Get Ready to Perform, Design and Construct Your Next Performance

Webster University’s Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts offers professional training programs in acting, musical theatre, directing, design, technical theatre and stage management.

Sargent Conservatory is associated with professional theatre companies, two of which are on campus: The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Explore below to learn more about our sequential and intensive programs for training theatre artists.

Meet our 2022-2023 seniors, whose work for Senior Showcase highlights the array of experiences and artistic work integral to our training.

Sargent Conservatory Season

WebCo proudly announces its 2023–2024 season

Stage performance where three actors with props appear to be riding a motorcycle around a curve

Visit our Box Office for tickets and additional information.

Blood at the Root Sep. 29–Oct. 8
Romeo and Juliet Nov. 3–5
The Spitfire Grill Dec. 1–10
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Feb. 23–Mar. 3
Silence Mar. 29–31
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Apr. 26–28

Blood at the Root

By Dominique Morisseau
Emerson Studio Theatre
Sep. 29–Oct. 8, 2023

A striking ensemble drama based on the Jena Six — six Black students who were initially charged with attempted murder for a school fight after being provoked with nooses hanging from a tree on campus — Blood at the Root by Dominique Morisseau (Sunset Baby, Detroit '67, Skeleton Crew) examines the miscarriage of justice, racial double standards, and the crises in relations between men and women of all classes and, as a result, the shattering state of Black family life.

Visit our Box Office for tickets and for additional information.

Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Hilary Tate
Nov. 3–5, 2023

This will be Sargent Conservatory's first-ever production of William Shakespeare's tragedy about star-crossed lovers.

Visit our Box Office for tickets and for additional information.

The Spitfire Grill

Music and book by James Valcq
Lyrics and book by Fred Alley
Based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff
Stage III
Dec. 1–10, 2023

Based on the hit 1996 film, The Spitfire Grill is a heartwarming and inspirational musical tale of redemption, perseverance and family. Set in a small Wisconsin town, the show features a gorgeous, soulful score by James Valcq. The show premiered off-Broadway at the Duke Theatre on 42nd Street on September 7, 2001.

Visit our Box Office for tickets and for additional information.

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

By Stephen Adly Guirgis
Emerson Studio Theatre
Feb. 23–Mar. 3, 2024

Set in a time-bending, darkly comic world between heaven and hell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot reexamines the plight and fate of the New Testament’s most infamous and unexplained sinner.

Visit our Box Office for tickets and for additional information.

Silence

By Moira Buffini
Stage III
Mar. 29–31, 2024

Set during the Dark Ages but with contemporary overtones, Silence is the tale of Lord Silence of Cumbria who is forced to marry a fiery French noblewoman, Ymma of Normandy. This unlikely pairing exposes a revelation which makes them flee for their lives, and embark on a provocative journey of self-discovery. Silence won the 1997-1998 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Visit our Box Office for tickets and for additional information.

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

By Dave Malloy
Browning Mainstage Theatre
Apr 26–28, 2024

From the celebrated and award-winning composer Dave Malloy comes Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation. Following a critically exalted premiere at Ars Nova in New York City, a subsequent Off-Broadway transfer, and an acclaimed run on Broadway, this award-winning musical expands the possibilities for the genre with its daring score and bold storytelling.

Visit our Box Office for tickets and for additional information.

stage production photos

Undergraduate Majors and Minors

To complete a minor in theatre, students must take a minimum of 18 credit hours from the courses below. All credit must be completed at Webster. Courses to fulfill a requirement for any major cannot also be used to fulfill a requirement for the minor in theatre.

Theatre Courses

  • THEA 1050 Theatre Appreciation (3 hours) — GCP Arts Appreciation/Written Communication
  • THEA 1080 Studio Acting (3 hours) — GCP Arts Appreciation/Oral Communications
  • THEA 2100 Introduction to Theatre Design (3 hours)
  • THEA 2030 History of Theatre: Greeks to Elizabethan — GCP Roots of Culture/Written Communication
  • THEA 2040 History of Theatre: Restoration to 1915 (3 hours) — GCP Roots of Culture/Written Communication
  • THEA 2050 History of Theatre: 1915 to Present — GCP Roots of Culture/Written Communication
  • THEA 2060 Introduction to Dramaturgy and Play Analysis — GCP Arts Appreciation/Written Communication
  • THEA 2080 Studio Acting II (3 hours) — GCP Arts Appreciation/Oral Communications
  • THEA 3040 Topics in Theatre (3 hours) Repeatable with different titles
  • THEA 3070 Creative Dramatics: Social Issues (3 hours)
  • THEA 4060 Advanced Dramaturgy Seminar (3 hours)
  • MUTH 1030 History of American Musical Theatre (3 hours)
  • ENGL 4150 Shakespeare (3 hours)

Additional Information

Minor in Theatre

Theatre Minor Advisor — Doug Finlayson, finlaydo@webster.edu

Playbill

Explore this detailed introduction to our programs.

Faculty

Discover our esteemed faculty and how to contact them.

Theatre Facilities

Learn about the Conservatory's classrooms and three performance spaces.

Apply to Webster's Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts

All future Webster Conservatory students follow a three-step process. (Note: The Conservatory does not require a video or prescreening.)

