Download January, 2012 Dear Resident Ensemble Candidate

January, 2012
Dear Resident Ensemble Candidate,
Thank you for your interest in the LSU Department of Theatre’s M.F.A. Acting Program,
a two-year residential program affiliated with Swine Palace, the department’s
professional Equity Theatre.
In order to be considered for this prestigious program, you must first apply online to the
LSU Graduate School: http://appl003.lsu.edu/grad/gradschool.nsf/index
In addition, we request that you return the attached application, a photo/resume and your
Statement of Purpose to:
Nick Erickson
Associate Head, M.F.A. Acting Program
Department of Theatre
Louisiana State University
105 Music and Dramatic Arts Building
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
[email protected]
(225) 578-4331
If you have any questions regarding our program or the application process, please do not
hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
George Judy
Head, M.F.A. Acting Program
THE MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN THEATRE/ ACTING
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
The Louisiana State University invites auditions for our Master of Fine Arts in Acting. Ten
extraordinary artists will be chosen to form the Swine Palace Resident Ensemble in 2013.
MFA Candidates will:
Experience world class training in physical theatre, voice and acting
Create significant roles in two full seasons with our Equity Theatre
Complete a terminal degree in six challenging semesters over two years
Perform and train with distinguished faculty and guest professional artists
Develop in-demand skills in teaching, producing, creating, and marketing
Explore fresh approaches to classics as well as devise original theatre texts.
Every two years ten exceptional actors are invited into our program based on artistic
potential, demonstrated ability and skill, vocal/physical range, and a passionate desire to
work as a collaborative ensemble engaged in the creative process. Actors grow into artists
when their mastery of practical performance skills come together with an original, specific
and personal point of view that reveals theatrical truth about themselves and the world we all
inhabit. Candidates are encouraged to practice theatre as a collaborative and communal art,
looking for parallels to and connections with the work of the entire artistic team as well as the
audience/community in the exploration of fresh approaches to classic dramatic texts and the
development of significant new works.
What we strive for, as faculty and directors, is to design a process that allows your work to
grow from a natural and honest base that embraces a sense of freedom and individuality. We
believe that our approach will enable actors, through training and throughout their life in the
theatre, to transform their unique sense of self into a range of compelling characters and
discover genuine theatrical life moment-to-moment within the imaginary world of the play,
no matter the style, the culture, or the medium. Our training will strive to empower actors to
reveal in the most personal, specific and expressive manner, the human condition. That
revelation is what makes our work enduring and necessary for both artists and audiences.
MISSION
The M.F.A. in Theatre (Acting) at the Louisiana State University is an intensive,
conservatory-style program designed to prepare actor/artists for careers in professional
theatre, television, film and allied professions with emphasis on fresh approaches to
classical performance and the creation of original dramatic works in a variety of
mediums. Our goal is to foster expressive, informed, articulate, and daring actor-artists.
Combining a six continuous semester sequence of acting classes with extensive voice and
physical training, as well as practical exploration as teaching artists, candidates will combine
rigorous training with performance opportunities at Swine Palace, our professional theatre.
All classes are held in the newly renovated Music and Dramatic Arts (M&DA) building in
state of the art rehearsal and teaching spaces. The M&DA complex also houses the beautiful
art-deco proscenium Shaver Theatre and a flexible black box Studio Theatre. Those spaces
along with the Reilly Theatre, a larger flexible space, are all used in our Swine Palace season
and offer an opportunity to play in a variety of theatre configurations. The M.F.A. class
constitutes the core of the professional company, works with accomplished guest artists, and
for those not already Equity members, earns membership points in Actors’ Equity
Association (AEA). While our program is theatre focused, MFA candidates get fundamental
training in a variety of mediums and many students have chosen to remain in the region after
graduation and work in the exploding Louisiana film industry. As a Right-to-Work state,
Louisiana has become number one in the nation for film production outside of Los Angeles
and New York.
CURRICULUM
Acting Studio
The acting component of the program will integrate fully with vocal and physical
training to discover the unique and authentic artist in each M.F.A. candidate.
