American Conservatory Theater Restructures MFA Program

The American Conservatory Theater Master of Fine Arts Program, ranked fifth in the nation, announces the launch of the M.F.A. 8, a smaller-size class and a new institutional structure, with the incoming class of 2011. The new structure, aimed to re-envision A.C.T.'s institutional culture and the experience of the M.F.A. candidates, includes eight students per class (compared to the admitted class of 12 last year), a full-time faculty, full scholarships for all eight students in their third year, and increased opportunities for students to appear on the A.C.T. mainstage. The M.F.A. 8 will continue A.C.T.'s rich tradition of excellence in actor training and will build on its legacy of acclaimed graduates, who include such major talents as Elizabeth Banks, Annette Bening, Danny Glover, Benjamin Bratt, Anika Noni Rose, and Denzel Washington. This restructuring is the next step in the implementation of A.C.T.'s five-year strategic plan, creating deeper synergies between A.C.T.'s educational and producing arms.

"Our new vision for the M.F.A. Program takes full advantage of our conservatory's relationship with a company of A.C.T.'s stature," says A.C.T. Conservatory Director Melissa Smith. "The goal is to attract the highest caliber of applicants with significant financial incentives and a world-class faculty while making each student an individual part of our larger artistic community. We view the eight actors we will accept as student actors rather than acting students-emerging professionals whose debut will be on the A.C.T. stage."

The tuition-free third year will make A.C.T. more competitive nationally and make it more accessible to young actors who might otherwise not be able to afford to attend. The curriculum will also be augmented to increase collaboration among second- and third-year students and will allow A.C.T. to prepare actors to appear on the mainstage as early as their second year. The plan will ensure more one-on-one attention from faculty and the A.C.T. artistic team for each M.F.A. candidate and will give the selected actors a more well-rounded understanding of producing theater through in-depth connection to the administrative side of A.C.T. The full-time faculty members, such as recently hired Head of Movement Stephen Buescher, are also expected to play a bigger role in The Life of the theater, including serving on the creative teams for mainstage productions.

"We want to grow our own. We are looking to train exceptional young actors to be ‘mainstage ready,'" adds Artistic Director Carey Perloff. "Success on a stage of A.C.T.'s scale requires enormous depth and agility as an actor and is vital in developing the total actor-a theater artist possessing the skills and experience to succeed in just about any professional arena, from Broadway and regional theater to film and television. This is a very exciting new moment for A.C.T.'s conservatory, and one that will have far-reaching consequences both for A.C.T. and for the field as a whole."

"A.C.T. helped set free the artist inside of me," says Alex Morf, M.F.A. Program '08, who appeared in The Rainmaker on the American Conservatory Theater stage. About the unique combination of training and professional experience that A.C.T. provides its students, he adds: "Whether I was working in a studio with my classmates, in rehearsal with seasoned professional actors, or standing on the American Conservatory Theater stage in front of 900 people, I was constantly challenged and inspired to find truth, spontaneity, and life in every moment of my work."

A.C.T. was the first theater training program in the country not affiliated with a college or university accredited to award the master of fine arts degree and increased cooperation between the conservatory and A.C.T. mainstage has been a strong focus of the last three seasons. The artistic team (most significantly Perloff and members of the A.C.T. core acting company) serves as teachers in the program, and M.F.A. Program students have played significant roles on the mainstage over the years. This season, along with the annual production of A Christmas Carol, which offers a chance to all of the M.F.A. candidates to appear on the mainstage, five additional roles will have been filled by students, including three in the upcoming world premiere of Lillian Groag's War Music. The third-year class is also sharing the stage with company member Jack Willis and other professional actors in the current A.C.T. M.F.A. Program production of Gorky's Philistines.

Ranked as one of the top programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program was the first theater training program in the country not affiliated with a college or university accredited to award the master of fine arts degree. The M.F.A. Program functions as the cornerstone of the A.C.T. Conservatory, which also includes the Summer Training Congress, Studio A.C.T., and the Young Conservatory. The conservatory, led by Melissa Smith and George Thompson, now serves 3,000 students every year. Elizabeth Banks, Benjamin Bratt, Annette Bening, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, and Denzel Washington are among the conservatory's distinguished alumni. With its commitment to excellence in actor training and to the relationship between training, performance, and audience, the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program has moved to the forefront of America's actor training programs, while serving as the creative engine of the company at large. For more information on the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program, please visit www.act-sf.org/conservatory.

 

 

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