Training
•Comprehensive, intensive four-year training in acting, singing, and dance
•Faculty actively engaged in the profession
•Unique opportunity for both individual voice lessons and individual vocal coachings with strong emphasis on vocal health
•Four-semester studio performance technique sequence combining singing and acting across all eras of musical theatre, including traditional and contemporary pop/rock styles
•Junior and senior year focus on audition techniques and "business of the business"
•Includes theatre history, technical theatre, music theory, movement, stage combat, and general education
•Partnership with Theatrical Rights Worldwide to workshop and premiere new musicals
Performance & Productions
•Performances in ECU/Loessin Playhouse, Theatre for Young Audiences productions, and faculty-led workshop productions (Random Acts, Night of Musical Theatre)
•Student-led groups: East Carolina Theatre Association, SWISH Improv, Reader's Theatre, Fifth Street Players
Notable Alumni
•Dirk Lumbard — Broadway performer (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Music Man, On Your Toes, Barnum, Sugar Babies); assistant choreographer for Broadway and West End On Your Toes; now ECU dance faculty •Sandra Bullock — Oscar winner who began her performing career in ECU Playhouse musicals before transitioning to film Professional Development
•Students regularly attend UPTA (Unified Professional Theatre Auditions) as seniors and SETC (Southeastern Theatre Conference), where students are regularly hired for summer employment as early as freshman year
•Guest speakers, master classes, and audition workshops with industry professionals
•Graduates performing on Broadway, the West End, national tours, cruise ships, and regional theatres
Verified Recent Class Sizes
•Class of 2030: 15 students
•Class of 2029: 18 students
•Class of 2028: 14 students