Your first training sequence will focus on intensive work in exploring the actor’s sense
of “self,” and developing the basic tools to bring specific and personal truth to life within
the imaginary circumstances of a play. Drawing on the foundational discoveries of
Stanislavski, and influenced by the work of Meisner, Michael Chekhov, and other
masters, we will seek to design a process together that consistently allows the discovery
of truth that is compelling, exciting and theatrical. The fundamental work areas include:
Freedom and Release, Identity, Place, Relationship, Given Circumstances,
Objective/Goal, Obstacle/Conflict, Tactics/Communication, Importance/Point of View,
Event, and Preparation. Special emphasis will be placed on developing new work and
exploring cutting-edge contemporary authors as well as modern masters such as
Chekhov, Ibsen, and Williams.
Your second training sequence will build on our discovery of fundamental theatrical
truth to explore rehearsal tools and performance demands in playing classical texts
through the Greeks (Sophocles…), Commedia Dell-Arte, Elizabethan/Jacobean
(Shakespeare…), Neoclassic (Moliere…), Restoration and following
(Congreve…Sheridan), to the Late Victorian/Edwardian (Wilde…Shaw) eras. Our
exploration will focus on traditional approaches to the classical repertoire, but also on
innovative approaches that can make these texts fresh and alive for contemporary actors
and audiences.
Your final training sequence allows the actor to focus more fully on Swine Palace with
the expectation of significant professional roles. Production responsibilities will be
supplemented with classes to prepare for transition into the profession: on-camera and
multi-media applications of acting technique, cold readings, commercial audition and
interview technique, professional issues seminars and preparation of an audition portfolio
using computer technology and resources. Students will complete a M.F.A. thesis
project, and have the opportunity to audition for professional casting agents and directors.
Our core curriculum is supplemented by workshops and production opportunities with a
wide range of significant professional artists and scholars from theatre, film/TV, musical
theatre, and multi-media performance. Recent resident guests include: Actors Theatre of
Louisville, Adam Rapp, Deb Alley, Jim Sullivan, Roger Rees, Ping Chong, Anne Bogart,
and Tina Packer among many others.
Movement Studio
The movement component of training emphasizes:
The Diagnostic Body. An intensive examination of the habits of physical use of
the body through principles of T’ai Chi, Alexander Technique, Yoga, and Sports
Fitness. Exercises are used that point to habits of use in pedestrian, everyday
movements and how they can be addressed through conscious awareness and
physical techniques for correction, release, and ease. Etudes used to enhance the
application to performance.
The Expressive Body. Neutral, Character, and Commedia Masks used to enhance
the actor’s awareness of body language and non-verbal communication. To
expand the actor’s approaches to character through external physical choices.
Techniques include Laban and Meyerhold. Etudes used to enhance the application
to performance.
The Combative Body. Basic stage combat in unarmed and rapier. Foundation in
conditioning through stretching and tumbling with rolls, dives and falls. Scene
presentations used to apply techniques to performance.
The Inventive Body. Physical approaches to the creative impulse in interpretive
and generative work. Techniques used include Sound & Movement, Viewpoints,
Contact Improvisation, Lecoq and Authentic Movement. Etudes used to apply
techniques to individual approaches to the creation of new work.
The Athletic Body. This class focuses on the actor’s need to stay physically fit
and active as they approach the free-lance world beyond conservatory training.
Various warm ups will be used. Exercises that tax the body in flexibility,
endurance and strength while staying within the world of the theatrical.
Improvisations and etudes used to focus the work on performance.
Voice and Speech Studio
The Voice and Speech program focuses on the components of effective vocal technique,
particularly in relation to finding adequate breath support via dissipation of physical and
vocal tension. While utilizing the work of Catherine Fitzmaurice, Patsy Rodenburg, and
Chuck Jones, students will assess their own habitual voice use and professional vocal
choices. The first training sequence will emphasize a heightened awareness of one’s
own vocal and physical instrument, in order to address common habits and tendencies
that get in the way of fully inhabiting character. During this year, the speech component
of the program includes the learning and application of the International Phonetic
Alphabet, as well as an exploration of one’s own personal articulation challenges.
The second training sequence includes advanced explorations in extreme voice use via
Greek and Shakespearean text, as well as the integration of dialect work into extreme
characterization and comedic material.
The final training sequence will continue with dialect and character voice in order to
support an extensive exploration of Voice Over, resulting in a voice demo. In addition,
students are offered the opportunity to lead vocal work and may be selected to train to
teach introductory level voice.
