Program Overview

Program Overview

The Acting program at the David Geffen School of Drama is designed for talented and committed individuals from diverse backgrounds who possess a lively intelligence, a strong imagination, a collaborative ethos, and a physical and vocal instrument capable of development and transformation. The program prepares students for work as professional actors through a combination of in-depth classroom training and interdisciplinary production opportunities.

Program Structure

The program is structured into three years of study, with each year focusing on different aspects of acting.

• The first year is a highly disciplined period of training, concentrating on the basic principles of craft that lead to extraordinary acting. Models of realism are explored through work on a variety of scenes by contemporary and modern playwrights.
• The second year begins with a focus on verse drama and creating embodied performances of Shakespeare. In the second term, the emphasis is on developing an expansive sense of truth through heightened and extended language, with work on diverse texts from world literature.
• The third year includes work on the plays of Bertolt Brecht, Suzan-Lori Parks, and other challenging writers, as well as the development of original self-scripted solo projects. Students also learn to work on camera and in front of a microphone, transferring their techniques to the mediums of film and audio recording.

Production Opportunities

School production opportunities include work in a wide-ranging season of directors’ thesis productions, Shakespeare Repertory Projects, new plays by student playwrights, and program projects led by faculty or a professional director. All casting is assigned by the chair of the Acting program, based on the needs of the project, the developmental needs of each student, and the desire to achieve a balance of collaborative opportunity.

Yale Repertory Theatre

Yale Repertory Theatre serves as an advanced training center for the program. All Acting students work at Yale Rep as understudies, observing and working alongside professional actors and directors. Students may be cast in Yale Rep productions during the season, depending upon their appropriateness to the roles available. Through work at Yale Repertory Theatre, those students who are not members of Actors’ Equity will attain membership upon graduation.

Yale Cabaret

Yale Cabaret provides an additional outlet for the exploration of a wide range of material, including self-scripted pieces, company-devised original work, adaptations, and musicals. The program’s chair works directly with the Yale Cabaret artistic directors regarding approval of Cabaret participation by actors. Actors who are double cast may not participate in Yale Cabaret productions.

Attendance and Participation

As adult learners in training for a demanding profession, students are expected to attend all classes in their curriculum. Participation in productions outside the School is strongly discouraged, and permission to do so is rarely given.