Lights, Costumes, Aggies! Texas A&M Steps Into the Spotlight With a Showstopping New Theatre Program

Why follow a script when you can learn to co-create the set, the story and even the lighting cues with your classmates? Established in fall 2024, Texas A&M University’s new Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre isn’t just for actors—it’s for costume crafters, set shapers, light wranglers and story builders.

This all-in-one program focuses on the technique of devised theatre—a process of creating a performance from scratch—and teaches students to design, direct and devise their own theatrical worlds before performing them for the Aggie community and in competitions across the nation, preparing them for a variety of career paths. It’s where collaboration meets creation and classroom lessons take center stage.

With few programs like it in the country, Texas A&M is setting the bar for excellence, one devised theatre performance at a time.

Devising a New Program

In traditional theatre, actors perform lines written by someone else. In devised theatre, the lines haven’t been written yet because the actors, designers, directors and technicians create the show together—or in this case, Aggie students do.
 

Putting Theory Into Practice

Kate Bertagnoli ’27 was one of the first students to join the program. She already loved Texas A&M but felt something was missing until the new program offered her the two things she cared about most: Aggieland and the arts.

Since switching her major to theatre, Bertagnoli has thrived along with the program and her 14 fellow theatre majors. She was part of an impressive ensemble that earned 11 awards from the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for the program’s first devised theatre creation, a comedic play called “SUPERHERO & SUPERHERO” that performed three sold-out shows last November. Additionally, she was one of three Aggies selected as a regional finalist for the festival’s Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition.

Bertagnoli credits the program’s success, and her own, to the variety of “tools in the box” the curriculum offers, from stage combat to costume construction. “I’ve had the opportunity to apply what I’ve learned in the classroom directly to live productions while receiving real-time feedback,” she said. “This program is giving us the skill level to land jobs in a competitive industry—and we’re having fun while doing it.”
 

In addition to financial support for students, the program is also in need of more space. As enrollment grows, so does the demand for rehearsal and performance venues that can accommodate larger groups and audiences. Securing access to bigger, better-equipped facilities would allow the program to continue evolving and presenting work at a higher level.

Students in the theatre program, like Bertagnoli, hope more Aggies can benefit from the same opportunities they’ve experienced. With increased funding for these biggest needs, the program can continue preparing Aggie artists to shine on stage—and bring the transformative power of the arts to the world through the unique maroon lens of the Aggie Spirit.