MFA in Production Management
Our Master of Fine Arts in Production Management program provides developing theatre professionals with the opportunity to cultivate their own individual artistic identity, and innovative and collaborative creative process, while refining and enhancing their craft.
Our program seeks to:
- Enhance artistic expression, critical thinking, communication, and management skills through hands-on, mentored experiences within a wide range of production opportunities and classroom instruction.
- Explore creative collaborations to tell important stories to today’s audiences.
- Create inclusive and accessible forms of theatrical expression for the next generation.
MFA Production Management students are being prepared for substantive careers in the professional world of theatre and the related performing arts. Training includes a rigorous curriculum, production opportunities, and exposure to the profession. Students are regularly mentored by working professional faculty and advisors through their studio coursework; hands-on, in-process Theatre in Practice advising; and end-of-term conferences.
Financial aid is available to some students in the form of scholarships, living stipends, and teaching assistantships. Admission is highly selective, with the School of Theatre admitting one to three students each year into the Production Management program.
Curriculum Highlights
- Robust schedule of guest artists, workshops, and intensives for special topics.
- Mentored portfolio and résumé development, with introductions to Professional Theatre Initiative affiliates for summer opportunities following the first year.
- Funded participation at the US Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) in the second year of the program.
- Curated portfolio and introduction to professional theatre and live performing arts industry network contacts provided at the successful completion of the program.
- Available “theatre management” option that joins the MFA Production Management curricula with a graduate certificate program in Arts Management, Commercial Theatre Development, or Project Management at Boston University’s Metropolitan College (separate application required).
Learning Outcomes
The Production Management program aims to develop a complete theatre artist by fostering a passion for theatre, storytelling, and the collaborative process. Through their required coursework and production assignments, Production Management students will:
- Demonstrate a deep understanding of theatre as an art form and the essential role it plays in contemporary society.
- Demonstrate spoken and written critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and communication skills in an arts-based discipline.
- Demonstrate an ability to enrich creative storytelling and take artistic risks.
- Demonstrate an awareness of and ability to engage in the diverse community of theatre artists.
- Demonstrate a high level of artistic, interpretive, and craft skills and techniques in Production Management as a foundation for entering into a career in theatre and the live performing arts.
Program of Study
(minimum of 60 units‡)
First Year | 1st | 2nd |
CFA TH 701 Graduate Salon | 2 | 2 |
CFA TH 549 Theatre in Practice | 2 | 2 |
CFA TH 539 Production | 2 | 2 |
CFA TH 607 Collaboration Forum 1 | 2 | – |
CFA TH 695 & 699 Production Management Studio 1 & 2 | 3 | 3 |
Approved elective(s) | 4 | 6 |
Total units (minimum) | 15 | 15 |
Second Year | ||
CFA TH 701 Graduate Salon | 2 | 2 |
CFA TH 549 Theatre in Practice | 2 | 2 |
CFA TH 539 Production | 2 | 2 |
CFA TH 793 & 794 Production Management Studio 3 & 4 | 3 | 3 |
Approved elective(s) | 6 | 6 |
Total units (minimum) | 15 | 15 |
Approved Electives (22 units)
Students select graduate-level courses (500+) offered by Boston University in consultation with their faculty mentor.
Suggested courses:
- CFA TH 519 AutoCAD 1: 2D Theatrical Drafting
- CFA TH 552 Technical Production Studio 2
- CFA TH 561 Scenic Automation for Theatre
- CFA TH 584 Designing for Opera
- CFA TH 585 Vectorworks 1
- CFA TH 586 Color Interaction
- CFA TH 590 Theatre Management
- CFA TH 608 Collaboration Forum 2
- CFA TH 707 Scenography Studio 1
- CFA TH 708 Scenography Studio 2
- MET AD 642 Project Management
- MET AD 643 Project Communications and Leadership
- MET AD 644 Project Risk and Cost Management
- MET AD 649 Agile Project Management
- MET AR 690 The Art World
- MET AR 750 Financial Management for Nonprofits
- MET AR 751 Commercial Production: The Broadway Model
- MET AR 752 Strategies for Performing Arts Businesses
- MET AR 753 Current Trends in the Performing Arts Industry
- MET AR 754 Global Performing Arts Presenting and Producing
- MET AR 778 Legal Issues in Arts Administration
Production Management students may apply their Approved Elective(s) toward pursuit of a “theatre management” option that joins the MFA Production Management curricula with a graduate certificate program in Arts Management, Commercial Theatre Development, or Project Management at Boston University’s Metropolitan College.
‡This program requires completion of a minimum of 60 units in continuous, sequential terms, and generally takes two years to complete. All requirements for the MFA must be completed within five years of matriculation.