Theatre – Masters

Guest Artists //

We have guest artists every year in every area of performance. Recent guests for 2019 and 2020 include:

• Robert Icke (London and Broadway director and playwright) for our Playwright Series (worked with students over 4 days on an excerpt of Oresteia for performance),
• Voice candidate, Angela N. Sullen, from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia, and Master Lessac Teacher and Professor Emeritus from Penn State University, Barry Kur.
• Freddie Ashley, Artistic Director of Actors’ Express in Atlanta and award-winning actor, comes to campus every spring for intern auditions, talks, and interviews. At least a dozen other guest artists connect by conference calls and skype.

Assistantships //

USM Theatre pays for ALL of its graduate students. The University covers full Graduate tuition.  In addition, the program pays a monthly stipend through assistantships and graduate work-study.

• Currently, compensation is $8,200/nine-month contract.
• Graduate students work an average of 20 hours per week while classes are in session in theatre jobs such as teaching classes, running box office, building in the shops, and event managing.
• Our semesters currently run 16 weeks plus one week prior to the start of classes for orientations, preparation meetings, and shop kick-offs.
• MFA candidates cast or hired for the SAT summer repertory company earn compensation with six credit hours of free tuition and a stipend.

Application/Qualifications //

M.F.A. candidates in Performance come in with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  All candidates are required to audition and interview with a headshot and resume providing evidence of experience/aptitude in their specialty area. Students may audition at SETC or other unified audition, via recorded audition and skype interview, or (our favorite) on campus.

Some deficiencies in background may require conditional admission while the student works with the faculty to develop competencies. We welcome diversity of experience and unique voices in the Theatre. The University’s Graduate School facilitates the admission process. They will collect an application, three letters of recommendation, and transcripts. The Graduate School process is entirely online.

Graduate Seminars

All graduate students take a minimum of three seminars.  Script Analysis, Theatre Production Research, Contemporary Trends in Theatre, Period Styles in Design, Dramatic Theory, and Seminar in Acting and Directing are on regular rotations.  Students inspire each other across disciplines within theatre.  Faculty and students with professional experience contribute with ideas from around the globe.

Professional Certification //

Students from USM have won Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival RIV awards in Performance more than any other school in the state and many in the 9-state Southeastern US region.  Our actors have advanced in Acting to National finals three times and to Regional Finals more than three dozen times.  Our students won 3 of the last 4 awards for Excellence in Voice work from VASTA.  USM students have won many additional awards for Best Classical Acting, Best Comedic Acting, and Best Partner in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition in addition to winning the MTI Musical Theatre Award and the Open Jar Musical Theatre Scholarship.

Most Performance graduate students leave USM with advanced training and certification in one or more voice and movement specialties.  Our Voice and Speech Specialist offers graduate acting candidates eligibility for Lessac Voice and Body Practitioner status through the graduate voice curriculum. This is the only program to offer this in the world. Movement training at USM also provides training and certification opportunities.  Nearly every student in the last three years has earned SAFD and Dueling Arts International Stage Combat certifications.

Movement //

All aspects of our work in class and production include integration with movement training. Intensives in Graduate Movement Lab include Stage Combat, Yoga, Neutral Mask Work, Laban, Movement Improvisation, Actorbatics, Physical Comedy, and Commedia dell’arte.  Guests and adjudicators in the planning stage for this term include Christina Traister, Fight Master and President of the SAFD, Mike Yahn, Stunt Coordinator, and Jason Ament, Stunt Performer.

Experiences //

• Revelry: In celebration of our new School of Performing and Visual Arts in 2018, a Revelry of the arts began. The month of February is now filled with 50 special events that play across artistic disciplines and explore short-term experiments in multi-discipline performance.  Events have included a Sculpture Iron Pour-Your Heart-Out Dance with participants making their own iron valentines from flaming liquid iron, Budakon Yoga in the Art Gallery, an Arts Professional Faculty Panel on overcoming creative blocks, an alumni performance advocating for disabled casting, and an Art lecture Wine and Cheese Pairing. Guest artists in each of the disciplines add to the excitement.
• NT Live and Broadway Musical Theatre: We are a proud presenting venue for London’s Royal National Theatre live-capture theatre productions, NT Live! The distributor also provides access to major Broadway Musical Theatre events.  Every student will see 15-20 world-class professional productions as part of their course of study.