200,000+
Alumni from our Global Campuses

Students in Webster's acting program train for work in a wide array of venues. Voice, movement and acting are core to the curriculum every semester. Classes cover many styles, including period and contemporary realism, Chekhov and Ibsen, Shakespeare, Restoration, and Edwardian. Work in class prepares actors for both stage and film work. Our partnership with The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis provides our acting students with an up-close introduction to professional theatre.

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

Program Overview

The Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts' performance training program leads to a BFA degree in either acting or musical theatre. Both acting and musical theatre students complete liberal arts requirements, providing a well-rounded education.

The first year of Conservatory is about discovery. Classes in acting, voice and speech, movement, stagecraft, text analysis, and make-up invite you to discover what it means to be an actor and establish the basis for a personal technique. Methods include centering and aligning, vocal production and phonetics, games, exercises, improvisation, and scene study. First-year students do not perform publicly, but do present scene work for the Conservatory at the end of the year.

The second year of Conservatory is about exploration. Through highly contrasting styles of dramatic literature, you stretch and strengthen the basic technique established during the first year. Classes in yoga, neutral mask, and physical characterization are added to the core of acting, and voice and speech. Second-year students join the casting pool and are now eligible to perform in the Conservatory season.

The third year of Conservatory is about application. The work in contrasting styles becomes even more ambitious. You apply skills acquired in the previous two years to Shakespeare, Restoration and Edwardian drama. Voice and movement classes develop even more specific skills in dialects, period movement and stage combat. You add a directing class to the basic core.

The fourth year of Conservatory is about refinement and looking toward the future. You develop your interview, audition, and cold reading skills. Specialized units such as acting for the camera, commedia dell'arte, and clown become part of your curriculum. Toward the end of the year, fourth-year students participate in a showcase in New York for agents, producers, and casting directors.
Student actors in Conservatory show

Join Us at the Theatre

Student actors in Conservatory show

At Webster's Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts, we'll help you achieve academic excellence preparing you for future career successes. The first step is to fill out our application.

Contact: Joanna Battles, head of recruitment for performance programs

Nathan Ayala
Scholarships

“Many 'kids' are told doing any liberal arts are wrong — I want to end that stigma. I want (them) to see themselves through me, and ... be able to watch a movie and relate to a character that actually looks like them.”

Nathan Ayala
Nathan Ayala, BFA in Acting, '24

Webster University Endowed Theatre Scholarship recipient

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Contact the Admissions Office to Find Out More

If you have more questions about the program, your application or other enrollment-related inquiries, contact our Admissions Office.

Call 314-246-7800 or 800-753-6765 or send an email to admit@webster.edu.