Offering UIS students the opportunity to further develop their talents as theatre artists, by working with great dramatic literature in the classroom and on the stage.
We foster the idea that theatre is a vital artistic event, which brings people together to respond to one another’s experiences/stories and to the world in which we live. We expose students to the work of the world’s great theatre artists.
Support Students To Change Lives
Help to support UIS Theatre students achieve their education goals.
Our Theatre
The UIS Studio Theatre is both intimate and flexible as a theatre performance space, and is recognized as one of the finest theatre venues in the Springfield area. Seating ranges from 100 to 318 seats, depending on the particular stage configuration used for each production. Audiences and performers alike enjoy a very acting-centered theatre.
Our History
In 1971, under the leadership of Theatre Professor Guy Romans, Sangamon State University Repertory Company began a memorable period of producing plays that lasted until Professor Romans was challenged by some health issues in the early 1980s. From the early 1980s to the mid 1990s, independent theatre productions occasionally took place on our campus. In the mid 1990s, our institution joined the University of Illinois System and changed its name to the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS). In the fall of 2002, UIS recommitted to building a University Theatre Program. Today, UIS Theatre continues to train students of all ages, who are interested in learning the professional process of work for Scenic Designers, Lighting Designers, Costume Designers, Sound Designers, Props Designers, Stage Make Up Designers, Technical Directors, Stage Managers, Dramaturgs, Directors, and Actors. With UIS Theatre students at the center of our attention, the Theatre Faculty continue to enjoy bringing in Guest Artists, whenever possible, to expand our teaching and learning. UIS Theatre proudly and regularly joins creative forces with Actors and other Theatre Artists from the surrounding community. Nontraditional students, faculty and staff from across campus, alumni, and prospective students also have helped expand the reach of UIS Theatre over the years. Together, all of these theatre artists continue to raise our production values, entertain and move our audiences, while making everyone in the Theatre feel like they belong.
Our Mission
As students develop an effective and reliable process of working in the theatre, they gain an appreciation of how theatre works and how its history is made. In addition, students participating in theatre also develop a strong sense of teamwork, as the process of creating theatre is largely collaborative.
- We provide the aspiring theatre student with a professional setting in which to work as an actor, a director, a playwright, a stage manager, a dramaturg, a costume designer, a make-up artist, or as a lighting, sound, or props technician.
- We believe that the study of theatre becomes more enjoyable when students apply in the lab (the theatre) what they learn in the classroom. Students who graduate from UIS with work accomplished in our theatre program not only become more sophisticated theatre patrons, but for some, a career in the theatre may begin.
Enjoy this UIS Theatre Program Overview Video
Volunteer and Off-Stage Opportunities
The UIS Theatre department invites all theatre artists to audition for roles or apply for offstage work in one of our upcoming productions.
Currently enrolled UIS students are given primary consideration in casting roles and backstage assignments, as well as in determining each production.
Theatre Events
