Arts Portal
Completed in 2005, the Dorothy Young Center for the Arts houses the departments of music, art history, studio arts and theatre arts. It also holds a 400-seat performance hall, a black-box theatre, an exhibition gallery and advanced art studios including a large-sculpture room.
Whether theatre is a life passion or a passing interest, there’s a role for everyone in Drew’s respected theatre arts program. On stage and off, the philosophy is “roll up your sleeves and get dirty,” says Daniel LaPenta, professor of theatre arts. Acting, writing, designing, directing—students do it all in on-campus productions as well as at regional venues. And this intensely hands-on production work is grounded by Drew’s rich liberal arts curriculum. “Who you become as an artist depends on what you know about life,” says LaPenta. “Students who study theatre arts within the context of history, psychology, philosophy, science—the full breadth of the liberal arts—bring that knowledge and experience to their art.”
Drew by Day, Broadway by Night
Listen as Christopher Hann interviews Tony-winning actor Norbert Leo Butz on stage fright, teaching at Drew and more.
"I Honestly Don’t Think I Have a Method." Tony Award–winner Norbert Leo Butz seems unconvinced that acting can be taught, but the star of the Mark Twain comedy Is He Dead? spent the spring semester at Drew trying to do just that.
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Maria Eliades
Major | English
"My English professors have changed the way I view everything. In the very first English class I had at Drew, my professor showed me how to examine things with a slant. Since that course, I can’t read anything without watching the narrator with distance and suspicion, which is essential to being both a close reader and writer."