CORE FACULTY:
George Judy (Professor, Head of M.F.A. Acting and Artistic Director of Swine Palace)
George is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, Society of Directors and
Choreographers and the Dramatist’s Guild. His credits as an actor, writer, director and educator include
work with the Royal National Theatre Studio, London, The Asolo Theatre, Kentucky Shakespeare
Festival, Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Illinois Shakespeare Festival and twelve seasons with the Tony
award winning Utah Shakespearean Festival where he performed such favorite roles as Bottom in A
Midsummer Night's Dream, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, and Polonius in Hamlet and was producer
and director for USF’s Plays in Progress, which develops important new works and playwrights for the
American theatre . Most recent credits include Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Richelieu in
The Three Musketeers and Alonso in The Tempest at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival under the
direction of Deb Alley and the title role in KING LEAR for Swine Palace. His many regional credits
include musical roles such as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Joe in
Damn Yankees, Frederik in A Little Night Music, and Mack the Knife in Three Penny Opera as well as
a stint as a Singing Ringmaster with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey. Professor Judy taught for
more than twenty years at Florida State University before coming to LSU and his students are currently
appearing on Broadway, at regional theatres across the country and in the film and television industry.
Undergraduate students who studied with Professor Judy have been accepted into graduate programs at
Julliard, Yale, NYU, Rutgers, Penn State, The Professional Theatre Training Program at the University
of Delaware and many other fine conservatory programs across the country. He has been honored with
a number of University Teaching Awards and is a charter member of the President’s Council for
Excellence in College Teaching. His adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, published by Pioneer Drama,
has been anthologized and performed across the country and he is currently completing a new book,
Designing Life: A Practical Approach to Acting and Living. His highly praised adaptation of Ibsen’s A
Doll’s House as well as a new musical version of Shakespeare’s Loves Labours Lost have premiered on
the Swine Palace stage where he also has directed most recently August: Osage County and a new
stage version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Nick Erickson (Assistant Professor, Stage Movement; Associate Head, M.F.A. Acting)
Nick received his B.A. at the University of Washington and his M.F.A. at CalArts. A professional
actor in over fifty plays, films, and TV appearances, Mr. Erickson performed at such places as the
Intiman and Empty Space Theatres in Seattle, at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival. At Swine Palace, Nick has performed in King Lear, The Metamorphoses, Macbeth,
The Exonerated, and You Can’t Take It With You. In film, he starred in the Taiwanese feature film
Mahjong by the filmmaker Edward Yang. He has also been seen in G.I.Joe2, K-Ville, Death Toll,
Hood Hostages, Torn Apart, A Perfect Day, The Staircase, and College. For seven years, Professor
Erickson was a founding member of Diavolo Dance Theatre and has co-choreographed and performed
in all of the company’s pieces on three national tours, abroad, and on national television. As a
Movement coach/Choreographer/Stunt Coordinator, Mr. Erickson has worked for Shakespeare
Festival/ LA, the Los Angeles Opera, the Indiana Rep, Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles,
Occidental Children’s Theatre, and for the films The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond and Brightness
among others. He was Maintenance Choreographer for Disney’s California Adventure Park.
Throughout the 90s, Erickson taught Stage Movement at CalArts and Occidental College in Los
Angeles. Mr. Erickson takes a student generated physical theatre production as an Academic Program
Abroad to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every other year since 2008.
