Program in Playwriting

In the 2.5-year master of fine arts (M.F.A.) playwriting program, each playwright is encouraged to develop his or her individual voice and to stretch and experiment.

This is a place to hone one's craft, to engage with emerging and established theater artists, and to study the new, the ancient, and the innovative in the unique alchemy of performance.

At the core of the playwriting program are the weekly playwrights seminars, an ongoing class for the duration of the degree in which playwrights deepen their art and sharpen their skills. Each semester, you will develop your portfolio, explore new approaches, and enrich and unlock a current play-in-process. Emphasis is on developing each playwright's unique voice and inclinations.

As part of a rich experience of plays and playmaking, we'll read and attend productions of one or two plays each week, as well as meet theater professionals. Recent visits have been to Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Public Theater, Soho Rep, New York Theatre Workshop, the McCarter Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and MaYi Theater Company.

In their first year, playwrights will have a staged reading of a new work, directed by an outside professional director. In the second year, and the last semester, playwrights will have productions of their plays in collaboration with student designers, actors, stage managers, and professional directors. Guest playwrights each year will conduct the Playwrights Seminar or give separate workshops. Screenwriting and television writing are offered each year, as is writers' workshop, where playwrights explore their works-in-progress with actors and a director.