Major in Performing Arts
Study theatre, piano or voice • Apply practical skills • Shine on stage
John Brown University
2000 W. University St.,
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
479-524-9500
jbuinfo@jbu.edu
What are you looking for?
Study theatre, piano or voice • Apply practical skills • Shine on stage
In JBU's performing arts major, you will be equipped to become a meaningful partner in God’s redemptive story through the arts. You'll apply practical and creative skills to nurture and serve your community in the areas of technical production, performance, and arts education and advocacy.
Start your applicationYou'll learn from leading scholars and industry experts, practice together and compete with peers across America.
You'll minister through music performance, collaborative creative projects, award-winning plays and musical theatre.
You'll choose from concentrations in theatre, piano or voice. Each concentration also includes both the music & theatre core and performing arts core.
You'll have ample opportunity to practice your craft in our stage productions, multiple student ensemble concerts, recitals, and presentations - including groups that tour and compete every semester.
Your classes will dive into the theoretical, technical, and creative skills that you need to succeed in the arts and in life.
Performing arts students learn to be innovative, solutions-oriented, creative leaders and collaborators, preparing them to succeed in many career paths.
Through the theatre concentration, you'll sharpen skills and be able to pursue the careers of actor, director, technical director, stage manager or production designer.
Careers for students in the voice concentration include singer, conductor, composer, vocal coach or music educator.
Through the piano concentration, you'll be able to work as a music director, conductor, composer, collaborative pianist or music educator.
An award-winning director, scenic designer, actor, and stage combatant, Josiah received his undergraduate degree in theatre from Seattle Pacific University, a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing from Baylor University, and is a certified actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. He studied commedia del’arte performance and mask making at the Scuola Internazionale Dell’Attore Comico in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and worked professionally as the Director of Outreach for five years at Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle, Washington. Josiah grew up as a missionary kid in Japan, and before joining the faculty at JBU he spent six years teaching, directing, and designing at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.
Associate Professor of Speech and Theatre
Liesl M. Dromi, lyric coloratura soprano, holds a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from Belmont University and a Bachelor of Arts in Music (vocal performance) from John Brown University.
Dromi studied voice with Dr. Kristi Whitten, Paul Smith and Dr. Yvonne Dechance. She studied vocal pedagogy and voice science with Dr. Jennifer Coleman (Belmont University) and Jennifer Muckala, M.A., CCC-SLP (Vanderbilt Voice Center). Additionally, she has completed and received certification in Somatic Voicework™: The LoVetri Method, the contemporary vocal pedagogy method developed by master teacher Jeannette LoVetri.
As a voice educator, Dromi has over 10 years of experience training singers of all ages and backgrounds in classical, musical theatre, and commercial music styles. She has been on the faculty at John Brown University since 2014, where she enjoys teaching a robust applied voice studio, diction, vocal pedagogy, commercial voice, and musical theatre workshop. Dromi’s voice students are regularly finalists in regional and national competitions.
Chair, Department of Music & Theatre, Associate Professor of Music (voice)
Lisa Auten is an active pianist, teacher, and music director who has performed with the University of Arkansas Music Department, the UArk Schola Cantorum; TheatreSquared; Arkansas Public Theatre; Bentonville High School Choral Department; Fayetteville High School Choral Department; the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA), and the SoNA Singers. Throughout her career, she has performed in Los Angeles, Orlando, New York (Carnegie Hall: 2007 and 2023), Belgium, Russia, and Thailand. She has accompanied numerous performances at All-Region, All-State, Southwestern Division of American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA), and national American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) concerts. Additionally, she served as Collaborative Pianist Chairperson for the SWACDA Regional Convention in 2020, and again at the SWACDA conference in Denver in 2024.
She is an active member of both ACDA and the National Association for Music Education. Peer-reviewed academic journal Choral Journal June/July 2023 (Vol. 62, No. 9) writes, “Pianist Lisa Auten expertly handles this idiom, finding just the right weight and touch to make the keyboard seem windswept in accordance with the lyrics” in its review of Wander-Thirst: The Choral Music of Florence Price (Hill Records 2023:25:40) As a musical theatre director/conductor, she has led close to 60 musical productions, in high school, college, community, and Equity theatres.
Auten joined the faculty of John Brown University in 2022 as an Assistant Professor of Music. She brings her passion for music education, piano performance, and musical theatre to her students. She enjoys teaching Applied Piano, Orchestration, and the Keyboard Musicianship cycle, as well as music directing and conducting JBUMT’s Musical Theatre productions. Auten holds both a Master of Music in collaborative piano and a Bachelor of Science in music education from the University of Arkansas
Assistant Professor of Music (piano), Music Education Program Coordinator
Equip yourself for a successful career and a life of purpose.
JBU does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, military status, or age in the administration of its educational policies, admissions, financial aid, employment, educational programs, or activities.
John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked university (The Wall Street Journal) and top-ranked regional university (U.S. News), JBU enrolls more than 2,200 students from 37 states and 42 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers more than 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including nursing, psychology, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Eighteen graduate degrees are available in business, counseling, cybersecurity, and education.