Department of Performing Arts

The Performing Arts Certificate program broadens employment opportunities for Deaf graduates in applied arts and imaging, professional and technical communication and related business areas, industrial technologies, and other fields by expanding their repertoire of marketable skills. Students develop knowledge of standard theatrical operating procedures along with principles and practices of theatre accessibility for Deaf people, allowing them to work in professional, regional and community theatre. It also provides a solid foundation for those who wish to pursue further education in film, video, theatre, and related forms of performing arts.

The Performing Arts Certificate is designed to provide students with knowledge of theatre terminology, practices and protocol in addition to practical experience in performance and technical theatre. Students must take 3-three-credit courses from the Performing Arts program and a production practicum (at least 1-credit hour) to meet the certificate requirements.

The certificate requires the successful completion of 10 credits comprising three separate courses chosen from the listing below. Additionally, one credit of Theatre practicum is required.

Prerequisites for Admission

Applicants for the Performing Arts Certificate must be students in good standing in an undergraduate program at RIT/NTID or hold an undergraduate degree from one of those programs.

At least 10 credit hours selected from the following courses:

Please note: All courses must be taken as an elective to qualify for the Performing Arts Certificate. Courses may not count towards multiple requirements.

SOMNIUM
Conceived and Directed by Omen Sade

SOMNIUM is a cross-departmental, interactive digital-theatre experience where the audience is the hero. In SOMNIUM a group of scientists voyage into the collective dream-space of humanity, searching for the origin point of dreams. What dangers will they face? Will they make it back alive? Find out, in SOMNIUM!

AUDITIONS: August 5, 7, & 8 from 6-8pm EDT
POTENTIAL CALLBACKS: August 10 from 6-8pm EDT
LOCATION: Auditions and callbacks will be held via Zoom.

VIDEO SUBMISSIONS: If it’s easier for you, we are also accepting video submissions in place of a Zoom audition. See details below if you’d prefer to submit a video audition. The submission deadline for video auditions is Sunday, August 9.​

REHEARSALS: starting in late August, rehearsals will be 3-4 times a week on Zoom and/or in person.
TECH: Mid-October
SHOW: Launches October 30, 2020

THE AUDITION: Auditions will consist of either a Zoom audition with the director or a video submission.

• ZOOM AUDITION: Please visit https://signup.com/go/PNToAuM and sign up for an audition slot. After selecting a time, instructions will be given to you to complete the Audition Form. Zoom details will be given to you upon completing the form. For your audition, please prepare a short piece of text of less than 2 minutes. It does not have to be a traditional monologue, but can be any text of your choice. Both hearing and Deaf actors are encouraged to audition.
• VIDEO SUBMISSION: For your audition, please prepare a short piece of text of less than 2 minutes. It does not have to be a traditional monologue, but can be any text of your choice. Record yourself performing the text and upload your video to YouTube (remember to make it unlisted, not private). Then complete the Audition Form here: https://forms.gle/3qZjZrUR6tpMJvRj6. There is a place on the form to include a link to your video. Both hearing and Deaf actors are encouraged to audition.

THE CALLBACK:
Callback notifications will be emailed out after August 8. You only need to attend callbacks on August 10 if you receive this email notification. Callbacks will consist of Zoom readings with other actors.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
Professor Alfred Canus - Expert on human psychology, dream states, and the subconscious. Has always wished he could see beyond the confines of our quotidian reality. Uncle of our hero.

Captain Irene Lockspeare - Director of the Unique Methodologies Lab at CERN. A scientist, leader, a true badass. Possible military background, but it’s likely classified. Comfortable with command. Desires legacy. Driven like Captains Nemo and Ahab.

Dr. Jessica Flores - Experimental neuro-scientist and expert on the limbic system. Passionately empathic. Values her community and the position she has created in it. Bakes. Knows the name and favorite cookie of every single security guard, secretary, and janitor at CERN.

Major Tom Jedburgh - Security chief for the Unique Methodologies Lab. Former Green Beret and expert on unconventional and psychological warfare techniques. Suffers from terrible nightmares from his traumatic experiences in covert warfare.

Margaret Mackay - Graduated MIT’s Quantum Engineering program in two and a half years. IQ of 166. She is largely responsible for the design and building of The SOMNIUM. Young. Fearless. A true explore. Afraid of living an insignificant life.

Receptionist at CERN / The Dream Weaver - A dry and unimpressed receptionist who works the front desk at CERN. They have seen everything, and are perhaps over it. Also, an arachnid-like creature who exists at the origin point of thought in our universe. This multi-limbed creature is both an expression of all thought in the universe, and is the gatekeeper to ideas and dreams.

If you have questions about this audition process, email Andy at awhgla@rit.edu.

Spoon River Anthology
Curated, compiled, and inspired by the poetic Anthology of the same title by Edgar Lee Masters
Directed by Luane Davis Haggerty

AUDITIONS: Auditions will only be done via video submissions. The deadline for submissions is August 9. See below for details.

