Program Overview

Introduction to the Master of Fine Arts in Directing Program

The Master of Fine Arts in Directing program is designed to train artists to discover, develop, and apply their individual artistic voice with vision and integrity. This program guides each director to understand who they are in themselves, so that they will know who they are in the world.

Program Overview

The MFA program in Directing accepts three highly motivated individuals each year – artists with a passionate drive to work in the theater at the highest level of creativity and accomplishment. The program prioritizes each artist’s role and opportunity in a professional community, providing a place for crucial introspection, supported by rigorous scholarship, a fully-funded assistantship, and intensive mentoring.

Program Goals

The program aims to train directors to:

• Understand and define the work they want to make
• Develop their collaborations with other artists
• Explore their practice in a rigorously informed historical and critical context
• Articulate what they believe theatre should do in the world
• Build relationships with audiences and communities

Curriculum and Collaborations

Directors accepted into the program will work side by side with a gifted cohort of MFA designers and our award-winning faculty. The course of study includes a rich and unique curriculum that puts the focus on a director’s personal vision, depth of craft, leadership, creativity, and collaborative voice, and how these skills are employed in relationship to the community context in which they will work.

Learning Opportunities

Directors are exposed to an expansive range of artists, scholars, and critical perspectives, while being supported in close tutorial relationships with a core faculty. They learn advanced directing theory and practice from working directors at prestigious national theatres, and have opportunities to develop and lead projects on campus. Students may also pursue varied production opportunities such as professional internships in the multifaceted and thriving Chicago theater community.

Program Location

The MFA in Directing program is located in the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Room 5-160, Evanston, IL 60208.