MFA in Theatre – Design for Performing Arts

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 in Theatre (Design for Performing Arts) offers advanced studio training in contemporary performance design with a focus on sustainable practices. The program is geared to theatre professionals but also welcomes applicants from backgrounds such as engineering, architecture, etc. who have a keen interest in innovative and sustainable environments, technologies and design for all forms of performance.

The objective of the program is to create an environment in which students can explore both contemporary methods of design and new opportunities generated by 21st-century performance-related technologies. The program draws on the concept of sustainability not only from a technological point of view, but also as a paradigm shift to how we design and envision our theatre productions.

Students will be engaged in several areas of study: design theory, ecological theory, methodology, practicum, research and design. A collaborative approach to the creative process may include work with directors, performers, designer-mentors, technical personnel and environmental professionals.

Curriculum components include:

• examination on a comprehensive reading list of 100 plays
• graduate research seminar
• history of visual sources
• design for the performing arts 1 and 2
• directing and design
• sustainable design
• research paper (summer) – the basis of a thesis project

Additional studies chosen from other areas/programs:

• directing
• text study
• environmental studies
• other study (with permission of the Graduate Director)

Thesis project in one of the following areas:

• theoretical design for performing arts
• practical design for performing arts
• sustainable technology in performing arts