Offered in: Chicago

The Interdisciplinary Conservatory at Roosevelt University offers a Fast-Track Master of Arts degree in Theatre Directing to serve the needs of highly motivated theatre educators and early-career directors. Traditionally, the degree’s courses are delivered in three intensive summer sessions over a three-year period, with students completing 30 credit hours of required course work followed by a further 3 credit hours of thesis/capstone work to demonstrate the synthesis of their work as a director..

The Fast Track faculty includes Interdisciplinary and Theatre Conservatory professors and working professionals from the Chicago theatre community and beyond. The program stresses practical training for the director in tandem with special workshops and lectures with professionals in the field. Enrollment in the program is limited.

As an integral component of the Fast-Track program, students are taken to various Chicago area theatres to view productions as an extension of the classroom experience. Opportunities to meet the actors, directors, and others involved in the productions are included as a part of the theatre-going experience when possible.

ADMISSION

Requirements for admission to the MA program in theatre directing include a resume, an essay, a mini-portfolio, letters of recommendation, and official undergraduate transcripts. 

REQUIREMENTS

For the Fast Track rotation schedule, contact the CCPA Admission Office at (312) 341-6735. 

This degree map charts a suggested pathway through all of your required courses. It is incumbent upon all students to fully comprehend curricular requirements and course schedules, and while it is feasible to chart an alternate pathway, it is highly recommended that you do so in close consultation with your academic advisor so as to determine a degree path appropriately tailored to your needs.

A full-time graduate course load comprises 9-13 credits per semester.

Courses for the MA Theatre Directing degree are offered in a three-year cycle:

Summer Intensive A:

• THAR 400 SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN THEATRICAL PRODUCTION I
• THAR 408 PERIOD STYLES
• THAR 449 STAGE DIRECTING II

Summer Intensive B:

• THAR 401 PROBLEMS IN THEATRICAL PRODUCTION II
• THAR 406 STAGE MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
• THAR 411 STAGE DIRECTION: LITERARY ADAPTATION

Summer Intensive C:

• THAR 402 DRAMATURY & PRODUCTION PREPERATION
• THAR 407 VOICE AND BODY TRAINING
• THAR 448 STAGE DIRECTING I

Students must complete all coursework, but the order in which those classes are taken may vary (i.e., depending on when a student begins the program in relation to this cycle, students may complete the Summer Intensives in the orders ABC, BCA, or CAB.)

After completing all of the coursework above, students typically will complete the final course, THAR 494 THESIS PRODUCTION/PROJECT, in either the following fall or spring term.

For example:

¹

May be completed in either the Fall or Spring Term