Faculty instruction and mentorship

• Students receive individualized attention from faculty and guest artists who are actively engaged in the profession.
• Beginning in the first semester, graduate students in Acting are paired with a faculty mentor, who provides guidance, feedback and support as the student acclimates to the work (and life!) of a graduate student.
• At the end of each semester, each graduate student in Acting submits a document reflecting on their experiences in the department. The document helps to direct individual meetings with Acting/Directing faculty, denote progress and challenges, and set goals for the following semester.
• In combination with these semester-end reflections, actors are also given a supplemental reading list, which culminates in an oral examination with faculty, discussing the material, its application to each actor’s breadth of knowledge, and development of their personal aesthetic and process.
• Recent guest artists working closely with our M.F.A. Actors include: Andrew Borthwick-Leslie, Chika Ike, Nilan, Migdalia Cruz, Nira Pullin, David Koté, Henry Woronicz, Jonathan Banks, Glenn Close, David Turrentine, Raelle Myrick-Hodges, and many others.

Coursework + curriculum

• Each semester includes voice and movement classwork
• An opportunity to study and certify in combat techniques through SAFD
• Foundational acting classes offer instruction in Meisner, Adler, and other Stanislavski-based methodologies
• On-Camera acting class includes a day-long studio session at Zaahi Studios in Indianapolis
• Solo performance development + Audition Strategies and Techniques
• Performance Scene Study of Contemporary and pre-20^th Century scripts
• Training in Intimacy for the Stage, plus access to additional IDC resources
• Courses in History, Theory and Literature
• Entrepreneurship course designed to develop skills in self-promotion and production
• Performing Shakespeare course
• Opportunities to take courses and engage in workshops with students in other graduate disciplines, such as Directing, Playwriting, Dramaturgy, and Design/Technology

M.F.A. in Acting: Three Year Curriculum Guide

Production experience

• Our Programming Committee prioritizes programming material that serves the department’s academic and equity missions, that represents a variety of genres including new, contemporary, and heightened-language plays, and that provides opportunities for as many graduate and undergraduate majors as possible. M.F.A. students are encouraged to submit titles to the Committee for consideration.
• In their first semester, M.F.A. students do not participate in mainstage productions. Organized audition opportunities at professional regional theatres are scheduled during the first semester.
• Each of their five subsequent semesters, M.F.A. Acting students are cast in mainstage productions, providing opportunities to collaborate with faculty, guest artists, fellow graduate students, and talented undergraduate students on departmental productions, and to apply techniques learned in the classroom to practical use.
• IU Summer Theatre casting opportunities + On-campus auditions for other summer performance opportunities are offered.
• In year 3, a Showcase production is developed in which all M.F.A. Actors will appear, and to which Industry professionals are invited.