The Juilliard School Welcomes Inaugural Class of New M.F.A. in Drama Program This Fall

The Juilliard School welcomes the inaugural class of its new Master of Fine Arts in Drama program this Fall 2012. Eight graduate actors have been accepted into the highly selective program and will begin classes this September. Juilliard's M.F.A. in Drama is a four-year conservatory program in actor training providing the tools necessary to meet the demands of an ever-evolving performing arts career and preparing young artists to become versatile and dynamic leaders in their field. The M.F.A program joins Juilliard's four-year B.F.A. program, headed by James Houghton, the Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division.

Students in the graduate program will participate in advanced courses in addition to working side by side with undergraduates in certain skill sets and in performance. The final year of the M.F.A. program is dedicated to performance and other opportunities creating a bridge to the profession. The School recently announced the creation of Juilliard Drama Division's Professional Studio, hosted by Signature Theatre Company, where Mr. Houghton is Founding Artistic Director. The Professional Studio will bring Juilliard's undergraduate and graduate students together for professional workshops, rehearsals, and performances in Signature's new Frank Gehry-designed home, The Pershing Square Signature Center in the heart of New York City's Theater District. Juilliard events will take place at The Studio Theatre, a new 99-seat, state-of-the-art rehearsal and performance space in the Center.

Juilliard's Drama Division recently announced its new season of productions featuring its 4^th-year actors in the B.F.A. program. Performances are free and open to the public and take place in the Stephanie P. McClelland Drama Theater at Juilliard (155 West 65^th Street, 4^th Floor). The 2012-2013 season includes three fully-staged productions and three plays in rotation as part of its repertory month, February 2013. The season features Juilliard's Lila Wallace Acheson Playwrights Program alumnus Stephen Belber's McReele (October 17-21, 2012), directed by Sam Buntrock; Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House (November 8-12, 2012), directed by Marcela Lorca; and Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan (December 6-10, 2012), directed by Pam Berlin. The 4^th-year repertory in February 2013 includes: William in Transit, short plays by Tennessee Williams, written between 1943 and 1973, directed by Jonathan Rosenberg; Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, which won the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005, directed by Erica Schmidt; and William Shakespeare's Pericles, directed by Juilliard alumnus Orlando Pabotoy. Free tickets will be available to the public for each production, two weeks prior to the opening date of each show, and a wait list for each performance begins one hour prior to the start of the show. For more information on the new season, go to www.juilliard.edu.

For further information on Juilliard's Drama Division and its new M.F.A. in Drama program, please visit www.juilliard.edu/drama.