About
Mission
The Drexel University Department of Performing Arts is a dedicated community of artists, faculty and staff committed to providing a quality education in dance, music, and theater. We focus on expanding students' knowledge and skills through academic course work, rigorous technical training, experiences with professional artists, innovative community outreach, and outstanding performance opportunities.
We believe that all students learn about the world, themselves and humanity through the performing arts. In an inclusive environment that welcomes a variety of experiences, we impact our students and the greater University, professional performing artists and the Philadelphia community through the power of dance, music and theater.
No matter your major, you can engage your passion for performing arts while you're at Drexel. Through the Department of Performing Arts, all Drexel students can take classes in dance, music and theatre, and you can join a performing ensemble to express and develop your artistic ability.
Students interested in acting, or the technical and administrative aspects of theatre, have many opportunities to explore. We present three Mainstage shows at our professionally equipped Mandell Theater each year. One is a co-production with a top Philadelphia theatre company that gives our students the chance to work alongside professional artists. We also do numerous smaller productions in order to afford students the opportunity to handle all aspects of the production and we support a successful Late Night Series -- a weekly open mic night run by students.
Dancers can participate in one of the Dance program's two large dance companies, each of which does two major productions in the Mandell Theater every year, as well as a small, selective touring dance ensemble which performs and does workshops in the public schools.
Musicians have a wide array of options to showcase their musical talents in one of our four choral groups, a concert band, a jazz orchestra and a symphony orchestra, as well as a wide range of smaller instrumental groups working in every musical style. Students from any program on the Drexel campus can earn minors in Theatre, Dance or Music, and there are more specialized minors available in Music Performance, Music Theory and Composition, and Jazz and African-American Music.
Performing Arts Programs at Drexel
Every term, hundreds of Drexel students participate in performing groups through our programs in dance, theatre and music. These student-performers come from every college on the Drexel campus. The Department of Performing Arts is part of Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. Westphal offers 17 undergraduate majors, including Dance, 6 graduate majors, and 18 minors including Dance, Fine Arts, Music, Theatre, Performing Arts and Somatics.
Learn More about Westphal's Programs.