Where's Woods?
Where's Woods?
Looking for Lauren K. Woods Theatre? You’re in the right place!
all you need to know
department of Music and Theatre arts
Woods Theatre is home to students majoring in Music, Music with a concentration in Music Industry, Music with a concentration in Musical Theatre, or Music and Education. With a collaborative academic environment led by experienced faculty members, students in the Department of Music and Theatre Arts are well-prepared to become accomplished artists, composers, music, arts and media industry executives, producers, promoters, managers, and entrepreneurs.
Music Industry
Monmouth University’s Music Industry program focuses on industry areas including publishing, recording, marketing, talent acquisition, concert production, media relations, and merchandising. Monmouth is one of only a few schools around the country to offer a concentration in music industry, and the program is consistently recognized as a Billboard Magazine Top Music Business School. With partners and graduates across music and entertainment media organizations, such as Warner Music, Sony, Apple, Spotify, and the GRAMMY Museum, Monmouth students have exclusive access to events and internship opportunities to help launch their careers.
Musical Theatre
Students in the Musical Theatre concentration are trained in music, theatre, and dance, as well as the various forms of theatrical production and design. We prepare students to enter the professional theatre world or go on to specialized theatre graduate programs. Our unique program is the only one of its kind that teaches its students all aspects of Equity production, including in-depth study of multiple Actors’ Equity Association contracts.
Music education
Music and Education majors gain hands-on knowledge working with students during their initial field teaching experience and subsequent student teaching experience. The Department of Music and Theatre Arts takes pride in providing a personalized learning experience. This enables students to grow as music educators while they incorporate their unique backgrounds and interests into their professional training and preparation.
B.A. In Music
In the B.A. in Music, students can explore applied music study in voice, piano, woodwinds, brass, guitar, and percussion while learning from award-winning producers, musicians, vocalists, theater professionals, and music industry executives. Private, weekly instrumental or vocal instruction with a professional instructor is provided for students taking applied music throughout a semester.
Building history
Monmouth University first opened the building as the Performing Arts Center in 1967 after a unique hexagonal experimental theater was added to the carriage house by architect Jerome Morley Larson Sr., AIA of Red Bank, NJ who also remodeled the carriage house as a support facility for dance, music, and broadcast as well as theater. The hexagonal theater is capable of configuring from a theater in the round to thrust to proscenium as a teaching aid; a ribbon of windows around the upper lighting balcony allows experimenting with natural light á la Greek amphitheater; the windows feature internal venetian blinds to block 85% of the light. The theater was so successful it was used as inspiration for the Two River Theater in Red Bank.
Probably the quirkiest detail of architect Larson's design was retaining the magnificent solid brass horse stalls and converting them to makeup booths large enough to teach the art of makeup; retaining the custom mosaic tile back walls with each horse's name spelled out in tile – all topped with a carved plaster coved ceiling. On the wall opposite the stalls architect Larson installed 4x4 oak dressing cabanas low enough to reveal the charm of the ceiling moldings – preserving the ambiance of the gilded age that extended even to their horses. The manure pit became the stairwell down to stage level and up to the second floor.
In the front lobby, Larson installed a public stair to the second level, removing several heavy timber joists which he sent for structural testing – they tested twice the strength of select structural grade so no reinforcement for assembly use was needed.
In 1978 the theatre was renamed the Guggenheim Theatre. It was later renamed the Lauren K. Woods Theatre after a Monmouth facility member.The property was remodeled in 2007, destroying the curved brick arches and tile murals architect Larson had created for the theater-goer to transition from gilded age carriage house center hall to modern theater.
Blue Hawk Records
Monmouth’s student-run record label Blue Hawk Records takes students through the process of creating an album from idea conception to finished product. Participants learn to brand artists, execute marketing strategies, and coordinate live events. Club members also have the opportunity to record music at nearby Lakehouse Recording Studios in Asbury Park.
MU Players
MU Players is Monmouth’s premier student-run theatre club in which members direct, design, and perform a full season of events each year, with a fully staged musical production presented in the spring semester. Recent shows include sold-out runs of RENT, The Addams Family, and Sweeney Todd, as well as a production of Cabaret for a Cause.