Dramaturgy
The UMass Department of Theater is not accepting any applications to its graduate programs this year, as no new students will be admitted in Fall 2010. We accept students 2 out of every 3 years, and we are currently in the "off" year of our application cycle. Please do not apply this year. We will once again be accepting applications next year (2010-2011) for admission starting Fall 2011. For more information about a specific graduate program, please contact the faculty member listed for that area.
The Graduate Dramaturgy Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
is rooted in production work and in learning how to work collaboratively
as part of a creative team. Dramaturgy students work on at least one
production each year, receiving one-on-one faculty mentoring through each
of these production assignments. In addition to hands-on production experience,
students learn a variety of approaches to their craft in the weekly Dramaturgy
Workshop, where other important dramaturgical skills—including translation, adaptation,
playwriting, and critical writing—are nurtured. Rigorous academic work,
coupled with this intensive dramaturgical training, prepares students
for the creative and analytical challenges they will face working in the
professional theater.
The Dramaturgy Program provides flexibility for students to draw upon
the larger resources of the Five Colleges to take classes in areas of particular
interest and passion. A major component is an original thesis project, undertaken
in the student’s third year.
Practical teaching experience is another strength of the program. All students
admitted to the program receive full teaching assistantships, which normally
involve leading discussion sections of the Introduction of Theater. Some students
move on to lead stand-alone sections of Play Analysis.
Download the benchmarks for the Dramaturgy MFA program (PDF).
Downoad a sample plan of study for the Dramaturgy MFA program (PDF).
Email professor Harley Erdman.
Hands-on with the newest works
Every year, our dramaturgy students are placed in charge of doing the heavy
lifting in terms of identifying the productions for the next season.
This year, the four graduate dramaturgs are planning to travel to NYC
with two of our faculty members to visit the New Dramatists, which has a
great collection of plays. They'll spend the day reading new works, meeting
with up and coming playwrights, and return home with ideas for cutting-edge
works we can bring to the stage for the next season. It's another example
of how our faculty use their professional connections to put our students
in touch with leaders in their field and offer them unique experiences
as they pursue their education here.
The guests at New Dramatists:
Victoria Abrash has worked as a dramaturg on productions ranging from
classics
to new plays to performance art for the Mark Taper Forum, Ping Chong
and Co.,
the Acting Company, the Public Theatre and elsewhere. She has been
a staff
dramaturg at The Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Women's
Project and
the Philadelphia Drama Guild. She was a longtime site reporter for
the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and has been a script evaluator and award
panelist
for the NEA, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), McKnight Foundation,
New
Dramatists, Lincoln Center Theater, and O'Neill Playwright's Conference.
She
writes study guides for Lincoln Center Theater and has led many arts
conferences
for TCG, the National Arts Journalism Program and others. She is currently
working on a new play production research project for Theatre Development
Fund
and is the director of the ongoing multi-discplinary work of the National
Performing Arts Convention. She has taught widely and is currently
on the
faculties of Eugene Lang College of the New School and Playwrights
Horizons
Theatre School of NYU. She is a past president of Literary Managers
and
Dramaturgs of the Americas.
Kamilah Forbes is an award winning actress, director, playwright and producer.
Nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress and voted
one of VIBE
Magazine?s Top 100 Juiciest People, Kamilah is known for her captivating
work
and dedication to her passions. As a burgeoning actress, director,
playwright
and producer, her talent casts a vivid and evocative spell on both
the national
and international stage. In her diverse body of work she is noted for
having a
strong commitment to the development of creative works by, for and
about the
Hip-Hop generation. As the Artistic Director of the Hip-Hop Theatre
Festival
(HHTF), an annual 3-week festival taking place nationwide in New York,
San
Francisco, Washington D.C. and Chicago, she has seen it grow from a
fledgling
project into an independent non-profit organization with a national
scope. The
festival has featured the works of nearly 100 national and international
artists. Many new and well-known artistic forces have had their worked
leveraged
under Kamilah?s artistic direction including OBIE Awards winner Will
Power, TONY
Award winner Sarah Jones, Rennie Harris, Nilaja Sun, Marc Bamuthi Joseph
and
Indio Melendez.
Morgan Jenness spent over a decade at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public
Theater, with both Joseph Papp and George C. Wolfe, in various capacities
ranging from literary manager to Director of Play Development to Associate
Producer. She was also Associate Artistic Director at the New York
Theater
Workshop, and an Associate Director at the Los Angeles Theater Center
in charge
of new projects. In 2003, she was presented with an Obie Award Special
Citation
for Longtime Support of Playwrights. She has worked as a dramaturg,
workshop
director, and artistic consultant at theaters and new play programs
across the
country, including the Young Playwrights Festival, the Mark Taper Forum,
The
Playwrights Center/Playlabs, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Double
Image/New
York Stage and Film, CSC, Victory Gardens, Hartford Stage, and Center
Stage. She
has participated as a visiting artist and adjunct in playwriting programs
at the
University of Iowa, Brown University, Breadloaf, Columbia and NYU and
is
currently on the adjunct faculty at Fordham University. She has served
on peer
panels for various funding institutions, including NYSCA and the NEA,
with whom
she served as a site evaluator for almost a decade. In 1998 Ms. Jenness
joined
Helen Merrill Ltd., an agency representing writers, directors, composers
and
designers, as Creative Director. She currenty works in the Literary
Department
at Abrams Artists Agency, NYC.
Student Work and Links
- Lighting Design MFA student Jonathan Hicks shares his thoughts about design and his work in our program and elsewhere on his blog Havenworth Performing Arts Center.
- Dramaturgy MFA student Liana Thompson was the literary associate at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer.
- Directing MFa student Shawn LaCount directed Assassins for Bostons'
Company One, of which he is the artistic director. The production has
been nominated for an
Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award. The production received a nomination from the group for Best Musical as well.
More information about the Program
