University degrees: Postgraduate
Course length: 2 years
Course city: Los Angeles
We are seeking bold, adventurous MFA students eager to collaborate in an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum for the theater of the future.
The UCLA Department of Theater’s Directing Program welcomes adventurous students who look forward to intensive collaboration with their peers in acting and playwriting in their first year of graduate study.
In their first quarter, students in the Directing, Acting and Playwriting programs will collectively study directing, acting, voice, movement and playwriting to create collaborative projects including a series of original performance pieces and a One Act festival.
In subsequent quarters, students will be frequently reassembled in collaborative teams to create group projects. The first year includes the study of directing, acting voice, movement and playwriting; and working with acting and design students on the creation of original theater pieces in preparation for advanced collaborative work in the second year. The second year includes collaborating with graduate playwriting students, directing a staged reading of an original full-length play in the New Works Project, and directing a full-length play by a major playwright in an experimental configuration of the black box theater. In the third year, students direct a thesis production chosen with the approval of their faculty advisor and directing committee, which may also be done in television or other digital media. Directing students also complete professional internships at such theaters as the Geffen Playhouse and the Los Angeles Theatre Center.
Background courses for Thesis Project
Degree Requirements
Students will be required to enroll in a minimum of twelve units per quarter. Required courses will be scheduled to permit completion of the program within a three year period. In addition to the successful completion of a minimum of 106 units or 26.5 courses, candidates for the degree must pass a comprehensive examination, including critical evaluation of the production projects which culminate in a manner to show professional competence in the field.
Under special circumstances, by petition, the 106 units or 26.5 course requirement may be fulfilled with approved alternate courses. However, a minimum of 94 units or 23.5 courses must be at the graduate level, a maximum of 10 undergraduate units, and a maximum of 12 units of 596 courses may be applied toward the degree.
Students admitted to the program are expected to have mastered skills and have a general knowledge of the materials and processes relevant to their field of study. Students may be required to complete additional courses upon recommendation of the advisor.
The Master of Fine Arts degree is awarded on the basis of successful completion of the required courses and critical evaluation of student work. The Department expects consistent progress as well as attainment of professional skills. These and other factors will also influence the Department’s allocation of production resources including the number, scale, and scheduling of projects and productions.
