Raising the Curtain

Sacred Heart launches the School of Performing Arts (SoPA), giving students a home where live entertainment and scholarship thrive.

From the fall 2025 issue of Sacred Heart University Magazine

Key Highlights

• Sacred Heart University has created the School of Performing Arts (SoPA) to unify academic programs in theatre and music with student life ensembles, creating one coordinated ecosystem for over 1,000 student performers each year
• Led by founding associate dean Charles A. Gillespie, SoPA strengthens collaboration across theatre, music, dance, ritual and scholarship, ensuring academic learning and performance work grow together
• The school formalizes shared planning, links coursework with productions, supports the development of new programs and minors and expands professional partnerships—from Broadway to international festivals
• SoPA highlights the irreplaceable human qualities of live performance in an age of AI-generated art, emphasizing creativity, embodiment, community and emotional resonance

The hush before a spotlight, the swell of music, the leap of a dancer, the rise of voices, the command of actors—this is the spirit of Sacred Heart. The new School of Performing Arts (SoPA—pronounced “so-pah”) creates a shared stage for students across disciplines, a home that elevates artistry as an essential part of the Pioneer Journey.

At Sacred Heart University, more than 1,000 students sing, play, dance and act each year in ensembles, mainstage productions and liturgical music. Much of that work has lived in two worlds: academic programs in theatre and music on one side, student life ensembles and productions on the other. SoPA pulls those programs into one intentional ecosystem designed to collaborate, create and lift student work to new heights.

Charles A. Gillespie, SoPA’s founding associate dean, built upon the University’s strengths in academics, theatre, ritual, music, choral and dance. At the School of Performing Arts, artistry and scholarship can flourish side by side.

“By bringing together the School of Performing Arts, we can generate things greater than the sum of their parts,” says Gillespie, who is also associate professor of Catholic studies and performing arts and director of the Pioneer Journey. “Imagine a class where the final project is stepping into a show or a production that sparks four years’ worth of conversations across the liberal arts. That’s what this school makes possible—and why it’s a dream to help build.”

The school formalizes coordination among programs across academic departments and student life. Faculty, staff and students will now have clear structures for working together, making it easier to link coursework with productions, plan shared seasons and develop new minors and combined programs. The school also provides a framework for professional partnerships, from Broadway to international festivals, giving students more consistent access to rigorous arts opportunities that extend beyond campus.

In an age when artificial intelligence can compose a sonnet or generate a melody in seconds, Gillespie says, the performing arts remind us of what only humans can create together. “Generative AI can write a scene or a song, but it can’t make my heart reverberate the way it does when a cello comes alive in the hands of a student on stage,” he says. Performance is embodied, communal and alive—an incarnational experience that no algorithm can replicate.

Denise Tiberio, dean of students, and Mark A. Beekey, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, coordinated closely to unite the academic and student life programs.

“This exciting step reflects SHU’s deep and ongoing commitment to the arts and represents a collaborative partnership between academic affairs and student affairs—one that will enhance both the educational and co-curricular experiences of our students,” Tiberio says.

Beekey explains the structure of the new school. “Rather than adopt a conservatory model, SoPA will integrate performance into the intellectual and civic fabric of the University, showing how artistic practice and human creativity foster empathy, resilience and the pursuit of truth,” he says.

Every student, regardless of major, can engage with the School of Performing Arts. The nursing major who is passionate about dance, the finance major who loves to play the trumpet and the exercise science major who sings gospel are all essential to the heartbeat of SoPA. The performing arts are for everyone at Sacred Heart.

“I’m most excited about the interdisciplinary possibilities that come with the new school,” says Rachel Bauer, associate director for academic affairs of SoPA and assistant professor of theatre arts. “I’m looking forward to the many collaborations between theatre, music and dance that will be made possible by a more connected group of students across the performing arts.”

Adds Gerald Goehring, artistic director of SoPA and director of performing arts: “The School of Performing Arts gives our students more than a stage. It gives them opportunities to collaborate, create and grow. By connecting coursework, productions and professional partnerships, SoPA ensures that our students graduate not only as strong performers, but as adaptable, creative leaders.”

SHU’s Theatre Arts program is ranked among the top 15 in the nation by The Princeton Review for “Best College Theatre,” where creativity, talent and passion take center stage. That recognition, paired with the creation of the School of Performing Arts, solidifies the University’s commitment to expanding opportunities for students to view their passion for live performance as essential to their college experience.

Sacred Heart’s performing arts students will continue to exchange art and culture across Europe and the United Kingdom. Students in the theatre arts program have been performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland since 2023. Members of the liturgical choir regularly perform in Rome. Every other year, the band and orchestra tour internationally; past performances have included tours in Ireland, Italy, Iceland, Austria, Denmark and Norway.

The School of Performing Arts is more than a new academic unit—it is a promise to SHU students that their creativity matters. Whether singing in Rome, acting in Scotland, playing trumpet in Dingle or dancing in the Edgerton Center, every performer is part of a community that values artistry as scholarship and passion as purpose. By giving students the tools, spaces and mentors to grow, SoPA ensures that live performance will remain central to the Pioneer Journey.