The MFA degree program in Theatre offers concentrations in Performance, Design and Technology (with concentrations in Lighting Design, Costume Design, and Set Design), and Dramatic Media.
The concentration in Performance, which accepts applicants once every three years, focuses on preparing artists for careers in theatre, film, and media and for teaching at the university, community college or secondary level. The mission of the program is to develop performers who excel as storytellers, artists, content creators, teachers, and entrepreneurs. Building on a performer's core strengths, the program cultivates the artist's individual voice with intensive studies in varied methodologies, techniques, histories, theories, and applied practice and research.
Understanding the need for artists to be well rounded in all aspects of performance, our students also may take classes in dramaturgy, script analysis, theatre for social change, multicultural theatre history, and digital media. Though students undertake the same core curriculum, there is also room for other courses based on the student’s interests and goals. The program is designed to provide each student in the cohort a specialized artistic journey based on their interests and skill set.
The concentration in Design & Technology allows students to focus on costume, scene or lighting design. While the primary focus is on designing for stage, students also learn to apply these same design principles to a wide range of media, including film, television, computer animation, video games and interactive installations. Students in the program are required to become proficient in more than one area of design and to test their skills by designing for University Theatre productions. Students also gain proficiency in a secondary design area. In addition to mastering traditional design techniques and technologies, students train with digital media and high-end computer-assisted design (CAD) software.
Students in the Dramatic Media program acquire the complex mix of technical and artistic skills necessary to create computer-generated animation, live stage productions incorporating interactive media, and special digital effects in filmmaking. This unique program of study provides students with the skills and vision to become leaders in the rapidly growing and expanding digital media industry.
Students in the Dramatic Media program come from diverse backgrounds ranging from professional stage directors with little previous computer experience to experienced digital artists who know little about theatre. Whatever their previous experience, all students graduate with a solid background in both dramatic art and digital media technologies. The expectation is that students who graduate from the program will be qualified to work professionally with digital technologies either as theatre and performance practitioners, or in the film, television, or video game industries. The Dramatic Media program focuses on three distinct but interconnected areas:
3D computer animation. The program’s governing principle is to recognize that animation is not just a visual medium, but first and foremost a form of drama. Intensive training in high end, commercial level 3D animation software is combined with training in dramatic writing, acting, and design.
Interactive media. Students learn to create interactive narratives using 2D and 3D gaming and mobile computing technologies. Students in the dramatic media program are leading the way towards making computer games a truly dramatic medium with the focus on story and character rather than simply action.
Integration of interactive media into live performance. Students explore new forms of art and entertainment that result from the marriage between live theatre and interactive media. This is a three-year program requiring 60 semester hours of coursework.
Director of Graduate Studies John P. Bray, Associate Professor jpbray@uga.edu www.drama.uga.edu
60 hours for Dramatic Media 66 hours for Design and Technology 87 hours for Performance
Full admission in the M.F.A. program requires an undergraduate degree (B.A. or equivalent). Foreign students whose native language is not English must have an overall score of at least 80 on the TOEFL with at least 20 on speaking and writing. All require evidence of experience and talent in the practice of dramatic art in the form of auditions, portfolios, scripts, etc.
In some specialties there is a limit on the total number of M.F.A. students admitted. In case of the performance area, students are admitted only every three years. Normally the student’s undergraduate degree should be in theatre or in an appropriate cognate field with extensive work in theatre. Additional requirements for admission are listed under each graduate degree. Upon notification by the graduate school that a student’s materials are complete, the academic faculty in a student’s indicated area of specialization will review the application. The committee may make one of three recommendations: 1) acceptance, 2) refusal of acceptance, or 3) acceptance with conditions.
