Program Overview

The Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst offers professional training programs in Directing, Dramaturgy, Costume Design, Lighting Design, and Scenic Design. Graduates of the program include actor Bill Pullman, director Greg Leaming, playwright and dramaturg Constance Congdon, and production designer Douglas Kraner.

Graduates of our program receive the Master of Fine Arts degree and are prepared to work in resident professional theaters, in colleges and universities, and in many other areas of performance. The program normally takes three years to complete.

We accept students two out of every three years. The application deadline is January 15. http://www.umass.edu/theater/graduateappinfo.php#admissions

Ours is a dynamic, hands-on program that offers plenty of opportunities for practical experience alongside a dedicated faculty of committed teachers with active careers in the professional theater. All students get extensive teaching experience, and most undertake internships. We have close relationships with outstanding theaters such as Hartford Stage, Shakespeare & Company, and Double Edge Theatre.

The small size of our program insures small classes, a maximum of personalized attention, and the opportunity to tailor programs of study to individual interests. Collaboration, creativity, discipline, craft and a strong personal sense of our collective past and of the possibilities of the future are the building blocks of our graduate program. We value personal growth, artistic integrity, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to the theater of the future. Our departmental production season serves as a teaching laboratory for students in each of our program areas.

We believe no student should finish an M.F.A. program in debt. Therefore, we provide financial support for every full-time graduate student enrolled in our degree programs, including full tuition waivers, health benefits and generous assistantships for the entirety of the three-year program.

UMass enjoys the advantages of an outstanding location in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, a beautiful, vibrant area known for great cultural amenities, recreational activities, and academic institutions, including the famous Five College consortium. Boston is approximately 90 minutes away, and Times Square approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes.

All the M.F.A. programs at UMass require a minimum of 60 credits for graduation, and normally take three years in residence to complete.

The program begins with a first year designed to create community and a shared language. In Group Studio, students create an original performance drawing upon their collective experience and imagination. First-year students also take Text Analysis, which examines play texts as structures that imply potential productions. First-year students also participate in production through the studios and workshops in their areas of specialty. In their first or second years, all students also take the two-semester World Repertory sequence, a case-study approach to theater history.

In the second and third years, students focus more closely on their M.F.A. program area. Depending on their interests, students may also take advantage of the academic resources of UMass as a whole and the other institutions in the Five College Consortium.  All programs culminate in a third-year thesis project. Most students complete an intensive internship in their second or third years.

Graduate students are full participants in the Department of Theater production season, working collaboratively under the guidance of faculty artists. In an average year, the Department of Theater presents five to seven fully mounted main stage productions. It also hosts a number of other co-productions and special events. Additionally, there are numerous occasions for studio and lab work, many of them through the Cabaret 204 series.

There are also numerous opportunities outside the academic course of study. Students in the design program sometimes assist faculty designers with their professional commitments.

For more information about our program and application procedures, visit http://www.umass.edu/theater/graduate.php