Repertory Theatre Term

Knox's Repertory Theatre Term (Rep Term), produced every three years by the Department of Theatre and Dance, is the only undergraduate theatre program in the United States that combines academic study in theatre with all of the business that is vital to operating a professional repertory theatre company. Its success depends on intensive collaboration between faculty and students, and it provides the students who participate with an unforgettable ten-week immersion in theatre.

Rep Term was co-founded in 1970 by Ivan Davidson and Robert Whitlatch, two Knox theatre professors who have recently retired, and former professor Peter B. Young. Working with faculty directors and designers, the students--about half of whom, typically, are theatre majors--spend an entire term researching, designing, constructing, rehearsing, and performing two full-length plays.

In 2007, Rep Term XIV produed The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux and Working, a musical compilation based on the book by Studs Terkel. Planning is currently under way for Rep Term XV, in winter term 2010.

Rep Term includes a seminar in which the students study the historical and literary periods of the plays, and other playwrights and plays from those periods, and a conservatory class. That voice and movement class helps each actor become comfortable with their character as they move in a costume and master body language, effective employment of the voice, and dynamic use of spoken language.

The plays are performed in nightly rotation and run for a full week, just as they would in a professional repertory theatre. Repertory Theatre Term is cooperative, collaborative, and one of the most intense and rewarding theatre experiences a student could have at the undergraduate level.