at any level and strongly believes in making dance accessible by establishing a fun, welcoming atmosphere for all. In her spare time, Erica serves as a facilitator for Chicago’s A.B.L.E. Ensemble, a program devoted to bringing the performing arts to individuals with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Virginia based since 2022, Erica is happily settled near family and thrilled to begin collaborating with the students at Hollins.
Moneé Stamp
Lighting Designer for Goodnight Moon and Visiting Lecturer
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).
Edward B. Smith
Guest Artist and Audition Coach
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.
Theatre Season
2024-25
Spring 2024
In Bloom by Gwyneth Strope
Fall faculty choice production
Directed by Michael Mansfield
- When: October 10-12 at 7:30 pm, October 12 at 2pm
- Where: Hollins Theatre Main Stage
- What: How does a family grow together, instead of apart? Dorothy is raising four teenage girls all on her own, but when she meets someone at her mother’s wedding, she begins the year-long journey towards her own. Through banter, brawls, and journal entries, the new play In Bloom examines a pivotal year for this family and how they must stretch their deep love for one another to walk into this next chapter together.
- Content Warning: Language.
Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Wendy-Marie Martin
- When: November 1-2 at 7:30pm
- Where: Botetourt Reading Room
- What: This staged reading reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. With contemporary characters and ingenious plot twists, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.
- Content Warnings: Themes of death and grief.
Clue by Sandy Rustin
Based upon the works of Jonathan Lynn, Hunter Foster, and Eric Price
Directed by Wendy-Marie Martin
- When: March 6-8 at 7:30 pm and March 8 at 2 pm
- Where: Hollins Theatre Main Stage
- What: Clue is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery. The tale begins at a remote mansion, where six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out… WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT!
- Content Warnings: Sexual suggestiveness, fake murder, gunshots, simulated smoking, and alcohol use.
- Admission: $10 general admission. $5 for non-Hollins students. FREE for Hollins students, faculty, and staff. To purchase tickets, please go to our .show/hollinsclue. Email boxoffice@hollins.edu to reserve complimentary tickets.
Cardinal Star Collective
Hollins Senior Thesis Productions
- When: April 11-12, and 18-19 at 7:30 pm; April 12 and 18 at 2 pm
- Where: Hollins Theatre Main Stage
- What: Hollins seniors have come together to create the Cardinal Star Collective, putting on a festival of new works in April! Stay tuned for more information in the coming months.
- Admission: Free and open to the public. Email boxoffice@hollins.edu to reserve complimentary tickets.