Minnesota State Moorhead to offer Acting and Production minor, emphasis starting Fall 2025
Minnesota State Moorhead is shining a spotlight on stage and screen professions by offering a new minor and emphasis in Acting and Production.
Beginning Fall 2025, undergraduate students of any major may minor in Acting and Production. Students majoring in Audio Production and Entertainment Management (AEM) have the option to choose Acting and Production as an emphasis.
Curriculum for the minor and emphasis prepares students for careers in television, film, animation, theater, and motion capture. They will learn skills to succeed in front of the camera, behind the scenes, inside the sound booth, or running the back office.
“The minor and emphasis pick up all the things we identified that the industry is moving toward,” said Professor Ryan Jackson, co-chair of the School of Media Arts, Design, and Entertainment. “It’s not an experience students are going to find anywhere else.”
Students can perform live, build sets, design lighting, direct actors, and more through on-campus theater each semester, including a children’s production in the fall and summer collaborations with professional theater groups. For example, in June 2025, Moorhead and Act Up Theatre teamed up to present “The Sound of Music” on the university’s Gaede Stage.
Partnerships with other Minnesota State Moorhead departments, especially those within the School of Media Arts, Design, and Entertainment, allow students to star in film festival entries, do voice acting for animation projects, and work with commercial music students in musical theater ensembles.
“They will be complete and versatile technicians and actors,” Jackson said. “This is ‘theater plus...’ ”
While Minnesota State Moorhead closed its theatre arts program in 2020, live theater has continued on campus through the Audio Production and Entertainment Management program, and the university has made significant investments in production spaces. New projection equipment, lighting, and a surround sound system will be installed in Hansen Theatre this summer.