1: Apply to Webster

Application may be made through our website at webster.edu/apply, or you may apply through Common App or COALITION App.

After applying, you will receive email with a form link.

2: Submit Form and Fee

Use link in email to submit the Fine and Performing Arts Student Assessment Request Form and $30 fee for the Conservatory. You will be contacted with next step information to schedule a date and time for your review or interview.

3: Schedule Audition/Interview

To schedule your audition or interview at Webster, please go to Webster's Conservatory Auditions.

(Note: Accepted does not take the place of a Conservatory audition or interview.)

If you have any questions regarding the Conservatory or the audition or review process, please contact Andrew Laue, Associate Director of Fine Arts Admissions for the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts, at lauear@webster.edu or 314-246-7712.

Use of Acceptd is not required to be admitted to the program and does not take the place of a Conservatory audition or interview.

The Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts is working in association with the online digital audition/portfolio company Acceptd. The use of Acceptd allows students to submit perusal materials to Webster and other programs. Although we view all postings to the Acceptd site, students interested in the Conservatory must schedule an official Webster audition or interview for the program to which they are applying. Acceptd does not take the place of a Conservatory audition or interview.

To schedule your audition or interview at Webster, please go to Webster's Conservatory Auditions page.

Backlit cast of characters dance energetically across stage with large image displays in background

American Idiot

Woman with sharp multi-pointed hat holds earring and grimaces at sullen woman with tulle collarbone ruffles

Sueño

Woman with billowy red shirt gestures on couch next to hunching young man in jeans jacket and smirking older man with graying beard and hair in sweater vest

Seminar

Two women in 1930s period dress sit on couch talking, man leans over back with eye patch

A Bright Room Called Day

Night scene with two actors sitting on floor looking up, music instruments in background

Rain and Zoe Save the World

Man with torn brown overalls sits on floor reading a book in front of mud pile with slouched unconscious man in background

Mud

Man with shimmering shirt and overly feathered wings sings into microphone

Myths & Hymns


Nathan Ayala
Scholarships

“I feel very lucky to be even attending this school. It’s an honor to be a recipient of the Webster University Endowed Theatre Scholarship and be able to keep living out my dreams.”

Nathan Ayala
Nathan Ayala

BFA in Acting, '24

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Launch Loretto-Hilton Center

Explore Photos of Our Previous Productions

Each season, Webster has multiple productions. Select a season below to view its photos:

Full Season Archive

2009-10 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

2008-09 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

2007-08 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

2006-07 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

2005-06 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • The Spirit is Willing
  • Our Country's Good
  • Bye Bye Birdie
  • The Memory of Water
  • A New Brain
  • String of Pearls
  • The Man Who Came To Dinner

2004-05 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • Red Ink
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  • The Lucky Chance
  • Ruthless! The Musical
  • A Piece of My Heart
  • Blythe Spirit
  • Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune (capstone)
  • Scotland Road (capstone)
  • Into the Woods

2003-04 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • Twenty and Two
  • Summer and Smoke
  • Rodgers and Hart: A Celebration
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • Lysistrata
  • Loot
  • Woyzeck (capstone)
  • Nine

2002-03 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • The Importance of Being Earnest
  • An Evening of One Acts 2002
  • Pippin
  • Violet
  • The Laramie Project
  • On the Verge
  • As Bees in Honey Drown (capstoned)
  • Two Rockin' Gents

2001-02 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • Ten Little Indians
  • 42nd Street
  • 5th of July
  • Blood Wedding
  • Lucky Stiff
  • Heartbreak House
  • The Shape of Things (capstone)

2000-01 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • Female Transport
  • Company
  • As You Like It
  • Hedda Gabler
  • You're a Good Man Charlie Brown
  • The Women

1999-00 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • Collette Collage
  • Caucasian Chalk Circle
  • Picnic
  • School for Scandal
  • And Evening of One Acts 2000
  • Guys and Dolls

1998-99 Season Photos:

Full Season Archive

  • Gemini
  • Grand Hotel
  • The Philadelphia Story
  • The Cherry Orchard
  • Cole
  • Macbeth

Professional Partners

Our partners are all committed to the education and training of young artists.

Alumni Spotlight

From Broadway stages to government offices, from television studios to university classrooms, we celebrate the excellent work WebCo alums.

Audition Process

Learn about auditioning for each of our theatre programs, including audition dates, requirements and suggestions.

Explore Our Premier Programs

Discover more about our relevant and hands-on curriculum across a variety of fields and disciplines.

News and Events

Sargent Conservatory and Fine Arts Highlights

Photo of Jaleesa Smith on a swing.
News

Webster Music Student Named Top 10 Finalist in Songwriting Contest

September 20, 2023
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News

Faculty and Staff Highlights: Hill, Palmer, Rosenblum

September 14, 2023
News

In the News - Miller-Struttmann, Nappa, Hall, Williams and Alumni

August 31, 2023

This regular column in Webster Today features links to the most significant stories about Webster University or stories...

All News
Sep 22

Sep 22, 2023: The Passengers of the Night at Winifred Moore Auditorium
Sep 23

Sep 23, 2023: Eine Schumann-tiade at Winifred Moore Auditorium
Sep 23

Sep 23, 2023: The Passengers of the Night at Winifred Moore Auditorium

All Events