Theatre and Dance Scholarships

Department of Theatre and Dance

Scholarship Overview

The Department of Theatre and Dance administers an outstanding scholarship program. Numerous awards are available to qualified students who intend to major in Dance or Theatre. The scholarship provides resident or non-resident tuition waiver amounts that are applied over the academic year.  All interested students are encouraged to apply. Further information on the scholarship is available at www.uwyo.edu/thd/scholarships. 

 

Application Instructions 

Scholarships are awarded for one academic year, beginning in the fall semester. Students must re-apply and audition for their scholarship each year. While awarded for a full academic year, scholarships may be revoked at the end of any semester for any of the following reasons: 

  • Failure by the student to maintain a 2.0 GPA in all courses. 

  • Failure by the student to fulfill their production responsibilities as a scholarship student as specified in the UW Department of Theatre and Dance Student Handbook. 

  • Significant violations of the UW Student Code of Conduct. 

If any of the above conditions apply, the faculty reserves the right to place the student on probation for one semester. 

 

Scholarship Guidelines


PHILOSOPHY

The scholarship program is designed to financially assist the outstanding student of Theatre and Dance and to attract the student to study at the University of Wyoming.  Students should look upon themselves as undergraduate departmental ambassadors who contribute to the Theatre and Dance program here at the University of Wyoming. 

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REQUIREMENTS

  1. Theatre/Dance must be your primary major. 

  2. Maintain an overall cumulative 2.0 grade point average. 

  3. Maintain satisfactory academic progress toward the degree; maintain full-time student status.  Scholarship may be retained for 8 semesters.  Students can petition to have this extended up to one semester. 

  4. Satisfactory fulfillment of assigned responsibilities for departmental productions. 

  5. Must attend all scholarship meetings. 

  6. To further the Theatre and Dance training experience, scholarship students will be required to audition for main season productions.  Exceptions will be made for Design/Technical Management students and the Theatre major auditioning for a Dance production and vice versa; unless the choreographer or director posts audition requirements to the contrary. See our best practices document for information on acceptance or rejection of a role. 


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SCHOLARSHIP ASSIGNMENTS 

Scholarship students are expected to be involved in departmental productions and to complete at least one main scholarship assignment per semester. These assignments may include but are not limited to performance (acting, musical theatre or dance), design, technical assistance or crew duties, stage management, or front of house duties (house management, ushering). Students will occasionally be asked to support the department in other activities as well.  

Scholarship assignments will be made as early as possible, and students will be given their assignment preference when possible. While many scholarship assignments will be in the student’s area of study, they should be willing to accept a wide range of assignments to support the department and deepen their understanding of the theatre as a collaborative endeavor 

If a student cannot complete a production assignment, they may petition the scholarship director at the beginning of the semester to complete 20 supervised shop hours. While we strongly encourage students to participate in student productions, these projects typically will not fulfill a scholarship assignment. Assignments for which a student is receiving class credit will not fulfill the scholarship requirement. 

Assignments may include working as a member of a production run crew, serving as part of the house management staff, or completing hours in the production or costume shops. Further details regarding specific tasks will be provided by designated area faculty and your scholarship advisor. ALL ASSIGNMENTS INCLUDE REQUIRED ATTENDANCE AT ALL TECHNICAL REHEARSALS, PERFORMANCES AND STRIKE.  

 

SCHOLARSHIPS / WORK-STUDY

If a scholarship student supplements their earnings with Work-Study, scholarship requirements and responsibilities must be claimed first and Work-Study hours second. Students will not be able to fulfill scholarship commitments with Work-Study hours. 

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SCHOLARSHIP MEETINGS

All scholarship students must attend all scholarship meetings unless they have made previous arrangements with the Scholarship Director.  Arrangements must be made at least 48 hours in advance of the scheduled meeting. Scholarship meetings are crucial to the scheduling and the organization of the student's time and to the department. 

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REAPPLICATION

All scholarships will automatically become open at the end of each academic year. Therefore, anyone who wishes to obtain a scholarship for the following academic year must apply each spring at a time specified by the faculty. An effort will be made to fill approximately 25% of the scholarships with incoming freshmen or students transferring from other colleges.

An audition or portfolio interview will be required of all students. The audition/interview will take place in the spring semester before the entire theatre and dance faculty. Please see How to Apply for more information.

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FACULTY ASSESSMENT OF SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS 

A Theatre and Dance scholarship is intended to provide financial assistance to the student whose work is outstanding both in class and in production. The Theatre and Dance Faculty will assess the work of scholarship students at the time of spring applications. Assessment criteria:  

As a baseline, current Theatre and Dance Scholarship recipients must fulfill all the REQUIREMENTS above each semester. 

The quality of the student’s work in production and in class, including attitude and effort, will be assessed by the faculty. Production work must be done well and on time if the production is to be successful and if all those working on the production are to gain maximum educational benefit.  Therefore, a student who seeks to contribute more positively and consistently to the qualitative completion of a job will be assessed more favorably than a student who works the minimum time required or who seeks to do only certain kinds of work. 

In addition to the assessment of scholarship students in the spring, the faculty may, at the end of the fall semester, withdraw aid from any student who, in the opinion of the faculty, has not satisfactorily fulfilled all of the requirements for that scholarship or has committed a severe code of conduct violation. In the event that a scholarship revocation is recommended, the student(s) involved will be notified in writing and given seven days to request a faculty review.  After a review, the faculty will vote on the revocation and that vote will be final.

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Contact Us

Dept. of Theatre and Dance

Dept. 3951

1000 E. University Avenue

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: 307-766-2199

Email: theatre_dance@uwyo.edu

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