The Department of Theatre has a variety of rehearsal and training spaces. When the Clarence Brown Theatre was built in 1979, funding was insufficient to complete a single, designated theatre education facility. Building such a facility is currently a Department, College of Arts and Sciences, and University strategic priority. In the meantime, in recent years the University has designated significant facility resources to our programs. Although our spaces are dispersed in different areas of the UT campus, taken together, they are strong facilities. Below are short descriptions of most of our spaces.
Undergraduate acting and movement classes are typically held in a large dance/rehearsal hall and a smaller classroom studio in Alumni Memorial Building (AMB 209 and 209B). AMB 209 has a sprung dance floor and large wall mirrors that can be masked with movable drapes. We have a secondary acting classroom, and coaching rooms in Walters Academic Building (WAB D313 and D307).
Clarence Brown Theatre mainstage production rehearsals also take place in AMB 209.
MFA actors have several designated studios of various sizes in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building (HPER).
MFA designers have designated rooms in WAB containing the graduate seminar room, and design/work rooms for each design area. The CBT houses scenic, costume, and props shops, a sewing/costume classroom and large costume collection. Students work closely with professional staff in all of our shops.
All theatre students have access to a large computer lab in WAB D301. This lab contains work stations with drafting, photo manipulation, audio and video creation software.
Also in WAB D305 is a 1/6 scale theatre media lab, complete with front and rear projection, all kinds of lighting equipment and full surround sound system for projects and classes.
Lighting professor Kenton Yeager developed the Yeager Lighting Lab at UT. This lab is a fully functional scale model that enables students and designers to experiment with and prepare lighting designs for full shows in a controlled, highly flexible setting. Yeager labs are now at use in theatres and theatre departments across the country.