Whitworth Theatre offers students the chance to know themselves better by reaching beyond personal experience to portray characters from all walks of life. Students are encouraged to learn theory and to develop performance skills at the same time – from stagecraft to character, from classroom to packed house.

Whitworth's talented theatre faculty stimulate creativity and discipline through beginning and advanced acting, dance, improvisation, mime, performance theory and practice, directing, theatre history, voice and movement; a parallel emphasis on stagecraft ensures that staging, lighting and makeup all play "speaking parts" in each production.

The department features two annual main-stage productions, the Festival of One-Acts, touring theatre performances, solo theatre, a musical every other year (in collaboration with the music department), and performances in the Speakers and Artists Program, chapel services, and Core classes.