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 Steve Spratlin sspratlin@suscc.edu
The Southern Union Sound - accompanied by the Southern Union Singers and Dancers - have performed before standing-room only audiences for their annual Christmas and Spring Shows. Recently, the winner of the "Nashville Star" 2005 competition was a SUSCC graduate and former member of the Southern Union Sound. Additionally, the choir has enjoyed multiple bi-annual Memorial Day weekend invitations to perform John Rutter's REQUIEM under the composer's baton. Southern Union Sound will once again return to New York's famed Carnegie Hall in May, 2009. Feature work for this master chorale performance - under Rutter's direction - will be Johannes Brahms' landmark requiem - Ein Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem). Under the leadership of Dr. Michael Marcades, newly appointed Director of Music, the choir has already received two prestigious international performance invitations including the 2009 International Haydn Festival, Vienna, Austria (Summer 2009) and an upcoming choral festival performance in Beijing, China (Summer 2010). SU offers 38 students a music scholarship. For more information about the music department at Southern Union, contact Dr. Michael Marcades (phone 256-395-2211 or email mmarcades@suscc.edu).
The Theatre 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 theatre 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 seventeen theatre scholarships each year, and our students have been very successful in earning scholarships to four year schools. A recent Southern Union theatre student was awarded one of only three Alabama Conference of theatre 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. theatre SUSCC continued its strong record of placing its graduates on scholarships in university theatre programs with recent graduates attending Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, Jacksonville, State University, Troy State University, and The University of Alabama on theatre scholarships. For more information about the theatre program at Southern Union, contact Michael Williams at the Wadley Campus (phone 256-395-2211 or email mwilliams@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 theatre. 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 theatre 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 theatre, 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.” SU offers 17 dance scholarships. 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.
