Has a musical ever left you inspired or deeply moved? Do you ever dream of standing under the lights of Broadway? In the Musical Theater Pathway, students of any major can explore musical theatre, opera, and operetta alongside established professionals in the field.

Students who choose this Pathway will cultivate skills and gain real-world experiences in the performance, production, and administration of musical stage works. Students may tailor their coursework and experiential learning to emphasize a primary interest in the onstage, backstage, pit, or business aspects of musical production. Specific skills students might expect to develop include: singing, acting, dancing, choreography, pit orchestra/rehearsal accompaniment, theatrical design, technology, stage management, direction, rehearsal technique, box office, and house management.

Students in this Pathway might pursue any number of careers involved in the performance, design, and management of musical theatre. But the Pathway also provides valuable experience to those students interested in careers in adjacent disciplines of the arts, music, and drama. Regardless of a student’s career ambitions, the pathway can help lay the foundation for a lifetime of participation and appreciation in the theatre arts.

Take four (4) courses from one of the approved tracks.

The tracks mirror the four basic roles in a musical theatre production:

1. Instrumental track – below-stage pit orchestra
2. Vocal/acting track – on-stage performers
3. Production and design track – behind-the-stage directors and set workers
4. Administration track – box-office and business staff

PATH 11008: Initial Reflection – MUTD

This course asks you to complete three basic steps:

1. Spend time reflecting on several questions about why you’ve chosen this Pathway, noticing how your experiences and various aspects of your personal identity might play into your career direction.
2. Discuss your thoughts with other students, faculty, and staff in the Pathway.
3. Write about how your initial thoughts, the conversations you had with your Pathway community, and any new or different insights you have as a result.

PATH 22008: Career Planning – MUTD

For this course, you will explore career and internship resources offered through Career Planning in APEX, specifically Handshake and LinkedIn. You will also craft a career-ready resume. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the many resources offered by the Career Planning office to bring your resume to a truly professional level. Booking an appointment with a Career Planning staff member or peer advisor to go over your resume is strongly recommended.

PATH 33008: Experiential Learning – MUTD

This course asks you to complete an authentic, hands-on experience in one of the career areas you’re exploring. It is more than simply having an experience, however. In order to maximize the benefits and learning you gain, you will deliberately walk through goal setting, planning, and “preflection” (pre-reflection) before you complete the career experience. During and after your experience, you will spend time considering what you learned about yourself from the experience and how those lessons might impact your next career steps. Completing this thorough, guided process is what makes this “experiential learning” rather than just an experience.

**Note that this course will require you to complete some components BEFORE registering**

Steps to complete PATH 330:

Before Registering:

1. Explore a range of possible experiences that will help you further your career goals.
2. Plan your EL experience, taking advantage of resources and assistance offered by faculty or staff on the Pathway team, someone from APEX’s Experiential Learning & Community Engagement Office, Wooster alumni working in the career field, and/or your own connections in the field.
3. Complete the EL Approval Form & gain official approval from your Pathway faculty/staff team.

During the Course:

1. Complete your EL experience (can be done before or during PATH 330).
2. Upload your EL Verification Form.
3. Submit your post-EL reflection.

PATH 44008: Final Reflection – MUTD

When you’ve completed all the elements of the Pathway – PATH 110, 220, 330 and your chosen topical courses – you will reflect on your total Pathways experience with questions like: What did the topical courses teach you that are relevant to this career area? What are the career lessons from your experiential learning experience(s)? How did your perceptions of this career area and your place in it shift over time and where have they landed for now? When you step back and look at the bigger picture of your Pathways experience, in what ways are you stronger and more prepared to take your next career steps?

You will present your reflections publicly, which both encourages significant reflection and benefits those who are coming behind you on their own career journeys. Generally, students will do this by presenting a poster at a college event.

Other, smaller, components of the PATH 440 course include:

1. Update your resume to be career ready.
2. Create or update your LinkedIn profile.
3. Complete a couple short end-of-Pathways surveys.

Students in the Musical Theatre Pathway are required to complete one (1) EL opportunity.

Experiences that fulfill the EL requirement for this Pathway should be substantial and sustained off-campus internship, work experience, or volunteer opportunities in the area of student’s interests. Students will complete at least one experience of at least 45 contact hours.* 

Opportunities may include:

• supervised internships with community/professional organizations that produce musical theatre (regional examples include Ohio Light Opera, Karamu House, Ohio Youth Ensemble Stage, etc.)
• working alongside professional educators in a local middle or high school or in a community musical theatre program
• master classes and workshops conducted by Wooster graduates and faculty/artists associated with the Ohio Light Opera.
• research assistantships.

In addition to the general descriptions of EL opportunities given above, the College has a number of curricular vehicles that could be used by students of a Musical Theatre Pathway: IDPT 415 internships, APEX Fellowships, and THTD 430 (which, beginning 2025, will no longer be restricted to partnerships with the Wayne Center for the Arts).

*Contact hours include time spent under direction supervision as well as hours working independently to complete projects for the employer. 

Required Training

• None