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MFA PROGRAM
Class of 2008
Class of 2006
The
collaborative MFA Professional Actor Training Program between The Cleveland
Play House and Case Western Reserve University is a three
year program which is housed in the Play House complex.
This intimate program is designed to train a theater
artist capable of performing skillfully in a variety
of roles from contemporary to classical genres, and
to provide both technical skills and an aesthetic
sensibility for a successful career in the professional
theater.
Throughout the three years of training, the acting, voice, speech, and
movement teachers work in concert to assess the individual student's
progress, and integrate the various disciplines in ways that will create
maximum flexibility, freedom of expression, and dynamic range, all geared
toward instilling the skills, discipline and an aesthetic of craft which
will produce a distinctive and effective actor able to encompass the
full range of professional demands.
These objectives
are pursued in an environment that integrates the educational, artistic
and professional resources of one of the oldest academic theater programs
in the United States (Case Western Reserve University) and the nation's
first regional theater (the Cleveland Play House).
For each two-year cycle, the program accepts a class of eight actors.
These students will spend each year of their study in classes at the
Cleveland Play House. The three-year program instills the physical,
mental and practical techniques needed by today's successful theater
artist. The small class size, and the fact that students are accepted
only every two years, allows the program the flexibility to tailor curriculum
and performance experiences to suit the specific training needs of each
class and individual student.
In the first year of study, students are immersed
in intense and rigorous classes in Acting (Contemporary),
Movement, Voice, Speech (Skinner), and Text Analysis
culminating in an end of year performance in the Brooks or Studio Theatres at The CPH.
The apprenticeship with the Play House begins this year with classes/workshops
with resident and visiting Play House artists, introductions
to all incoming casts, directors and designers,
and Company status at all Play House functions.
The second year students continue their intensive
training and performing the Graduate Performance
Studio. Coursework continues in Acting (Chekhov & Ibsen - The Modernists, and Shakespeare),
Voice, Speech (Dialects & Classical Text), and Movement (Period Styles & Commedia). At this
time their involvement with the Play House and Actors' Equity Association
expands by assignments to mainstage understudy work and performing as
cast in the Next Stage Series of staged readings of new plays.
The
third year MFA students perform in their two show Classical productions, and perform as cast in the season at
the Cleveland Play House. Depending on the extent
of mainstage opportunities, other performances
are developed, such as workshop productions and/or
fully staged repertory presentations. At the
end of the third year of the program, MFA candidates present a showcase
audition for producers, agents and casting directors in New York City.
Upon successful completion of the program, the student is awarded a
Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting, along with the opportunity to
join Actors' Equity Association, either through accumulation of weeks
through the Equity Membership Candidate program, or through assignment
of an AEA contracted role.
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Bus Stop ,
2003-04 |
The Academic Structure
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A minimum of 60 semester hours
of graduate work beyond the bachelor's degree
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A
cumulative grade point average of 3.0 for all
course work on the graduate level
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Performance
in the graduate ensemble productions and Cleveland
Play House season as assigned
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Departmental assessment
of student progress on a semester-to-semester
basis
Thesis Portfolios
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Big Love,
2006-07 |
The Portfolio will consist of detailed, articulate account of the actor's
rehearsal process and related preparation for the performance of at
least three roles created during their MFA course of study.
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Content of the portfolio will include a narrative
outlining the synthesis of craft and class work
with research directly relevant to the creation
and performance of the role, and how this synthesis
affected the actor's choices in rehearsal and
performance. The portfolio will include a minimum
of three roles, two of which must be "major" roles.
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Each
year, once roles in the theater's production
season have been assigned, MFA acting students
will meet with their advisors to determine
roles which might be included in the thesis portfolio.
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In
the final semester of the third year, the Thesis Portfolio is turned in to the students' Faculty Advisor in a timely manner.
Satisfactory completion of the portfolio and the third-year internship are among the requirements or
the awarding of the MFA degree.
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