<p>OK, maybe I overstated the case about Reed and no doubt things have changed in the eons since I attended. Reed has outstanding academics and does a great job of preparing students to excel in whatever they want to do (assuming they don’t drop out). But the op asked about small schools with top theater programs. Some schools manage to straddle this line more successfully than others, and several have been suggested here. To the best of my knowledge, Reed is not one of them.</p>