Catalog Navigator : Concentration Requirements

In addition to the general theater requirements, students must enroll in and complete one of the following four concentrations:

1. ACTING

The acting program offers a rigorous and collaborative 4-year course of study for students who aspire to a career in the ever-evolving entertainment industry. Students are trained in various acting techniques, including Meisner, on-camera, devising, classics, and global theater with a commitment to new and emerging methodologies and practices.

Students will study at the Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare's Globe in London. The training concludes with a focus on the industry and launching of the artist's professional careers. Students are eligible for productions in the program in the second through final years of study.

The drama program is committed to equitable, representative, and evolving practices to support each student on their journey by continuing to learn, scrutinize, and adjust our program to facilitate training that is current, imaginative, and inspired by the needs of the students, the demands of the industry, and work that is yet to be created.

Year 1: Process

Acting - Meisner progression
On-camera - Beginning to understand the form
Voice & Speech
Theatre Histories
Electives/Liberal Arts/University Requirements
Production assignments

Crew and understudy opportunities

Movement
Auditioning - Beginning fundamentals and technique
Stage Craft - General theater experience course in additional acting techniques

Year 2: Layering

Acting - Meisner Progression with a focus on rhetoric
On-camera - Expanding knowledge of camera work, a small film project
Voice & Speech - Continued progression
Script/Text analysis
Contemporary Global Perspectives
Electives/Liberal Arts/University Requirements
Production assignments

Beginning to move from the classroom to the stage

Movement
Auditioning - Contemporary work
General theater experience course in additional techniques

Year 3: Application and Consistency

Acting - Scene study and styles (TV, Film, Classical Theatre, Modern)
On-camera - Performance and auditioning
Voice & Speech
Devised Theatre
Electives/Liberal Arts/University Requirements
Production - A three to four show season
Movement - Including stage combat
Auditioning - Classical work

Year 4: Begin Again

Study Abroad - Fall term
Professional Industry Showcase - NYC, LA, ATL, CHI
Production - Contemporary works, Devised, Classics
Business of the Business
Auditioning
Lab (Voice, Movement, Speech, Acting, Text) - Special techniques

2. DESIGN

Theater design students are part of a dynamic 4-year professional training program that includes a semester residency in London. Our program provides students with essential artistic and technical skills as well as a strong foundation in theater history and theory. The faculty are distinguished working professionals who provide students with one-on-one mentoring and prepare them to be effective artists and collaborators in the entertainment industry.

Areas of study include costume, lighting, and scenic design.

Year 1: Foundations

The first year provides the foundations of design theory, skills, and history. All first-year students take core classes together, providing a strong sense of community and an appreciation of the collaborative nature of theater.

Year 2: Building

The second year builds on the foundations learned in the first year and provides more in-depth explorations into the areas of concentration. One course, "Global Theater", analyzes current theater styles and theories across the globe.

Year 3: London

All design students spend the fall semester of their third year in London at Shakespeare's Globe, where they study with distinguished British designers and take full advantage of London's dynamic theater and cultural opportunities. Field trips to theater productions, museums, and galleries are all part of the program. Back at Rutgers in the spring, students pursue in-depth training in their area of design.

Year 4: Transition

All students will conclude their programs in their fourth year preparing for the transition into the industry with professional development, networking, and portfolio development. Professional contacts are developed with the Mason Gross faculty and through possible internships. Design students are presented to the industry at a design portfolio presentation in New York City in their final semester.

3. DRAMATURGY

The dramaturgy curriculum provides students with a strong multi/transdisciplinary background in performance practices, performance literature and theory, community/audience engagement, and the Humanities. The core course of study focuses on building the skills for production dramaturgy and is augmented by direct electives in history, foreign languages, and other non-drama courses to build a firm foundation in both theater and the liberal arts. Students in the dramaturgy concentration cultivate their intellectual prowess, analytical skills, and artistic passions through integral multidisciplinary involvement in the Mason Gross productions and classes in the conception and execution of productions, bringing their knowledge of performance history and dramatic structure, their skills in script analysis and contextual research, and their capacity to engage in collaborative conversation into the rehearsal room. These skills also serve our audience as dramaturgy students practice the art of audience/community outreach and engagement.

The dramaturgy concentration specializes in production development, production support, critical writing, audience outreach, season planning, and artistic leadership. The transdisciplinary curriculum makes it an excellent program of study for students interested in performing arts history and theory, playwrighting and devising, cultural studies, and community outreach.

Year 1: Foundation

Students in the Mason Gross Department of Theater dramaturgy concentration have a core curriculum of performance-centered courses that are augmented by a wide array of electives from across the university. The curriculum of the first year of the concentration is intended to prepare the students to be assigned to productions in various capacities in their second, third, and final year.

Year 2: Context

The second-year builds on the first to give greater context and depth to the work and continues the interdisciplinary approach at the center of the concentration. The second year also brings the dramaturgy student into production in various capacities.

Year 3: Expansion

In the third year, the curriculum brings breadth to the student's studies, with classes that widen the possibilities of the field, such as but not limited to, immersive performance, devised work, digital dramaturgy, and theater for social development. Students are encouraged to pursue study abroad opportunities--with endorsements for dramaturgically specific programs in Berlin and Cape Town.

Year 4: Outreach

The fourth year connects the student to the working world of the contemporary dramaturg. Students are required to complete an internship through one of the many area partner schools and institutions with which the department is connected.

4. Production

Production students are part of a 4-year program designed to train students to be professionals in the fields of costume technology, stage management, or technical direction. The program combines integrated knowledge and respect for all aspects of theater at a variety of production levels to create artistically astute, well-versed, thoughtful production professionals. Core training and curriculum come together in production practice, which informs the process of each play. Working from a core artistic sensibility, production students support the work of the contributing artists as together they bring the performance to realization.

Year 1: Core and Collaboration

During the first year, students take core classes together, providing a strong sense of community and an appreciation of the collaborative nature of theater.

Year 2: Concentration

Moving into the second-year, production students build on the foundations learned in the first year and study more in-depth explorations into their area of concentration.

Year 3: Production and London

In the third year, the Technical Directors and Stage Managers continue their extensive investigation of production and continue to collaborate with the different areas to develop their leadership skills. The Costume Technology students in the fall semester will join the designers in London where they learn from industry professionals and get to see historical costumes up close.

Year 4: Transition

All students will conclude their programs in their fourth year preparing for the transition into the industry with professional development, networking, and portfolio development.