Joanna Battles (Assistant Professor; Voice, Speech and Acting)
Joanna is a professional actor and director, as well as a voice, speech and dialect
coach for theatre and film. She is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, as well as a
practitioner of Chuck Jones Vocal Production. At Louisiana State University, Joanna serves as the CoHead of the Undergraduate program of Theatre; teaches Voice, Speech & Acting classes in the MFA
and Undergraduate Acting programs; and is the professional Vocal Coach on staff at Swine Palace
Productions. In addition to her work at Swine Palace, Joanna has worked as a Voice and Text coach at
several Louisiana professional theatres, including, Tulane Shakespeare Festival, and Southern
Repertory Co. Most recently, Joanna served as the dialect coach on the Lionsgate film, The
Haunting In Georgia. At Swine Palace, Joanna directed the regional premiere of Adam Rapp's play,
The Metal Children, as well as Carson Kreitzer's, Self Defense,Or death of some salesmen. On the LSU
main stage, Joanna directed the new play, Shapeshifter, and Wedekind's, Spring Awakening. Before
relocating to Louisiana in '08, Joanna was a faculty member and/or presented workshops at New York
University, Playwright's Horizons Theatre School, Brooklyn College, Brown/Trinity Consortium, and
Stonesoup Theatre Company. As a stage actor, favorite credits include: On the Verge (Public Stage);
The Long Christmas Ride Home, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V (Trinity Repertory Company); Twelfth
Night (Perishable Theatre); Sylvia (American Heartland Theatre); Departure (Irish Arts Center); Two
Gentlemen of Verona (Trinity Summer Shakespeare); and Courting Vampires (McCormick
Theatre at Brown University). Joanna holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Brown/Trinity Consortium,
and a B.F.A. in Acting from Tisch School of the Arts, at New York University.
Richard Holden (Associate Professor, Acting and Directing; Film/TV)
Rick comes to LSU after many years as a working professional actor, director and teacher. As an actor
Rick has made scores of appearances on stage, television, and film. He was a member of the
Broadway company/ national tour of Glengarry Glen Ross. Regional theatre credits include Hoagy,
Bix and Bunkhaus, A Tale Told and Beatific Poets at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and
Joined at the Head and Down an Alley Filled With Cats at the Pasadena Playhouse. He was one of
only two American actors to tour in a live, improv show with the Monty Python British comedy troupe.
Other roles include Lennox in Macbeth, Sebastian in Twelfth Night, King Phillip in Lion in Winter,
Wilbur Larch in The Cider House Rules, and Charles Bukowski in Love, Bukowski. His many film and
television credits include The Grifters (John Cusack, Annette Benning), Little Nikita (Sydney Poitier),
and scores of television guest starring and recurring roles including Boston Public, LA Law, The
Practice, as well as a recurring role on 24. Rick taught a professional acting class in Los Angeles for
years as well as acting and critical studies at California State University Long Beach, acting and
directing at Loyola University New Orleans and the University of Arkansas, and acting at El Camino
College. He holds a BS in Comm Arts/Theatre from Xavier University and an M.F.A. in Acting and
Directing from California State University Long Beach.
Molly Buchmann (Professional-in-Residence; Head of Dance)
Molly is co-artistic director of the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre (BRBT), an Honor Company in
Regional Dance America Southwest.Her choreography for BRBT includes works in both classical and
modern idioms and she has choreographed over 50 musicals for professional, community, and
university theatres. Her original ballets for both San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet and BRBT have
been selected for gala performances of Regional Dance America Southwest. She has served the
Louisiana State Department of Education as a professional clinician for dance instructors across the
state and as a contributor to Dance and Fine Arts Survey Curriculum Guides. Her training in New
York has included the Vaganova Teacher's Course in Classical Ballet and she has studied and
performed with ProDanza Italia in Toscano, Italy. She has received an Artist Fellowship in
choreography from the State of Louisiana, the Mayor-President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts,
and an LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching. She has
helped train many dance students who have gone on to dance on Broadway and in major modern dance
and ballet companies.
Kristin Sosnowsky (Associate Professor; Chair, Department of Theatre, Arts Administration; Managing
Director -- Swine Palace)
Kristin joined Swine Palace Productions and Louisiana State University in June 2001, after three years
as Executive Director of Brandywine Ballet Company, a regional ballet ensemble located in West
Chester, Pennsylvania. While at Brandywine Ballet, Ms. Sosnowsky collaborated with internationally
renowned choreographer Eddy Toussaint and Artistic Director Donna L. Muzio to create Brandywine
Ballet Theatre and a Certificate in Ballet Program with West Chester University of Pennsylvania. In
1997, Ms. Sosnowsky received her Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Yale School of Drama, where
she served as Associate Managing Director and Assistant Director of Development for the Yale
Repertory Theatre. In addition, Ms. Sosnowsky worked with the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania Stage Company in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Karli Henderson (Resident Equity Stage Manager)
Karli has been Swine Palace’s resident Stage Manager for the last six years. She took a brief leave
from Louisiana to study at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she received her M.F.A. in
Theatre Technology. Previous credits include work with the Missouri Repertory Theatre, The New
Theatre Restaurant, The Seem-to-be-Players, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.
