Southern Union State Community College is one of a select few community colleges to offer a comprehensive program of fine arts. Our music, dance, and theatre programs have a rich history of accomplishments. Our faculty are highly qualified professionals who are dedicated to providing effective instruction and performance opportunities for our students. Students take courses in their respective field, participate in the productions of the Fine Arts departments, and culminate their experience with a trip to New York City for a Carnegie Hall performance, classes, workshops, and fun. Two year tuition scholarships are available for students in the fine arts programs. At Southern Union, you can have it all!
In conjunction with the Language Arts program, the Fine Arts program hosts a tournament each year which provides opportunities for high school students to perform and compete in nine areas: poetry, art, theatre, music, dance, literature, extemporaneous speaking, cultural literacy, and composition.
If you have any questions about the fine arts programs, please contact Dean Susan Pitts spitts@suscc.edu
Under the direction of Ann Caldwell, The Southern Union Sound accompanied by the Southern Union Singers and Dancers perform before standing-room only audiences each year for their Christmas Concert and the Spring Show. After several acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, The Southern Union Sound has earned an open invitation to perform each May at the Memorial Day concert. Southern Union currently has about forty students on music scholarships. Our music students are highly sought after by the four-year schools with strong music departments. The winner of the “Nashville Star” 2005 competition is a SUSCC graduate and former member of the Southern Union Sound. Auditions for music scholarships are scheduled for March 26 and 27, 2007, at the Wadley Campus. For more information about the music department at Southern Union, contact Ann Caldwell (phone 256-395-2211 or email acaldwell@suscc.edu).
Steve Ray heads the Theater Department of Southern Union which currently produces two shows each year and gives students the opportunity to take part in every area of production. Southern Union offers a variety of courses in the theater program which provide practical experience in production and performance, including acting, sound, lighting, choreography, set design and construction, costuming, and make-up. Our growing department offers twenty theater scholarships each year, and our students have been very successful in earning scholarships to four year schools. A recent Southern Union theater student was awarded one of only three Alabama Conference of Theater scholarships offered each year. Southern Union also placed students professionally, with one 2005 graduate having recently finished her first season with The Georgia Renaissance Festival and another having signed his first major contract with MGM studios. Theater SUSCC continued its strong record of placing its graduates on scholarships in university theater programs with recent graduates attending Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, Jacksonville, State University, Troy State University, and The University of Alabama on theater scholarships. Scholarship auditions are scheduled for March 26 and 27, 2007.For more information about the theater program at Southern Union, contact Steve Ray at the Wadley Campus (phone 256-395-2211 or email sray@suscc.edu ).
Our award winning Dance program is under the direction of Sonja Fincher. The Dance program offers instruction in jazz, ballet, modern dance, and dance for the theater. Classes are taught from beginner to advanced levels with emphasis on technique and performance. Students in the dance program perform at various college functions, including a spring dance concert, musical theater productions, ball games, and music concerts.Current and former Southern Union dancers have been finalists on The Wade Robson Dance Project on MTV, the winner of Star Search on CBS, feature dancer on the New York and National Tour of Radio city’s “Christmas Spectacular,” singer/dancer for Disney and Six Flags, scholarship recipients to the University of Alabama, American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Retter Studios, Debbie Reynolds Studios, Alabama School of Fine Arts, and Dance Educators of America. A former Southern Union dancer is a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet Company in New York, and another will appear as a dancer in the upcoming movie “Hairspray.” A limited number of dance scholarships are available. Auditions for dance scholarships are scheduled for March 26 and 27, 2007. For more information about the dance program, contact Sonja McCord Fincher at the Wadley Campus (phone 256-395-2211 or email sfincher@suscc.edu).
If you would like tickets for our remaining evening performances this year or if you would like to bring a student group to one of our morning performances, contact Alecia Lockwood, email alockwood@suscc.edu or 256-395-2211.