REHEARSALS: starting in late August, rehearsals will be 3-4 times a week.
TECH: November 9-12, 2020
SHOW: November 13-15, 2020 Please note: you cannot miss any tech rehearsals.

Spoon River Anthology is a collection of verse epitaphs, created by Edgar Lee Masters of a 1918 (a parallel era of pandemic) small-town graveyard in Illinois, its panoramic scope--allows for individual stories to create a sense of what it takes and who it takes to create a community.

For this production curator, adapter-director Luane Davis Haggerty, Ph.D. highlights Masters' inclusiveness, drawing not only on the 1918 original but adding in modern original creations written in the style of Masters. The production gives a sense of past and present coming together through the magic of theater. In under two hours we're introduced to Deaf and hearing, diverse and inclusive characters whose lives reflect the spectrum of human experience.

THE AUDITION: Auditions will consist of video submissions only. Please submit a video of no more than two minutes in length. Begin with your name and contact info. Then perform any text of your choice. This could be a monologue, a poem, a short story, a joke. Record yourself performing the text and upload your video to YouTube (remember to make it unlisted, not private). Then complete the Audition Form here: https://forms.gle/CLhdwu3ZP73LTcpN9. There is a place on the form to include a link to your video. You may also send the video link to lrdnpa@rit.edu. The submission deadline for video auditions is Sunday, August 9.

THE CALLBACK: If callbacks are needed, you will be contacted individually by the director to set up an appointment.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN: This production will have 72 characters, each one portrayed by a Deaf actor and a hearing actor, as well as a troupe of 5-10 dancers for transitional scenes. A detailed list of specific characters can be found here.

If you have questions about this audition process, email Luane at lrdnpa@rit.edu.

The Robert F. Panara Theatre is named in honor of Dr. Robert Panara, RIT's first Deaf Professor and founder of the NTID Drama Club. A 500 seat auditorium, the theatre has played host numerous guest artists such as Mikail Baryishnikov, Jane Fonda, Louise Fletcher, Marlee Maitlin, National Theatre of the Deaf, Phyllis Frelich, Bernard Bragg, Patrick Graybill, Howie Seago, Cleveland SignStage, Annabelle Gamzon, Garth Fagan Dance, Hartford Ballet, Foreigner, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, American Deaf Dance Company, and many others.

The theatre opened its doors on October 3, 1974 with a production of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. Originally called the Experimental Educational Theatre (EET) the theater department has a rich heritage of offering challenging, entertaining, and provocative works of theater, all created for both Deaf and hearing audiences. We have produced work in a wide variety of theater styles; Comedy, Musical, Dance, Drama, Classical, Kabuki (Japanese), Experimental, Puppets, and new works by both Deaf and hearing authors.

A Unique Form of Theatre

In developing a production that is equally accessible to Deaf and hearing, on-stage, backstage, and for members of the audience, there are many factors to consider that are unique to this form of theater ie: designing costumes and sets that are historically accurate yet provide sightlines and clear background for the Sign Language to play against (it's difficult to read Sign Language from the audience if the actor has on a bright, paisley shirt or the set is a series of "busy" colors and lines); or how to represent off-stage dialog and/or sound effects visually; keeping focus on the actors and not on extraneous, but often necessary movement; how to interpret dialog from the script that is based on sounds such as imitation of another's voice; how to stage or "block" the show so that both the audience and the actors can see each other at all times; how to cue an actor that cannot see the action on stage, but must enter on a certain line; how to incorporate voice actors; and many, many other unique things that make this type of theater so exciting. Design and staging challenges, script translation to Sign Language, and non-traditional casting are examples of the factors that cause our Director's imaginations to soar--much to the benefit of our audiences.

From the experimentation and imagination required to mount one of our productions, we have developed a body of works that have enriched the lives of hundreds of thousands audience members and a working process that has greatly benefitted and encouraged hundreds of young Deaf performers. We are very proud of the fact that many of the Deaf Professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry are our former students, faculty and staff.

Our very successful heritage is now the backbone for our future growth. We are looking to expand our academic programs as well as our relationships with mainstream professional and community theaters. We produced the first-ever "American Deaf Play Creators Festival" and look forward to its continued growth and development. We look forward to the future, having the confidence and desire to promote artistic growth within the Deaf community and awareness of the many talents of Deaf Artists within the hearing community.

Theatre Capacity

The Robert F. Panara Theatre seats 440 people plus 9 handicap accessible spaces.

Seating Chart 

Click to view the seating chart.

The 1510 Lab Theatre is our smaller, "blackbox" type of space. In addition to holding classes the space serves as a venue for a variety of experimental, intimate, and student-directed productions.

Numerous successful productions have taken place in this space in a wide variety of theatrical styles. Admission to plays in this space are always free, but due to the popularity of the shows presented here, and because shows tend to fill up fast, we pass out tickets for admission on a first-come, first-served basis one hour prior to curtain on the day of a show--there are no reservations except those made by prior agreement with the House Manager.

Theatre Capacity

The 1510 Lab Theatre holds 50-85 persons, depending on the design of the set.

Available for blended (deaf, hard of hearing & hearing) modern dance class, other classes and groups.