Northwestern University Theatre and Interpretation Center

The Northwestern University Theatre and Interpretation Center exists as an operational and administrational component of the School of Communication with the specific charge of producing, managing, funding and administering the performing arts productions of the School of Communication, Department of Theatre and Department of Performance Studies, including programmatic responsibility for theatre, music theatre and dance. The Center adheres to and reflects the academic mission of the University, the curricular needs of the Theatre and Performance Studies departments, the educational priorities of Communication students and exists in service to the campus and the greater community of the Metropolitan Chicago area.

Each year, as many as forty productions are mounted in the Theatre and Interpretation Center. Of those forty, approximately eight are main stage productions staged in the Ethel M. Barber Theater and the Josephine Louis Theater and are directed by faculty, third-year MFA directing students, and guest artists. These productions include both classic and contemporary plays, dance performances and musical productions. In addition, the Theatre and Interpretation Center produces the annual Waa-Mu Show, an original student written and performed musical and also the Summerfest which includes a two to three play series that is performed during the summer.

The center offers subscriptions for the entire season as well as for Summerfest. Currently there are over fifteen hundred subscribers who buy the season package. These patrons come from the University population as well as the neighboring communities.

Our relationship within the neighboring communities extends into the schools. Our Children's Theatre production tours each year during the spring quarter and runs for twenty five to forty performances over a nine-week period.