Music and Performing Arts
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Theatre and Opera
Undergrad Majors & Programs Department of Music and Performing Arts Performing Opportunities
Find opportunities to express your creativity, grow in community, and develop as an artist. Whether you want to perform, direct, or work behind the scenes, you’ll be part of a Christ-guided community that values excellence, collaboration, and calling. Theatre opportunities are open to all students—no matter your major.
Musicals
Musicals are performed in Benson Great Hall every other year and are open to all Bethel students by audition. Productions are fully staged and performed with a live pit orchestra. Rehearsals take place during January with performances at the start of the spring semester.
Past productions include: West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof by Jerry Bock, and The Music Man by Meredith Willson.
Opera
Operas are fully staged and performed in English with projected subtitles, accompanied by a live pit orchestra. They alternate years with musicals and are open by audition to all Bethel students. Rehearsals take place during January with performances at the start of the spring semester.
Past productions include: Rossini’s Cinderella, Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, and Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
January 2027 Production—La Esmeralda: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
One of the earliest stage adaptions of Victor Hugo's classic novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the opera La Esmeralda premiered just five years after the novel's publication. The music of this opera was composed by a woman, Louise Bertin, and the text was adapted by Victor Hugo himself. After premiering in 1836, in a time when female composers were not regarded seriously in the professional music scene, this beautiful opera remained largely unknown until being recently rediscovered nearly two centuries later. Bethel's production will be the first time it has been performed on stage in the United States!
Black Box Theatre productions
Black Box productions take place each fall and offer intimate, flexible theatre experiences. Shows vary from Shakespeare to small-cast musicals and whodunit plays.
Fall 2025 production
Check back soon for more information about our 2026 Fall Play!
Spring scenes shows
The spring scenes show is a cabaret-style performance of opera and musical theatre scenes. Students can audition to perform or sign up to direct or choreograph scenes. Rehearsals vary by scene and role. Open by audition.
Student production teams
Every Bethel production relies on a talented backstage team. You’ll have the opportunity to work alongside professionals to learn what goes on behind the scenes from the first rehearsal to the final curtain call.
Interested in performing arts and media production? Apply for a Media and Performing Arts scholarship!
Current and incoming student sign-ups
Explore theatre and opera opportunities at Bethel. Click here for sign-up links and rehearsal schedules for the 26-27 school year.
Questions?
Contact Merrin Guice Gill, chair of Music and Performing Arts Department