UMW Theatre believes that the richest means to teach our discipline is to create theatre in a collaborative enterprise with students, faculty, and staff. Furthermore, UMW Theatre privileges the role of the audience in this endeavor; without the ability to engage in a conversation with our patrons, our work will not fulfill its enormous potential.
Making theatre is a costly venture. Not only does our commitment to excellence demand resources that far exceed what we earn at the box office, we also support creative projects, internships, workshops, and professional education that provide a significant advantage to our students as they build experiences and skills that will make them competitive in the post-graduate job market. Both are essential aspects of our students’ educations—they must work closely with us to strengthen themselves in our work and they must connect their knowledge and network in the professional theatre. Our ability to offer these tremendous experiences distinguishes Mary Washington from other theatre programs and helps our graduates succeed when they begin their professional careers.
Donor support of our program changes the lives of our students. Donors support students who are struggling to make ends meet by providing resources that allow them to attend a professional theatre production with their class. Donors support national conference attendance for our students, most recently for our design and technical students to attend the annual meeting of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology. Donors also support professional acting auditions, most recently at the Southeastern Theatre Conference and the Strawhat Auditions. Donors also support student research projects, particularly our offering of Ideas in Performance*, a course that brings students to New York City to interview theatre professionals and an experience that students describe as “life changing,” “inspiring,” and “without a doubt, the most significant class of my college career.”
Donors are our friends and our partners in this remarkable work. These gifts make it possible for our students to grow as emerging theatre artists, our program to offer opportunities that render UMW Theatre unique, and for our audience to benefit from sharing with us exceptional productions that enhance the quality of life in the greater regional Fredericksburg community.
*Learn all about the most recent iteration of this course from earlier in March, 2018 at www.facebook.com/IdeasUMW
| Rank | State | Gifts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | VA | 255 |
| 2 | NY | 24 |
| 3 | MD | 15 |
