Division of Performing Arts
The Division of Performing Arts was founded on the belief that the role of the artist is to give beauty back to God and the world.
As a DeSales Performing Arts major, you'll become part of a tradition of independently thinking artists. Seasoned, talented faculty will guide you through rigorous training as you:
- develop discipline in your creative and inspired storytelling
- learn at masterclasses taught by guest artists who are at the top of their fields
- gain hands-on experience using the most up-to-date equipment
- pursue exciting internship opportunities to earn valuable work experience.
These are just some of the reasons DeSales excels in the performing arts. We love what we do, and we love doing our part to make the world a better place by bringing beauty back to God and His world.
Programs
Our Bachelor of Arts degrees provide flexibility in your career objectives. You can pursue a double major, study abroad, and find internships in your chosen area of study.
Performing Arts students interact with one another creatively in productions and in classes. Dancers take acting classes, TV/Film students shoot dance on film, theatre majors take TV/Film classes to learn how to use camera equipment. There is a pronounced artistic synergy between the three majors which makes for very exciting artistic collaboration.
Performing Arts Scholarships and Auditions
It was a joy working with the acting students of DeSales University ... I could see and hear the student’s passion for their craft and their eagerness to get out into the world and share it. I wish them all the best and I hope to meet up with some of them on set someday.”
— Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Actor (The Wire, Gangs of New York, The Deuce)
Act 1 Productions
Act 1 is DeSales University’s highly-acclaimed performing arts company and features professional-caliber productions in Dance, Theatre and TV/Film.
Each year we welcome another group of eager young actors, designers, dancers, and filmmakers all drawn to DeSales to hone their craft and create art that will inspire and entertain. We offer enchanting and provocative stories that will — with the mere rise of a curtain — unlock the limitlessness of your imagination.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Cancels 2020 Summer Performances
Center Valley, PA— In response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival has announced the cancelation of all performances for its upcoming summer season. The Festival’s box office and administrative offices will remain closed for the near term while the staff works remotely to facilitate options for ticket holders.
“It is with a heavy heart that we make this decision. We do so for the safety and well-being of our artists, staff, volunteers, and patrons,” said Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy. “We’ll be back in full force for summer 2021, which we hope will include the same extraordinary plays. We’ll look forward to gathering together next season so that our audience may again be renewed and refreshed by the artistry they so enjoy.”
For the convenience of PSF patrons, and in order to manage high call volume, the patron services team asks that patrons not call the box office at this time. The team will reach out directly to ticket holders in the coming weeks to facilitate ticket donations and other options. The Festival asks for patience as that process will take some time due to volume, and invites patrons to consider converting their tickets into tax-deductible gifts to assist the Festival during the global crisis, and to compensate artists for work already invested in the 2020 season.
Information regarding digital content offerings as well as PSF’s Luminosity Gala, previously scheduled for May 30 and now postponed, will be released at a later time.
To view all performances affected by this cancellation please visit pashakespeare.org.
About Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy, is the only professional Equity theatre of its scope and scale within a 50-mile radius. PSF is one of only a handful of theatres on the continent producing Shakespeare, musicals, classics, and contemporary plays, all of which can all be seen in rep and in multiple spaces within a few visits in a single summer season. Similarly, PSF was among just a handful of theatres on the continent in recent summers to produce three Shakespeare plays in a single summer season. A patron would have to travel seven to nine hours from PSF to find a comparable range of offerings at a single theatre within a few weeks’ time.
The Festival’s award-winning company of many world-class artists includes Broadway, film, and television veterans, and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson, Hayes, Lortel, and Barrymore awards. A leading Shakespeare theatre with a national reputation for excellence, PSF has received coverage in The Washington Post, NPR, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and in recent seasons The New York Times has identified PSF as one of the leading summer theatre festivals in the nation. “A world-class theater experience on a par with the top Bard fests,” is how one New York Drama Desk reviewer characterized PSF.
Founded in 1992 and the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PSF’s mission is to enrich, inspire, engage, and entertain the widest possible audience through first-rate productions of classical and contemporary plays, with a core commitment to Shakespeare and other master dramatists, and through an array of education and mentorship programs. A not-for-profit theatre, PSF receives significant support from its host, DeSales University, from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. With 150 performances of seven productions, the Festival attracts patrons each summer from 30+ states. In 28 years, PSF has offered 175 total productions (74 Shakespeare), and entertained 1,000,000+ patrons from 50 states, now averaging 34,000-40,000 in attendance each summer season, plus another 13,000 students each year through its WillPower Tour. PSF is a multi-year recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts: Shakespeare in American Communities, and is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association. In 2013, leaders of the world’s premier Shakespeare theatres gathered at PSF as the Festival hosted the international STA Conference.
The Festival’s vision is for world-class theatre.
DeSales University Film Festival
A celebration of the diverse range of genres and styles form the next generation of DeSales filmmakers.
March 23rd 2024 - 7:30 PM
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
A leading Shakespeare festival with an emerging national reputation for excellence, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) is a professional theatre company on the campus of DeSales University.
Each summer, PSF produces a season of Shakespeare and other classics, musical theatre, and children’s theatre.
About the Division
The Division of Performing Arts was founded on the belief that the role of the artist is to “give beauty back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s giver” (Hopkins). We do so by giving beauty back to the world through Theatre, Dance, and TV/Film. We aspire to infuse the workforce in the entertainment industry with the most well-trained artists of the day.
We believe as the Greeks did, that the purpose of the arts is to reveal the truth of the world to ourselves in order that we can learn from each other’s good and not so good decisions. Therefore, we believe that art reveals the truth of mankind. And when the truth is revealed so is the beauty of mankind. And to that end, we encourage our students to dig down to find the truth of the story they want to tell through dance, theatre, and film to uplift humanity to make the world a better place.
