Department of Theatre and Dance

Season Selection Committee

  1. Home
  2. Season Selection Committee

Policy Statement Regarding Season Selection Committee

Approved 4/8/2008
Revised 4/26/2013, 1/29/2015, 3/17/2015

Mission

The Season Section Committee devises a proposed season for an upcoming academic year.

Purpose

The Season Selection Committee is charged to:

  • Review and recommend changes as needed in the Season Proposal Form [Season Proposal Form is available in Department Handbook].
  • Solicit proposals for production from department students, staff, faculty and Department Chair.
  • Deliberate the proposals with attention to:
    • Academic value
    • Resource management during a given year
    • Opportunities for student participation
    • Appeal and marketability to potential audiences
    • Scheduling performance into the academic calendar
    • Artistic coherence
    • Balance of styles/genres
      • Styles/genres to be produced at least once every two years:
        • Theatre for youth
        • Musical theatre/revue
      • Styles/genres to be produced at least once every four years:
        • Shakespeare or Renaissance
        • Late 19th-early 20th century realism
        • Contemporary
        • Avant garde/non-realism
        • Non-western
      • Additional styles/genres to be produced periodically:
        • Classical (Greek & Roman)
        • 17th-century to early 19th-century (pre-Realism)
        • Farce
        • New unpublished script or performance
  • Solicit additional proposals as the committee deems necessary.
  • Recommend a season to the faculty and staff for their consideration and approval.

Committee Membership

The Department Chair will make appointments to this committee during the spring semester after the work of the previous Season Selection Committee is completed.

The Department Chair is charged to solicit faculty/staff/student interest in committee service at the first full faculty/staff meeting of the spring semester.  Faculty or staff interested in serving on the committee should notify the Department Chair within the first three weeks of the spring semester.

Appointees to the committee are at the discretion of the Department Chair; however, the committee will include the following representatives when possible;

  • A tenure-track faculty member serving the department as dramaturg or theatre historian;
  • A tenure-track faculty member serving the department as publicity coordinator (if applicable);
  • A faculty or staff member from the performance area;
  • A faculty or staff member from the design/tech area;
  • A faculty or staff member from the dance area;
  • One or two at-large faculty or staff members;
  • One or two students

A single individual may represent more than one area.

There is no limit to the number of terms an individual may serve on this committee.

Members will select a committee chair at the first meeting.

Committee Process

Note that this process coincides with timelines detailed in the Process Statement for Assignment of Production Positions.

February (19 months prior to the beginning of the season under consideration):

  • Committee forms and selects a chair.
  • Committee reviews production history and any existing suggestions that have been made for styles, periods, venues, special projects or interdisciplinary projects.
  • Committee notifies the department of necessary and desirable rotation categories for the season under consideration.
  • An individual appointed by the Department Chair establishes a draft of the production calendar for the season under consideration.

March:

  • Committee solicits interest surveys from faculty and staff.
  • Those interested in directing during the season under consideration meet as a group with the Department Chair to determine who will direct during that season.  Directors must be available to direct at least three of the four productions and may include persons on the season selection committee and those who are not.  Preference will be given to faculty members who are not directing in the previous season.  After the meeting, the Department Chair designates four directors and two alternates for the season.
  • After directors are designated by the Department Chair, the committee meets with the four selected directors and two alternates to discuss season parameters and preferences for production slots.
  • Committee, in conjunction with the Department Chair, faculty, and staff, identify any other producing entities interested in collaborating on our season (e.g. Hayes School of Music).  If such entities are identified that year, the Department Chair facilitates communication among these entities, the season selection committee, and potential directors and choreographers to solidify and determine expectations for collaborative productions.

April:

  • Committee solicits production proposals from students, faculty and staff.

 June 15:

  • Deadline for submission of play proposals.

 June 15-August:

  • Committee determines reading assignments of plays for each member.
  • The committee eliminates plays that it determines are not suitable for production in the season and creates a short list of ten-twelve potential plays.
  • The committee sends the short list of remaining plays to the four designated directors and inquires which of the plays they would be comfortable directing.  Upon receiving the directors’ responses, the committee meets to determine if they can create a coherent season out of the titles the directors identified.  If not, the committee sends the short list to the two alternate directors and inquires which of the plays they would be comfortable directing.  Upon receiving the alternate directors’ responses, the committee meets to determine if they can create a coherent season out of the titles identified by all six directors.   If not, the committee sends a call for further proposals to the full faculty, explaining in as much detail as possible the parameters of the play or plays needed to fill out the slate. The committee reads the newly-proposed plays and inquires which of the six directors would be comfortable directing them.
  • The committee sends the short list to the Design/Tech cohort for consideration of feasibility.
  • Committee drafts a proposed season (which should include alternative titles as they see fit.)

 September:

  • Committee presents a season proposal at a full department meeting.  Questions should be entertained following the committee presentation, but in-depth discussions should be tabled until October. 

 October:

  • Department Chair will schedule a full department meeting dedicated to the discussion of the Season Selection Committee’s proposal.  All issues of the season and the season calendar should be discussed. 
  • As outlined in the Process for Assignment of Production Positions, faculty and staff will be asked to indicate their interests in production assignments. 
  • Faculty and staff will be expected to read all plays under consideration prior to this meeting and join in the discussion of specific plays only if they have read the play.
  • Production faculty and staff will be expected to leave this meeting with a sense of issues, questions, and challenges that need to be addressed and they will work to resolve these issues prior to the November meeting. 

November:

  • Department Chair will schedule a full department meeting for the purpose of determining the final season slate by a majority vote of faculty and staff present at the meeting. 
  • As outlined in the Process for Assignment of Production Positions, the Department Chair will conduct a production assignment interest survey.

January:

  • If for any reason a final decision is not obtained in November, a third and final meeting will be held in January.

February:

  • The season will be announced and a new Season Selection Committee will be appointed.

up