Performing Arts Department

Ohio Wesleyan's music, theatre, and dance courses offer exciting collaborations and opportunities for students. The department is filled with creative performing artists, experienced and multi-talented faculty, and passionate students.

Audition & Scholarship Information

Current Performing Arts SEASON

The mission of the Performing Arts Department is to impart knowledge as transmitted through study and performance in the fields of music, theatre, and dance; to develop and enhance the creative and academic skills of those students who aspire to be the best they can be in these fields; and to place the study of music, theatre, and dance in the context of social, cultural and educational values.

OWU's Performing Arts Department fulfills a need for students from across the university. We welcome music and theatre majors who want to launch a career performing or teaching in the arts, minors and non-majors who participate in productions and ensembles, and students taking a class to enjoy and learn more about a favorite activity or to explore a new world in dance, theatre, or music. 

With OWU's liberal arts structure, students from any area can view performing arts through the lenses of other areas for which they study, from accounting to zoology. And participation in performing arts can enrich other fields they pursue. Many students in the department double major in another discipline, such as Business, Economics, English, Health & Human Kinetics, Spanish or French, Politics & Government, Psychology, and many more. Ohio Wesleyan University has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) since 1940.

Department Features

• Music, theatre, and dance productions and ensembles are open to ALL students! More than 200 students participate in diverse music courses and ensembles every year, including a chamber orchestra, classical ensembles, jazz combos, choirs, and an opera workshop.
• Beginning in their first year, theatre and dance students get involved onstage, backstage, and in the classroom.
• Recent OWU Connection opportunities in the performing arts have included Travel-Learning Courses to the Mississippi Delta, performance opportunities in Europe, workshops with artists-in-residence, and internships in New York.
• Students can earn a K-12 license in music education or theatre education. In music, the Bachelor of Arts in Music Education culminates with professional licensure upon graduation. In theatre, students can take two additional theatre courses (Developmental Drama and Theatre Education Methods) along with courses in the Education Department toward a minor and a K-12 licensure.