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Major · Visual & Performing Arts

The craft and study of live performance, production, and dramatic literature

Drama and Theatre Arts, General covers the full range of theatrical work — dramatic literature, performance practice, directing, and production. About 8,737 degrees are awarded annually across nearly 978 colleges. Career destinations span acting, producing, directing, and arts education, with a wide range of trajectories depending on degree level and specialization.

Schools offering
978
Annual completions
8,737
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$40k

About this major

Drama and Theatre Arts, General is built around the study of dramatic works and their performance — an academic definition that covers a wide range of actual coursework: dramatic literature from antiquity through contemporary writing, acting technique and rehearsal practice, directing fundamentals, and the mechanics of putting a production together (stagecraft, design, production management). Most programs treat these as an integrated whole rather than separate tracks, at least at the lower-division level. The general degree, as the name signals, spans the discipline broadly rather than specializing in any one area.

The major attracts students drawn to collaborative storytelling — people who find working in rehearsal rooms and on stages engaging as a way of learning, and who want to understand dramatic literature as both text and live practice. It suits students who are comfortable working in groups toward a shared creative outcome, who have tolerance for revision and iteration, and who can hold analytical and embodied ways of knowing at the same time. Comfort with ambiguity helps; most of what theatre trains you to do does not have a single correct answer.

On the career side, about 8,737 degrees are awarded annually across nearly 978 colleges, making this a moderately common major with broad availability. The most degree-aligned professional destination is producing and directing — a $83,480 median wage with 4.9% projected job growth and a bachelor's listed as the typical credential. Postsecondary teaching in the arts ($80,190 median) is another path, though it typically requires graduate study beyond the undergraduate degree. Acting, the most student-visible destination, does not list a degree as the typical credential and shows minimal projected growth as an occupation.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Producers and directors $83k +4.9% Bachelor's degree
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary $80k +1.7% Master's degree
Actors — +0.3% Some college, no degree
Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other — +6.0% No formal educational credential
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$40k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$31k

Bachelor's

$40k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you're drawn to the specific intersection of literary study and live performance — if analyzing a play and then staging it sounds more engaging than either activity alone. You may also fit well if you're already involved in theatre and want a structured curriculum to develop craft alongside academic context, or if your goal is producing or directing, where a bachelor's is the standard entry credential and the $83,480 median wage for the occupation reflects genuine professional demand. Students heading toward arts administration, film production, or playwriting also find the general theatre degree a reasonable launching point, particularly when paired with strong institutional resources or an MFA as a longer-term plan.

Think twice if you're primarily interested in acting and expecting the degree to improve your hiring chances — the BLS data does not list a degree as the typical credential for actors, and the field shows 0.3% projected job growth. Think twice also if you're comparing this path against more earnings-predictable alternatives and the five-year median of $40,139 for bachelor's completers is a meaningful constraint rather than an acceptable tradeoff. And if you already have a specific focus — Acting, Musical Theatre, Technical Theatre, or Film — the more targeted degree programs within this concentration communicate that specialization more directly, both to graduate programs and to early-career employers.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
New York University New York, NY 0 400 400
Texas State University San Marcos, TX 0 130 130
Northwestern University Evanston, IL 0 91 91
Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah, GA 0 84 84
California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA 0 76 76
University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA 0 75 75
California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA 0 71 71
University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC 0 70 70
Muhlenberg College Allentown, PA 0 69 69
University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 0 69 69
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Cinematography and Film/Video Production

6,935 completions/yr

Film/Cinema/Media Studies

4,438 completions/yr

Acting

1,531 completions/yr

Musical Theatre

1,121 completions/yr

Technical Theatre/Theatre Design and Technology

708 completions/yr

Playwriting and Screenwriting

436 completions/yr

Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other

208 completions/yr

Theatre/Theatre Arts Management

146 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Drama and Theatre Arts majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework covers dramatic literature from Greek tragedy through contemporary work, performance technique, directing, stagecraft, and production design. Most programs blend academic study with studio practice — you'll read and analyze plays, rehearse and perform, and build working productions. Upper-division work often allows concentration in acting, directing, or design, though the general degree keeps those tracks broad rather than specialized.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough for Drama and Theatre?
The degree-level data here tells an honest story. Associate's completers in this major show median five-year earnings around $30,561; bachelor's completers land at $40,139 — a gap of roughly $9,600. Neither figure is high compared to most bachelor's-level fields. The more practical question is which specific career you're targeting: producers and directors, the highest-paying listed career at a $83,480 median wage, list a bachelor's as the typical credential. Acting, by contrast, lists 'some college, no degree' as the typical credential — meaning the degree is not what gets you hired in that role.
What kinds of jobs do Drama and Theatre graduates end up in?
Producers and directors are the most degree-aligned path, with a $83,480 median wage and 4.9% projected job growth. Postsecondary art, drama, and music teaching is another route at $80,190 median, but it typically requires a master's degree — a bachelor's in theatre gets you partway there, not all the way. Acting itself, the most visible destination in most students' minds, does not list a degree as the typical credential and shows a 0.3% growth projection. The degree's practical value varies considerably by which of these paths you pursue.
Is Drama and Theatre Arts, General the right fit, or should I look at a more focused major?
This general degree sits at the center of a cluster of more targeted options. Acting (1,531 completions annually) and Musical Theatre (1,121) are narrower performance tracks. Technical Theatre/Theatre Design (708 completions) points toward design and production management. Cinematography and Film/Video Production (6,935 completions) and Film/Cinema/Media Studies (4,438) draw from similar interests but with a screen focus and, in many cases, somewhat different career trajectories. If you already know whether your goal is performance, design, playwriting, or screen media, the more specific degree tends to signal that focus more clearly to employers and graduate programs.
How competitive is the job market for theatre graduates?
It depends on which career you mean. Producers and directors show a 4.9% projected growth rate — close to the national average for all occupations. Actors show 0.3% projected growth with no BLS median wage reported, which typically signals a field with highly variable earnings and significant competition for paid work. About 8,737 theatre degrees are awarded each year across nearly 978 colleges, which means the supply of graduates in this field is substantial relative to the number of full-time, degree-required roles available.
What's a realistic earnings picture after a Drama and Theatre Arts degree?
Five-year median earnings for this major run about $39,886 across degree levels, with bachelor's completers specifically at $40,139. Those numbers sit well below the median for bachelor's-level majors generally. The higher-earning careers connected to this field — producers and directors at $83,480, postsecondary teaching at $80,190 — represent specific outcomes that take either several years of industry experience or a graduate degree to reach. Students who enter this major primarily for the love of the craft, with clear-eyed expectations about early earnings, tend to navigate it better than those expecting the degree to resolve the financial picture on its own.