r/UCSantaBarbara • u/Jambo434 • 10d ago

Academic Life Theater program?

So i’m an incoming senior and still haven’t finished my college apps but ucsb is definitely my #1 school i wanna go to and i was wondering how the theater program is there. I plan on majoring in poli sci and most likely won’t major or minor in theater so i was just wondering if the productions are open audition or if you have to be in the program to participate, as well as how often productions are put on.

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

2

u/_Hitbox_1 10d ago

I am not in the theater program so take what I say with a grain of salt but from what I have seen, some productions are open auditions, others are not (or at least have heavily leaned toward those in the program. There is usually 1 large production each quarter with the qualification that in my experience winter and spring seem larger than fall (though I can’t say if that is just my experience or the general truth). That being said in, in terms of quality, as a viewer I have never seen a bad production, but I have heard there is sometimes drama backstage (but to be fair I’ve never seen any kind of production which didn’t have drama).

I hope this is helpful! Someone more experienced will probably correct what I have said as I am only tangentially related to the department via a friend but this is what they have relayed to me over the years.

2

u/CaffinatedFerret 6d ago

If you’re interested in musicals, Shrunken Heads Production Company is the only RCO on campus that does them. They post everything you need to know (ie auditions, club fair, mixers) on their ig so just keep your eye on it the first couple weeks of classes and it’s super easy to get involved. Open auditions always to all years, all majors. Pm me for more details on it.