| FILM 7815 | Computer Animation for Dramatic Media I | 3 |
| THEA 5610/7610 | Play Direction Laboratory | 3 |
| THEA 7200 | Graduate Thesis Research | 3 |
| THEA 7300 | MFA Project | 3 |
| THEA 7781 | Dramatic Media Studio I | 3 |
| THEA 7782 | Dramatic Media Studio II | 3 |
| THEA 7783 | Dramatic Media Studio III | 3 |
| THEA 7784 | Dramatic Media Studio IV | 3 |
| THEA 7865 | Visual Narrative | 3 |
| THEA 7875 | Interactive Multimedia and Live Performance | 3 |
Choose 1 course(s) from the following:
| FILM 4680/6680 | Introduction to DV Production | 3 |
| FILM 5640/7640 | Directing for the Cinema | 3 |
Choose 2 to 3 courses from the following:
Cinema or theatre history courses, chosen with approval of area faculty
Choose 1 course(s) from the following:
8000-level graduate seminar
Choose a minimum of 20 credit hour(s) from the following:
Approved graduate-level courses
| THEA 5080/7080 | Production Practicum | 1-3 |
| THEA 5315/7315 | CAD 2-D, Drafting for Stage and Production Design | 3 |
| THEA 5340/7340 | History of Costume and Adornment | 3 |
| THEA 5341/7341 | History of Architecture and Decoration | 3 |
| THEA 7050 | Applied Drama Laboratory | 1 |
| THEA 7060 | Applied Drama Laboratory | 1 |
| THEA 7070 | Applied Drama Laboratory | 1 |
| THEA 7200 (3 hours) | Graduate Thesis Research | 3 |
| THEA 7300 (3 hours) | MFA Project | 3 |
| THEA 7330 | Graduate Costume Design I | 3 |
| THEA 7351 | Graduate Scenic Design I | 3 |
| THEA 7352 | Lighting Design for the Performance Arts | 3 |
| THEA 7370 | Drawing and Painting Studio | 3 |
| THEA 7371 | Digital Design Studio | 3 |
| THEA 7730 | Advanced Costume Design for the Performance Arts | 3 |
| THEA 7731 | Advanced Costume Design III | 3 |
| THEA 7751 | Graduate Scenic Design II | 3 |
| THEA 7752 | Graduate Lighting Design II | 3 |
| THEA 7753 | Graduate Scenic Design III | 3 |
| THEA 7755 | Graduate Lighting Design III | 3 |
| THEA 7970 | Design Portfolio | 1 |
| THEA 8300 (3 hours) | Seminar in Design for the Performance Arts | 3 |
Choose 9 credit hour(s) from the following:
Design I, II, and III in Principle Design Area
Choose 6 credit hour(s) from the following:
Design I and II in Secondary Design Area
Choose 3 credit hour(s) from the following:
Design I in Third Design Area
Choose 9 credit hour(s) from the following:
Graduate-Level Design Area Electives
| THEA 5080/7080 | Production Practicum | 1-3 |
| THEA 5610/7610 | Play Direction Laboratory | 3 |
| THEA 5565/7565 | The Meisner Technique | 3 |
| THEA 7005 | Graduate Student Seminar | 3 |
| THEA 7200 | Graduate Thesis Research | 3 |
| THEA 7300 | MFA Project | 3 |
| THEA 7511 | The Moving Body Expresses | 3 |
| THEA 7512 | Masks and the Physical Actor | 3 |
| THEA 7514 | Staged Physical Violence in Performance | 3 |
| THEA 7521 | Voice I: Freeing the Voice | 3 |
| THEA 7522 | Voice II: Standard Speech and Dialect | 3 |
| THEA 7523 | Encountering Heightened Text | 3 |
| THEA 7524 | Voice IV: Voice for Media | 3 |
| THEA 7540 | Characterization as Embodied Research | 3 |
| THEA 7550 | Genre and Style | 3 |
| THEA 7570 | Acting for the Camera | 3 |
| THEA 7572 | Performer as Entrepreneur | 3 |
| THEA 7590 | Performance Process | 3 |
| THEA 7592 | The Business of Acting | 1 |
Choose 6 credit hour(s) from the following:
Theatre history courses
Choose 3 credit hour(s) from the following:
General Elective from any department
Choose 3 credit hour(s) from the following:
8000-level Seminar in Theory, History, or Criticism
| GRSC 7001 | GradFIRST: First-year Research and Scholarship Training Seminar | 1 |
If selected for a teaching assistantship, the following course is required:
| GRSC 7770 | Graduate Teaching Seminar | 1-3 |
Select additional courses, as needed, in consultation with an advisor to meet the minimum number of required credit hours for this program.
Graduates have gone on to PhD programs, as well as careers within the theatre and/or entertainment industry, tenure-track programs, K-12 teachers
Qualified students will be nominated by the Graduate Program Committee for the UGA Arts Collab Scholarship (Dramatic Media or PhD program), and/or the Arts Lab Assistantship (Dramatic Media or PhD) Students also are encouraged to seek outside fellowships and scholarships
Students are encouraged to pursue research opportunities outside of Athens, when appropriate and in consultation with their committees.
Students are encouraged to pursue internship opportunities when they will facilitate their professional development.
Students are encouraged to present their research at conferences, professional meetings, and symposia. Students are encouraged to apply for the internal Panell Travel Grant, and the Graduate School’s Domestic Travel Grant. Students also are encouraged to write grant proposals to help fund their research and to develop grant-writing skills.
USITT (Design and Technology Graduate Students) Graduate Acting Ensemble (Performance)
PhD in Theatre