Beyond the Classroom

The Theatre & Dance department hosted its annual Spring Break Artistic Immersion Trip to New York again in 2019. Our large and active alumni network in NYC helped to provide some once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our current Junior and Senior students.

In late January we found out that Teatro Catalina wanted us to spend a week exploring the art of devised theatre with their Nicaraguan Theatre Company. A departure from previous trips where each show had been centered around a theme, this play would be developed from their own personal stories...

The 2017 Teatro Catalina arts service trip to Chinendega, Nicaragua was a transformative experience for eight current SCU students and three Theater & Dance alumni, lead by faculty advisor Claire Calalo. Every partnership between Santa Clara University and this program is unique, and this year proved to be a milestone for the collaboration in many ways.

Hot on the heels of our wildly successful and inspiring first-annual Spring Break Immersion Trip to New York City, the Department of Theatre & Dance sponsored this year’s Spring Break Immersion Trip to Ashland, Oregon and the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

In March 2016 the Theatre and Dance Dept. successfully piloted its first immersion trip to a significant performing arts city. This initiative emerged from our Program Review process to seek innovative ways to connect current students with Theatre and Dance alumni working in theatre and dance at all levels from performing to community social justice work in the arts. Students will travel to Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2017; future trips might journey to Chicago or Los Angeles. Junior and Senior students apply during the Fall Quarter to join the trip.

Teatro Catalina is a program began by SCU Alumna Katie Fitzgerald as a community theatre in Villa Catalina, Chinandega, Nicaragua. Through the participation of SCU alumni and undergraduate teaching artists, along with faculty mentors, Teatro Catalina continues to grow and is currently working to integrate the performing arts into the Nicaraguan Public School system. Students may get involved by applying in the Fall quarter for the Spring Break arts immersion trip.

In this class, students learn about fabric/textile studies, sewing techniques, dying and ornamentation, and costume crafts and, as a final project, produce quality shirts which are then donated to an orphanage in Uganda.

ArtsReach is an arts outreach program at Sacred Heart Community Services that provides learning experiences in theatre, dance, music, and visual arts to students in the after-school Homework Club. ASTEP at SCU works to coordinate opportunities with faculty, staff, and students to participate throughout the year and for Department courses to fulfill the Experiential Learning for Social Justice (ELSJ) core requirement.

ASTEP (Artists Striving To End Poverty) at SCU is a student chapter of the New York based organization that began with Julliard students wanting to transform the lives of youth through the arts, to awaken their imaginations, foster critical thinking, and help them break the cycle of poverty. Students at SCU may get involved by joining the Registered Student Organization (RSO) club and participate in the ArtsReach and Dancercise programs in the local San Jose community.

Shakes In Your Face is an engaging performance of Shakespeare's greatest hits by students and faculty in various locations across the SCU campus and in the community. These lively and fun short scenes and monologues are usually unannounced and take place in non-traditional performance spaces for passers-by, lunch crowds and students needing a study break.

During exam week each quarter FAST (Fine Arts Support Team) coordinates a 15 minute study break in the Harrington Learning Commons Lower Level that features dancing, music, theatre, visual art, and spoken word.