Theatre Training
Master of Fine Arts in Acting for the
Returning Professional
The objective of the MFA in Acting for the Returning Professional is to prepare those with substantial professional experience in acting for other careers within the profession and to enrich and expand their understanding of theatre.
Students enrolled in Mentorships receive credit for performing in a mainstage production, with an emphasis on teaching other students by example, vis à vis professional comportment and the demonstration of the processes the mentor uses in preparing and performing a role.
Culminating Project for returning Professionals in Acting:
Students in the Returning Professionals track will prepare a Master of Fine Arts Thesis Project appropriate to their experience and interests. These projects are analytical and scholarly in nature (rather than biographical or narrative), and should be developed with a graduate faculty member in Acting as the advisor and at least two additional graduate faculty members in Theatre as the committee. (Previous Returning Professionals have explored teaching methods or historical/critical issues in acting, for example.) A prospectus for the Project will be developed with the help of the student's committee and, when approved by them, presented by the advisor to the Graduate Studies Committee, whose approval shall be final.
The Project may be wholly written or applied and written work and must conform to the scholarly expectations for graduate work in the field and, generally, to the protocols explained in the College Style Guide and Instructions for Preparing Theses and Dissertations (available in the College office). When the document is deemed by the thesis committee to be ready for presentation, an oral defense will be scheduled (see above). If, for any reason, a student in the Returning Professional track does not finish the M.F.A. Thesis Project while in residence, s/he must continue to enroll each semester, including summers, until it is completed.