Peace College

William Peace Theatre - Empowering Students for Careers in Acting and in Musical Theatre

MISSION STATEMENT
William Peace Theatre empowers students to pursue careers in the fine arts as independent, self-assessing artists who lead and serve by making live theatre as a courageous, collaborative and authentic act.

Our BFA programs in Acting and in Musical Theatre were designed in accordance with the guidelines and standards established by NAST and ATHE to insure the best possible career training and success. As a member of a fearless creative theatre company, you will become a confident, marketable, self-assessing artist. When you graduate, you will be fully prepared to go to graduate school or to step directly into the professional arena and the exciting worlds of theatre and musical theatre. We will help you develop the tools, skills and connections you need to succeed.

HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE OUR BFA PROGRAMS
Intense, Specialized and Synchronized Curriculum
Both the BFA in Acting and the BFA in Musical Theatre are taught in the Theatre department. Offering the two programs side by side and in one place creates a powerful and efficient synergy. Our focus is always on the BFAs. At many schools, musical theatre students, in particular, often get shuttled back and forth among separate theatre, music, and dance departments. Although this complicated back and forth model does work for some, often it does not provide the student with the specialized and focused training they need. Whether acting, singing, or dancing, everything here is mutually supportive and interwoven to make our program rigorous and rewarding. Here there is clarity of purpose that will give you the time and space to hone your skills and become highly proficient in all three areas. Your voice teachers, your acting teachers and your dance teachers all are working together with one goal in mind: to help you become a professional artist.

Every single semester musical theatre students have private voice lessons, take studio dance classes and studio acting classes. Every single semester, acting students take a specialized acting class plus courses in dramatic literature and stagecraft. In addition, students in both acting and musical theatre will build professional technique with specialized classes like stage combat, acting for the camera, movement, period styles, dialects, and audition techniques among many others. In fact, two-thirds of your courses will be in either acting or in musical theatre.

Excellent Performance Opportunities
You will have performance opportunities every semester. WPT produces four shows per year plus a comedy Improv show and performances by our musical theatre ensemble Bound for Broadway. You will also have the opportunity to showcase your talents at numerous public events across the triangle. We want you to perform as much as you can.

Training from Highly Qualified and Specialized Professionals
All our teachers have vast professional and academic experience. All continue to work in the professional theatre. All are specialists in Acting and Musical Theatre. All have extensive professional networks. We believe mentoring and networking serve our students best.

Professional Partnerships
WPT believes in forming partnerships with theatres, directors, casting agencies, agents, voice teachers, coaches, choreographers and directors. The goal is to connect our students to the professional world as soon as possible. In addition, WPT brings theatre professionals on campus to work with you every year. Our “Broadway Comes to Peace” concert series brings a Broadway performer to Peace each year for a performance and a master class. We want you to begin preparing for your future through networking from your first semester.

Professional Travel
You will travel to places like London, New York and Las Vegas to see shows, take master classes, learn the business of the theatre, and meet the player.

New York Showcase
To make sure you are ready to pursue your dream, juniors and seniors will perform in New York for casting directors, agents and directors as part of the capstone experience.

A Transformative Journey of Self-Discovery
Creating and participating in theatre is an act of courage—each human being who encounters theatre is encouraged to imagine. And through the imagination, students develop a sense of discovery and connectedness to their own lives and the lives of others. Not only will you become a skilled artist, your theatre experience will help you become a self-aware, motivated, perceptive and passionate communicator. You will learn to acknowledge and celebrate the cultures and contributions of diverse communities; to help people learn to live in relation to one another; and to empower all participants in theatre—creators and audience members—to act on and change the conditions of their lives.

At Peace, you will learn:

  • to think precisely in the moment
  • to speak confidently in public
  • to write with clarity and intelligence
  • to work productively with others
  • to grasp complex problems
  • to produce imaginative solutions
  • to explore alternative goals and investigate the various means of achieving them
  • to establish long-range objectives and develop the discipline, organizational skill, artistry, and self-assurance to achieve your dreams.