Theatre - Directing
Overview
The MFA in Directing will accept its next class to begin in the Fall of 2025. Review of applications will begin in January 2025.
Illinois State's Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Directing program cultivates the next generation of creative leaders in the American theatre.
The Directing program accepts a select group of advanced students who have demonstrated the potential to succeed in long-term careers as professional directors. We nurture the emergence of a unique and personal aesthetic for each director, while at the same time fostering an appreciation for the skills and technique required to achieve sustainable success in the profession. Accepted candidates will demonstrate curiosity about their world and the capacity to lead with empathy.
The goals of the program challenge students to:
- Develop an individualized aesthetic that speaks to today's world
- Communicate effectively with performers
- Collaborate openly and creatively with a design team
- Analyze plays from multiple genres
- Embrace poetic language and rhetorical device in classical plays
- Master staging techniques for multiple space configurations
- Work with professional rigor
Production Experience
Learn more about the production experience available during each of the Directing program's three years.
Illinois Shakespeare Festival
Directors will work for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival for 10 hours per week as part of their graduate assistantship. Duties may include casting, education, marketing, or company management depending on the student's interest and the needs of the Festival. All MFA students will also teach one undergraduate theatre class per semester.
Point of Pride
The college's notable alumni include film, television, and theatre professionals such as Jane Lynch, Sean Hayes, John Malkovich, Craig Robinson, Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Laurie Metcalf. Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre was created by theatre students while they were attending Illinois State.
Graduate Advisor
Dr. Lauren Lowell
(309) 438-5135
Centennial East - CE 007
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Discover what life as an Illinois State graduate student is like.
How to Apply
University Admission Requirements
A student applying to this program must:
- Have earned a four-year bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university that is accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting association, or do so by the time of program matriculation.
- Submit unofficial transcripts from each college or university other than Illinois State at which graduate, undergraduate, or non-degree credit was earned. The unofficial transcript should be easily readable and clearly indicate degree(s) awarded, courses and course grades for each term.
- If admitted, official domestic transcripts can be emailed from the university to GraduateAdmissions@IllinoisState.edu or mailed in a sealed envelope to: Illinois State University, Graduate School, 208 Hovey Hall, Campus Box 4040, Normal, IL 61790-4040.
- If admitted, official international transcripts can be emailed directly from the international institution to InternationalAdmissions@IllinoisState.edu or mailed in a sealed envelope to: Illinois State University, International Admissions, Campus Box 6180, Normal, IL 61790-6180.
International students can learn more about specific application requirements by visiting the Graduate School Admission Requirements.
Additional Program Admission Requirements
GPA
You must have a minimum 2.8 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work.
The Grade Point Average (GPA) of all undergraduate credentials earned in the United States that are used for graduate degree admission evaluation is calculated by the last 60 hours of undergraduate work. International credentials are evaluated by using cumulative GPA (CGPA) in lieu of the GPA from the last 60 hours of undergraduate work.
Application Materials
A student applying to this program must:
- Submit a current resume.
- Provide three professional or academic letters of recommendation.
- Interview with a member of the faculty. Interviews are held at U/RTA sites in Chicago and New York or on the Illinois State campus.
- Submit a letter of intent and statement of purpose addressing why you make theatre your professional and artistic goals and the appropriateness of advanced training at this time.
Directing written materials must be submitted by January 1 to:
School of Theatre, Dance, and Film
Campus Box 5700
Normal, IL 61790-5700
For more information regarding MFA in Directing, contact Robert Quinlan.
Application Deadlines
- Fall Term — March 31
Graduate Assistantships
The University provides graduate assistantships as a means of financial support. They are intended as a way to facilitate a student's progress to degree while providing important professional development.
Eligibility
To be eligible for an assistantship a student must, generally,
- be admitted unconditionally as a degree-seeking student into a graduate academic program, or have a minimum of 120 undergraduate hours if in an integrated degree program
- be in good-standing
- be enrolled full-time (typically at least 9 credit hours during the fall or spring semesters, or at least 6 hours during the summer session).
Benefits
Graduate assistants receive
- monthly wages paid in the form of either a stipend or an hourly wage
- a waiver for 100% of tuition during a semester of appointment
- a waiver for up to 12 credit hours of tuition for the summer term immediately following a fall or spring appointment
Costs & Funding
See Student Accounts for information on tuition and fees. Funding for graduate students is available from several different sources. Students who have been admitted from contiguous states including Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin will receive in-state tuition.
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