John Fletcher (Assistant Professor, Theatre History, Theory, and Criticism)
John holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota. His research interests
include community-based theatre, theatre for social change, democratic theory, religion, queer theory,
and Spanish Golden Age drama. Dr. Fletcher teaches undergraduate classes in theatre history and
literature as well as PhD seminars in historiography and gender/queer theory. He regularly participates
in national and international conferences such as the American Society for Theatre Research and
Performance Studies International. His published work includes articles in Theatre Topics, Laberinto,
Theatre Survey, and the anthology Querying Difference in Theatre History. Currently he serves as cocoordinator of the Theatre History symposium for the 2008 Mid-America Theatre Conference, and he
chairs the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in
Higher Education. His production credits include directing (Crisis Point Theatre in Minneapolis),
dramaturgy (Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles), and acting (LSU Studio Theatre).
Visiting Faculty and Guest Artists
Deb Alley
Doris Baizley
Anne Bogart
Chris Boneau
Ben Cameron
Artistic Director, Illinois Shakespeare Festival
playwright (Shiloh Rules, A Christmas Carol, Glass
Mountain,GUNS, Catholic Girls)
Artistic Director, SITI Company
Boneau/Bryan-Brown Theatrical Press Agency, New York
Executive Producing Director, Theatre Communications
Group
Performance Artist
Associate Artistic Director, Actors Theatre of Louisville
Stage and Film Actress
Ping Chong
Sean Daniels
Olympia Dukakis
Dah Theatre, Belgrade
Dale Girard
Fight Master, SAFD
Spalding Gray
Performance Artist; Actor
John Guare
Playwright
Danny Hoche
Performance Artist
Roald Hoffman
Nobel Prize-winning playwright
Holly Hughes
Performance Artist
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Geoffrey Kent
Fight Director, SAFD
Jennifer Martin
Period Movement Director, UMKC
Ed Morgan
Former Associate Artistic Director, Milwaukee Repertory
Theater
Arthur Oliver
Costume Designer, Shakespeare and Company
Guillermo Gómez-Peña,
Performance Artist
Pilobolus Dance Theatre
Michael Rafter
Broadway musical director
Adam Rapp
Internationally acclaimed playwright
Roger Rees
International stage and screen star; Director/Producer
Paul Russell
National Casting Director, Director/Producer
Wade Russo
Broadway musical director
Jim Sullivan
Artistic Director, Pearl Theatre, NYC
Debra Stein
Director/Playwright
Actors Theatre of Louisville
Resident artists November, 2009, 2010
Doug Varone Dance Company, 2009
Notes on Auditions
Please prepare two monologues, one contemporary and one classical (preferably verse),each no
more than two minutes in length. Both selections should offer us a look at your acting range as it
is now. They should be selected with contrasts in mind: differences in tone (humorous or
serious), language, style, and character. Avoid “stretch” characterizations such as old age, heavy
dialects, and so on. We want to see you, clearly and honestly in material with which you have a
vivid connection. We might ask you to take some adjustments to incorporate into your
monologues. We also advise you to have a third audition piece available in the event that we need
to see more of your range.
Also, please prepare a song that you can sing without accompaniment. Choose something well
within your range that reveals something about yourself, and that you take pleasure in sharing
with us. Please sing even if don’t think of yourself as a singer! Just for fun!
Afterwards, we may wish to ask you some questions about your career and training goals and
give you an opportunity to ask us questions as well.
Statement of Purpose
In about 500-words, please state why you are applying to LSU, what you expect the experience to
be like, and what you would like to accomplish. In addition, please tell us something about you
(i.e., your life, how you get along with people in and out of the theatre? What are your likes,
dislikes (in theatre, literature, music, food, etc.).
We do not want a psychological profile. We do not want to invade your privacy. Look at it this
way: if admitted to our intense acting program your teachers will get to know you (and you
them). The work is personal by nature. As such, we would like you to express now, in your own
way, what we should know about you. This will help us consider your audition work more
carefully.
Your essay will be held in strict confidence; it will be read only by the program head and
designated faculty.
