I hope you are enjoying the change of seasons! I spent the weekend upstate enjoying the cooler temperatures and colorful leaves. Looking ahead to next fall, the University of Oklahoma will launch a new Master of Fine Arts in Drama with a concentration in directing. The three-year program will admit a cohort of two directors, and the university also plans to introduce new concentrations in costume technology, technical directing, and playwriting over the next few years. This is welcome news after the announcement of many closures of MFA programs.
“It is my hope that we will be a program that teaches people how to be very good directors and also how to be very good and responsible citizens of the theatre, and so leadership is something that I’m hoping will be a strong component of the program,” says director Seth Gordon.
The program is accepting applications through the end of December and aims to attract directors with some experience under their belts, looking for tools to further develop their careers. “That’s really what an MFA program should be doing, and that’s the thing that I fear we’re not going to have enough of if too many of these programs go away—people will be starting their careers unprepared for what is a very competitive field,” says Gordon.
The University of Oklahoma will be in good company. Randolph College launched a two-year MFA Theatre program in 2023 with success. The program celebrated its first graduating class this past June. “We’re now serving approximately 40 students each semester across the acting, directing, design, and playwriting tracks,” says program director Stephanie Holladay Earl. “One of our biggest wins has been seeing students produce strong, highly specialized projects that reflect their unique strengths and artistic goals.”
Hopefully, this pattern of schools receiving funding to sustain and develop new programs will continue.
As the next generation of directors and theatre leaders emerges, may they approach artistic planning with the same open-mindedness and forward-thinking vision as Val Day, the artistic director of 59E59 Theaters, who discusses programming in this article.
✏️ Around the Web ✏️
- Love this piece by Kelundra Smith about her formative theatre experiences and her hope that today’s children can share in those same theatrical opportunities.
- Great news! The Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is now accessible off-site for educational use.
- Check out this three-day account of the 2025 Broadway Teachers Workshop from a Texas theatre educator.
- American Theatre’s latest roundup of theatre workers you should know spotlights Salma S. Zohdi, literary manager at New York Theatre Workshop and adjunct professor in NYU’s Department of Dramatic Writing.
- Check out this list of award winners, including the 2025 Stephen Schwartz Award recipient and the recipients of Chicago Dramatists’ residency program.
- Read how this children’s theatre in California produced a production of Beetlejuice Jr. with a cast of 96 students!
- This post by Luis Alfaro on the magic of a teaching semester is so beautiful.
- Here’s an interesting piece on the lack of diversity among faculty and staff in university theatre programs.
- The Educational Theatre Association has announced that starting in 2027, the International Thespian Festival—the leading event for middle and high school theatre students and educators—will move to Louisville, Kentucky, into a bigger venue.
💫 On Social Media 💫
Theatre teachers: What productions are you planning for this fall?
AT Readers Respond:
Zach Rivera: She Kills Monsters!
Susannah Wagner: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow!
Jennifer Peterson: Radium Girls.
Tara Deljanovan: The Diary of Anne Frank, a wild pivot from last fall’s The Play That Goes Wrong HS edition.
William Johnson: Original work by students, inviting them to freely express themselves!
Brian Alan: The Play That Goes Wrong HS edition.
Dyan McBride: Rocky Horror at Las Positas College and The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon at Cal State East Bay.
Teddy Alexis Rodriguez-Velez: I am directing Naomi Iizuka’s Anon(ymous) at Fullerton College Theatre Arts Department!
Read more great responses here.
📰 From the Archives 📰
7 Educators on Training for the Future
This 2019 article by Stuart Miller features a roundtable of leaders from graduate programs discussing the future of the field.
