MFA in Theatre – Performance (Acting or Performance Creation)

York University’s MFA in Theatre is an intensive, two-year (five-semester) conservatory program. It is designed for serious, advanced theatre artists who want to further hone their skills so as to enter – or re-enter – the profession, and who seek the knowledge and skills needed to teach at the post-secondary level. Classes are small, hours are long and expectations from faculty are high.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

York offers competitive funding to all qualified graduate students and is committed to promoting excellence in research and teaching. Training opportunities and funding are provided through research assistantships in the student’s field of study, teaching assistantships with relevant undergraduate programs,  graduate assistantships with faculty members and/or research assistantships. Your graduate program will provide you with details about your funding package and its components.

At the time of offer of admission, qualified graduate students are provided with a guaranteed funding package for the duration of their program. Students are also strongly encouraged to apply for major external awards. York graduate students have a very high success rate in attracting these scholarships. For more information, please visit Current Students – Funding and Awards.

York’s Awards for Graduate Students

York offers a range of awards for incoming and continuing students, with more than $10 million in internal recruitment scholarships alone, including:

• The Elia Scholars Program is York University’s most prestigious graduate award for incoming domestic or international doctoral students ($40,000)
• Graduate Fellowships for Academic Distinction are scholarships awarded to incoming doctoral or master’s students with high potential for future leadership in international affairs. Fellowships include a scholarship (PhD: $15,000 or Masters: $7,000), a research assistantship ($7,000) and all tuition fees ($5,500)
• Chancellor Bennett Masters and Doctoral Scholarships supports exceptional incoming doctoral or master’s students entering a full-time program in the Liberal Arts ($20,000). At the doctoral level, the award is renewable for a maximum of four years
• The Paavo and Aino Lukkari Awards and Fellowship support graduate students engaged in research on human rights and social justice issues related to the situation of indigenous people and people of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean ($12,500)
• The Susan Crocker and John Hunkin Awards and Scholarships provide valuable support for graduate students pursuing studies in Fine Arts programs ($10,000)
• Enbridge Graduate Awards are awarded to students working in the areas of conservation, renewable resources, climate change and environmental engineering across York’s graduate programs ($12,500)

Our MFA (Performance) program is an intense, full-time course of study for experienced performers. It is the only program of its kind in Canada, and offers experienced performers an opportunity to re-examine their approach to their craft by deepening their knowledge and honing their skills in a unique 5-semester conservatory environment. There are two programs of study currently offered, Acting and Performance/Creation.

Performance/Creation

A hybrid program of performance, creation, and devising. Students take courses in performance, design and directing while being given time to develop their own work.

Performance/Creation Curriculum

Year 1

FALL (required)

1. Research Seminar
2. Solo Creation
3. Directing
4. Design
5. Minimum 1 – Maximum 3 studio courses. Depending on your areas of interest.

Winter (required)

1. Solo Creation
2. Directing
3. Design
4. Minimum 1 – Maximum 3 studio courses. Depending on your areas of interest.

Year 2

FALL (required)

1. Creation and Collaboration
2. Directing
3. Design
4. Maximum 2 studio courses. Depending on your area of interest.

Winter (required)

1. Creation and Collaboration
2. Thesis performance

There are many other courses available in School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, including:

• Sustainable Staging Techniques
• The Interactive Stage
• Dance Video

Acting

The first year consists of full days of classes with evenings and Saturdays reserved for workshops and rehearsals. Performance projects in the first year include The Gathering Project at the start of the Fall term, two studio productions, and The Shakespeare Project at the end of the winter term. Students can expect to be in the studio for classes, workshops, or rehearsal 25 – 50 hours per week, and can expect to practice/prepare a further 5 hours per week.

Students spend the summer term working on their thesis research as well as creating a solo show that is presented at the beginning of the second year.

In the second year of study, students take a full complement of classes in the fall term and continue their work on their MFA thesis. Performance projects in the second year include The Gathering Project, one or more fully mounted productions in the Theatre @ York season, and The Shakespeare Project.

Acting Curriculum

The studio courses include training in a classic theatrical base of movement, voice, and acting techniques, which are then applied to various theatrical and media styles. Our faculty feature internationally respected experts in Acting for stage and screen, Voice, Speech, Text, Movement and Dance.

The program includes:

• an examination on a comprehensive reading list of 100 plays
• acting classes
• movement classes
• voice and speech classes with text study
• scene study
• solo show workshops and project
• stage combat workshops
• graduate research seminar
• Shakespeare projects
• Studio projects in the first year
• fully mounted productions in the second year (including one thesis role)

Students spend the summer term working on their thesis research as well as creating a solo show that is presented at the beginning of the second year.