LSU Department of Theatre Supplemental Application
M.F.A. in Theatre (Acting)
Name:________________________________________________________
Current Address:______________________________________________________
Street
_____________________________________________________________
City
State
Zip
Telephone: (
Cell: (
)_________-__________
)_________-__________
Email:________________________
Permanent Address:______________________________________________________
Street
_____________________________________________________________
City
State
Zip
List all Colleges and University Training Programs Attended -- degree(s) awarded and date(s):
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Honors, Awards, Academic Distinction:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Date of Birth:
_____________________________________________________________
In addition to your online application and your audition, we require three letters of
recommendation, copies of official transcripts (from all institutions you’ve attended), a
photo/resume and your statement of purpose. Please mail to: Nick Erickson, Department of
Theatre, Louisiana State University, 105 Music and Dramatic Arts Building, Baton Rouge, LA
70803
Audition Sites (Please choose one):
SETC fall auditions, 2012
URTA: Chicago, IL, 2013
Louisiana State University: Baton Rouge, LA –by appointment before February 1, 2013
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE M.F.A. Degree in Theatre (Acting)
Requirements for admission to the acting program include an undergraduate degree, 3.0
GPA (in last two years of undergraduate study), three letters of recommendation, and an
audition/interview. GRE scores are not required for admission. The University pays all
tuition and awards graduate assistantships to ten M.F.A. candidates, a total compensation
package in excess of 40,000 dollars (including a 15,000 dollar assistantship) for each year in
residence. Two places in each class are held open for candidates who qualify and choose to
pay their own tuition and expenses. The total resident ensemble is never more than twelve
artists.
Specific requirements for completion of degree:
1.
Two consecutive years of residency; six semesters
2.
71 graduate credit hours exclusive of thesis credit
3.
Minimum of six credit hours in THTR 8000 (thesis research)
4.
M.F.A. Thesis Project and Paper
Teaching
Generally all candidates after their first summer have the opportunity to teach Introduction to
Acting THTR 1025 (undergraduate). Teaching will allow you to articulate and strengthen
your own acting process as you communicate it to others. All teaching is supervised and
mentored by the faculty. Exceptional students may also train to teach first level classes in
voice and movement.
Assistantship
All candidates will be allocated hours (typically 10 per week) working in support of the
program in a variety of areas, including marketing and management, production, design, and
technology as well as teaching. This is a requirement of your assistantship and offers
opportunities to learn practical skills that will serve you in your work and to gain appreciation
for theatre as a collaborative art, craft and business. We encourage the resident ensemble to
think of Swine Palace as their own theatre and learn what it takes to create and produce your
own season.
Thesis Project
All candidates will complete a Thesis project and paper, typically focused on the preparation,
rehearsal and performance of a significant role. The thesis project is most typically an
original solo performance (30-40 minutes) devised and performed by the candidate as a
showcase which could be produced professionally in a variety of venues.
Criteria for Student Assessment:
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Attention to the Instructors and to the work.
Ability to test personal limits as defined by instructors.
Adaptive and flexible to the changing demands of the work in class, rehearsal, performance
and assistantship assignments.
Endurance to maintain commitment to exercises and tasks assigned in or for class,
rehearsal and performance, including assistantship assignments.
Ability to remain open, free, and flexible physically, vocally, and imaginatively in class,
rehearsal and performance; open to testing your boundaries as identified by instructors and
directors.
Creative Passion, Participation and Preparation; abandoning self-consciousness and selfcenteredness as defined by instructors and Directors in commitment to the work.
Ability to arrive on-time and prepared for class, rehearsal, performance and assistantship
duties.
Openness and receptiveness to instructor/director feedback and assignments.
Demonstration of a growing ability to constructively self-assess your work, conduct, and
obstacles in class, rehearsal, and performance.
Demonstration of a growing ability to work with attention to detail and specificity in your
moment-to-moment acting work in class rehearsal and performance to create a convincing
emotional life and truthful characterization.
Willingness and ability to address and overcome problems with your acting or
professionalism as defined by your Instructors and Director.
Demonstration of a growing ability to transform your physical, vocal, and imaginative life
to adapt to the sometimes unpredictable changing assignments and demands of class,
rehearsal and performance.
Demonstration of emotional, mental, and physical reliability and consistency in your work,
conduct, and behavior in class, rehearsal and performance.
