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Masters in Fine Arts from
Mary Baldwin University
Master of Fine Arts
at MBU
Our unique and internationally celebrated MFA Company Model allows students to hone their interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial skills as theatre practitioners while continuing to refine their craft through training and practice. Building on the rigorous underpinning gained through the MLitt in early modern and modern theatre craft, the MFA Company devises, produces, and performs a year-long season of plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as modern adaptations.
With the support of our faculty of scholars, directors, actors, and educators, the MFA Company members work collaboratively to identify their own training needs and to serve regional audiences of all ages and backgrounds. From mounting full productions on the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars stage to touring to schools, students hone their creativity, flexibility, and ingenuity.
Master of Letters
at MBU
As a precursor to the company model MFA degree, the Master of Letters degrees builds students an invaluable foundation in the pillars of dramaturgy, education, acting, and directing.
The MLitt curriculum represents the cutting edge of practice-oriented scholarship and scholarship-informed practice. Through a rigorous grounding in the history, ethics, theory, and practice of performing early modern plays, students develop the skills and knowledge to create innovative productions of Shakespeare’s works, the drama of his contemporaries, and contemporary adaptations.
As a program, we are dedicated to both Shakespeare and to performance, exploring the intersection represented by the ampersand. As such, our students train as multi-hyphenate artists-scholars-practitioners. Our curriculum ensures that all students develop a foundation across the four pillars of acting, directing, dramaturgy, and pedagogy, while still allowing enough flexibility through our electives to create a bespoke training program. All students work closely with their faculty advisor to come up with a course load that supports their specific professional goals.