Nationally recognized playwriting program

Boston University’s three-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) playwriting program, offered by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in close collaboration with CFA’s School of Theatre, engages students with workshops, classes, seminars, and professional actors in the classroom and theatrical productions.

Students graduating with an MFA in Playwriting from BU…
  • Learn the skills to WRITE ORIGINAL dramatic works for the stage
  • Effectively COLLABORATE with directors, actors, and other theatre artists building a production
  • Gain an APPRECIATION of the drama of the past and how these works can benefit the playwrights’ personal journey in dramatic writing

After more than 30 years of building our nationally-recognized Playwriting Program—founded by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott in 1981—BU offers a three-year MFA in Playwriting that combines the best of BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ traditions with an exciting collaboration with BU School of Theatre.

At BU, playwriting students’ voices are encouraged, nurtured, and challenged. They get to work with a vibrant community of artists, from actors to design students. Only four to five graduate students are accepted to the MFA playwriting program every two years, assuring students of individual, hands-on attention from our faculty during all phases of the MFA degree program.

visit the official bu playwriting website

Be a part of Boston’s booming theatre industry

As a playwriting student, the opportunities are endless. BU playwriting students gain real-world experience, including working on a full production in their third year of study within the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s professional season of new works. This also benefits BU acting and theatre students as they get to act in BPT productions and receive Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) points and professional credit.

opportunities available for playwriting majors

Degrees Offered

MFA Playwriting Faculty

meet the mfa playwriting faculty

CFA Playwriting Faculty Members for Theatre Arts Students

New Play Initiative

BU’s New Play Initiative (NPI) expresses the School of Theatre’s participation in the development of new work. This special initiative provides playwrights, directors, designers, and actors with a variety of developmental options to support the collaborative creation of new work for the theatre. Students, faculty, alumni, and guest artists are given the opportunity to utilize the creativity of the rehearsal room to develop their plays, which are then presented through workshop productions. But the life of these new plays doesn’t end on the BU stages. Many New Play Initiative productions are often later fully produced by member companies of our Professional Theatre Initiative.

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