Proactively and respectfully discussing any problems, issues, complaints, or concerns with
your Director or other MFA faculty members about your work, the curriculum,
assignments, projects, casting, productions, and any other issue directly affecting positive
progress in the program.
M.F.A. Faculty will:
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Respect the students, individually and as an ensemble.
Be attentive to the concerns of the students and to the work.
Lead the students to reach or exceed their personal limits.
Adaptive and flexible in changing the course of classes as needed to most benefit
students’ work or progress while giving students enough advance notice to prepare
and adjust effectively.
Monitor the length of exercises and tasks designed to enhance or increase the
students’ endurance both physically and mentally without injury or undue duress.
Support a safe and creative environment for students to remain open, free, and
flexible physically, vocally, and imaginatively in class, rehearsal and performance.
Monitor and guide each student to develop an ability to dive into the work
abandoning self-consciousness and self-centeredness in order to expand personal
and creative limits.
Arrive to class on time and fully prepared to share the work and offering feedback
and grading of assignments in a timely and respectful manner.
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Participate in class and rehearsal with creative ideas and options about the students’
acting choices within the boundaries of the role, scene, and play as defined by the
instructor or director.
Demonstrate an ability to constructively self-assess one’s own work, conduct, and
obstacles relating to class.
Critique and guide students with attention to detail and specificity in the students’
moment-to-moment acting work in class.
Encourage, guide, and expect convincing emotional life and truthful
characterization from the students.
Maintain objectivity and sensitivity to address student problems with acting or
professionalism while offering solutions and options.
Engage in the work with enthusiasm, passion, and full commitment to the spirit of
the work.
Encourage, guide, and inspire the development and demonstration of students’
ability to transform their physical, vocal, and imaginative life to adapt to changing
assignments and demands.
Set clear boundaries and limits in the work so as to enable the students the best
opportunity to safely and effectively test those limits for growth and development
through assignments and projects.
Listen to the students with sensitivity and generosity.
Provide a supportive classroom environment for the free and respectful exchange of
ideas, praise, and criticism among the students toward each other.
Be available outside of class for any student who wishes to discuss any matter
relating to their progress, quality of work, or any issue or problem relating to the
work.
Advocate for students in their matriculation regarding curriculum, assistantship,
and personal concerns directly relating to student’s positive progress in the
program.
Course of Study:
First Year Summer Session A 12 hours
(*Voice and Movement may teach 5-6 week intensives/dividing the summer session A)
3 hours
*THTR 7233
Movement Studio I (2 hours daily M-F)
The Diagnostic Body. An intensive examination of the habits of physical use
of the body through principles of T’ai Chi, Alexander Technique, Yoga, and
Sports Fitness. Exercises are used that point to habits of use in pedestrian,
everyday movements and how they can be addressed through conscious
awareness and physical techniques for correction, release, and ease. Etudes
used to enhance the application to performance.
3 hours
THTR 7220 Acting Studio I (2 hours daily M-F)
Intensive work in actor's basic process and tools; text analysis;
Introduction to Contemporary realism; Introduction to Shakespeare
3 hours
THTR 7930—Production Studio/Teacher Training
(production assignment in Swine Palace summer season)
3 hours
*THTR 7227
Voice Studio I (2 hours daily M-F)
Getting to know your vocal instrument; Release & Relaxation; Basic
Articulatory work; Vocal Hygiene; Resonation work using techniques from
Chuck Jones, Kristin Linklater, & Patsy Rodenburg; Intro to Fitzmaurice
Destructuring explorations; Textual discoveries via contemporary monologue
work.
First year (Fall Semester) 14 hours
3 hours
THTR 7234
Movement Studio II
The Expressive Body. Neutral and Character Masks used to enhance the
actor’s awareness of body language and non-verbal communication. To
expand the actor’s approaches to character through external physical choices.
Techniques include Laban and Meyerhold. Etudes used to enhance the
application to performance
3 hours
THTR 7228
Voice Studio II
Introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet; Intro to Baseline
American Dialect via Dudley Knight / Gillian Lane-Plescia; Fitzmaurice
Restructuring Explorations; Acting scene work crossover.
3 hours
THTR 7221
Acting Studio II
Applied basic process and text analysis; Realism to Lyric Realism
Ibsen, Chekhov, Williams; scene work with selected texts
0 hour
THTR 7000 Daily practice.
