MFA Program in Playwriting
College of Arts & Sciences in association with the College of Fine Arts School of Theatre
After 30 years of building our nationally recognized MFA--founded by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott in 1981, we now offer a three-year MFA in Playwriting that combines the best of our legacy with a new and exciting collaboration with the award-winning School of Theatre at Boston University. Our playwriting students' voices are encouraged, nurtured, challenged, and we have a profound and positive impact on their artistry by incorporating them into a vibrant community of artists.
We are accepting only four to five (4-5) graduate students every two years--2012, 2014, et al. This assures you of individual, hands-on attention from our faculty during all phases of the MFA degree.
Our playwrights' MFA experiences are founded in the best of two points of view--a scholarly outlook, allowing for a background in theatre history and drama, combined with a love of collaboration. We don't think playwrights should work alone. Collaborations with actors and directors and designers are at the heart of our degree. We begin with the playwright and add collaborators into the mix as the plays grow. We foster a creative process that celebrates all the theatre artists involved in the making of a play.
OUR GOALS:
Our goal is to ready you in all ways for a life in the professional theatre. And we want you to have a wide knowledge of theatre history, criticism, and modern drama in order to be able teach at the graduate level. We want to help you find your singular “voice” as a writer, and our rigorous writing workshops, filled with professional actors and directors and experienced collaborators on every level, will open your hearts and minds to what you believe--not what the world thinks you should. We want you to come out of your ivory tower and join the crowd of willing participants in the drama!
CLASSES:
Besides the eight playwriting workshops, four dramatic literature classes, design and possible directing/acting seminars and electives (for a total of 60 credit hours), you will walk hand in hand with all the other theatre artists (directors, actors, designers, technicians) from the very first day of classes. This is a win-win combination. Our playwriting faculty have a diversity of experience in academia and in the professional theatre--all the better to aid you, to touch you, to challenge you.
FINANCIAL AID:
Typically a student receives at least one-half tuition remission during the first two years of study. However, each quest for financial aid is taken on a case-by-case basis.
YOU WILL LEAVE OUR MFA PROGRAM WITH....
- Your strengths as a writer unleashed.
- A firm knowledge of theatre history, criticism, and modern drama.
- Hands-on experience with collaboration on all levels--in workshops and productions.
- At least three workshopped, ready-to-go evenings of theatre.
- A fully rendered production of your best work.
- Annual entry into the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s Playwriting Awards Program.
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The possibility of professional productions at professional companies (members of our BU Professional Theatre Initiative--Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, the Potomac Theatre Project), and more...
- A plan for what to do next (and a community of friends with whom to accomplish it).
Ours is a three-year program actively serving our writers with drama workshops, actors in the classroom, and productions on a yearly basis flowing into a rich alumni population of playwrights, including writers such as Karen Zacarias, Lydia Diamond, Russell Lees, Ronan Noone, Melinda Lopez, Zayd Dohrn, Molly Smith Metzler, John Kuntz, Joyce Van Dyke, and more. As our MFA graduate, you will be a theatre scholar founded in the art of collaboration, pure and simple, and you will leave our program ready for a professional life in the Theatre (as a teacher and professional playwright combined).
Here are the opportunities we can offer our graduate playwrights during their studies and as alumni:
AS CURRENT STUDENTS:
- Ground Floor Reading Series (annual professional, public readings of new works).
- Annual 2-Day “Bake-Off” (in-house collaborations with directors, actors).
- BU New Play Initiative (in-house collaborations with faculty, directors, actors).
- Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Playwriting Awards Competitions (national recognition).
- BU Professional Theatre Initiative (internships with professional theatres across the country).
- Participation in the Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP) productions with faculty/students.
- Internship at Huntington Theatre Company (LORT theatre company).
- InCite Arts Festival participation with productions in NYC and elsewhere.
- Full Production in 3rd year of study within BPT’s professional season of new works.
AS ALUMNI:
- Massachusetts Young Playwrights’ Project (mentoring, teaching possibilities).
- Boston Theater Marathon (connections with Boston-area theatre companies and publication).
- Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP) productions with faculty/student participation.
- Full professional productions at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre (BPT).
So you see, the possibilities are endless. Please scroll through our website where you can learn more about our faculty, our outreach programs, our calendar of new plays produced by companies in the area, and our award-winning professional season of new works. At the College of Fine Arts School of Theatre’s website, too, you will find more information on their talented faculty, MFA, and BFA programs. As one of our Playwrights, you will be able to take advantage of classes in both Colleges--another win-win proposition.
We look forward to reading your work!