1 hour
THTR 7001.02
Independent Projects in Performance Training
Individual projects in performance training / dance.
1 hour
THTR 7001.03
Independent Projects in Performance Training
Individual projects in performance training / musical theatre.
3 hours
THTR 7130 Script Analysis and Dramaturgy
Methods of studying play-scripts in preparation for their production
on stage, through Aristotelian, modern, and postmodern approaches.
First year (Spring Semester) 14 hours
3 hours
THTR 7235 Movement Studio III
The Combative Body. Basic stage combat in unarmed and rapier. Foundation
in conditioning through stretching and tumbling with rolls, dives and falls.
Scene presentations used to apply techniques to performance.
3 hours
THTR 7229
Voice Studio III
Baseline American & IPA review; Advanced Fitzmaurice Explorations; Epic
Monologue (Greek or Shakespearean); Acting scene work crossover.
3 hours
THTR 7222 Acting Studio III
The Tragic Impulse. Applied basic process and text analysis explored in
Greek, Shakespearean and Jacobean Tragedy; scene work with selected texts.
3 hours
THTR 7436 Period Styles and Costume
A Historical survey of theatre with emphasis on the development of visual
design from the Greeks to the present with particular focus on the work of the
actor in relationship to costume, movement and space.
0 hour
THTR 7000
Daily practice.
1 hour
THTR 7001.02
Independent Projects in Performance Training
Individual projects in performance training / dance.
1 hour
THTR 7001.03
Independent Projects in Performance
Training/Individual projects in performance training / TBA.
Second year Summer Session A 9 hours
3 hours
THTR 7226 Camera Studio I
An active, in-front-of-the-camera, studio class designed to introduce the
committed actor to the skills and techniques needed to be truthful, interesting,
and affecting when acting in television and film. Students will work regularly
on-camera in order to develop these skills and an elemental comprehension of
film and television terminology, technology and process.
3 hours
THTR 8000 Thesis research/creation
3 hours
THTR7223
Acting Studio IV applied basic process;
The Comic Impulse. Basic process and text analysis explored in Commedia,
Shakespeare, Moliere, Restoration, Sheridan and Shaw; scene work with
selected texts.
Second year (Fall Semester) 14 hours
3 hours
THTR 7224 Acting Studio V
New Plays and Devised Drama. The Solo Performance.
3 hours
THTR 7922
Seminar in Performance Theory
3 hours
THTR 7236
Movement Studio IV
The Inventive Body. Physical approaches to the creative impulse in
interpretive and generative work. Techniques used include Sound &
Movement, Viewpoints, Contact Improvisation, Lecoq and Authentic
Movement. Etudes used to apply techniques to individual approaches to the
creation of new work.
3 hours
0 hour
THTR 7230
Voice Studio IV
Intro to Dialects; Extreme Voice Usage; Roy Hart explorations; Acting scene
work crossover.
THTR 7000
Daily practice.
1 hour
THTR 7001.02
Independent Projects in Performance Training
Individual projects in performance training / dance.
1 hour
THTR 7001.03
Independent Projects in Performance Training
Individual projects in performance training / TBA.
Second year spring semester 14 hours
0 hour
THTR 7000
Daily practice.
1 hour
THTR 7001.02
Independent Projects in Performance Training
Individual projects in performance training / dance.
3 hours
THTR 7237
Movement Studio V
The Athletic Body. This class focuses on the actor’s need to stay physically
fit and active as they approach the free-lance world beyond conservatory
training. Various warm ups will be used. Exercises that tax the body in
flexibility, endurance and strength while staying within the world of the
theatrical. Improvisations and etudes used to focus the work on performance.
3 hours
THTR 7231
Voice Studio V
Advanced Dialect work; Character Voice explorations; Voice Over
techniques; Radio Play
3 hours
THTR 8000
1 hour
THTR 7225
Professional Issues
3 hours
Thesis Performance/Writing
Acting Studio VI--Audition/Interview Techniques and
THTR 7239 Camera Studio II
Further development of skills and principles introduced in Camera I ;
exercises and scene work focused on special acting challenges,
characterizations, and more demanding texts; creation and production of
final DV/film project.