The M.F.A. Program in Dramatic Art is not accepting
applications for 2023–2024 at this time.
The M.F.A. is designed to provide a program of rigorous, advanced
training and practice that enables mid-career artists to explore
and expand skills in order to develop artistically and
professionally. With the focus firmly on interdisciplinary
practice, the M.F.A. offers artists the opportunity to
create new dimensions of classical and contemporary
performance. The program enables flexible interchange
between artists and faculty, and the faculty mission ensures that
graduates are prepared to develop their craft in new directions.
We support diversity in the makeup of our students as well
as in our research and curriculum. For the latest on Grad
Diversity initiatives please visit www.gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/diversity.
We focus on a collaborative curriculum of interdisciplinary
seminars and practical laboratories/workshops covering a range of
performance practices, including acting, choreography, design,
devising and directing. Students are also encouraged to
collaborate with faculty and students in other UC Davis Arts
Programs (Music, Art Studio, Art History, Design, and Cinema &
Digital Media) as well as with other departments across the
campus.
Students expand their horizons by working with a professional
faculty and with nationally and internationally known visiting
artists. For twenty-five years, the department’s acclaimed
Granada Artist-in-Residence program has hosted renowned
directors, choreographers, actors, designers and playwrights.
Each year, the Granada artists undertake special projects or
theatrical productions and teach courses as part of their
residencies.
Each year several major shows and smaller performances
are produced in our playing spaces. M.F.A. students participate
in these productions, drawing a wide audience and
significant media coverage from the region.
Furthering its remit as an acclaimed “practice-led research”
department, Theatre and Dance houses the Institute for
Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance. With a quarterly
call for proposals, the ITDP provides a forum for students,
faculty and staff across campus to explore creative research
questions into the nature of performance-making. This
unique resource has already enabled one-day performance art
symposia, undergraduate-directed productions, choreographic
explorations, collaborations with other departments including the
production of a Spanish Golden-Age drama, investigations into
cultural and racial diversity through performance, as well as
numerous happenings, events, seminars and film projects.
The department-based program administers graduate instruction and
research leading to a Master of Fine Arts degree. This M.F.A.
program is intended for mid-career theater and dance artists
over a two-year period of study. The student explores relevant
areas of practice including acting, choreography, design,
devising and directing, in an interdisciplinary framework. The
student is encouraged to explore interdisciplinary study in
additional areas offered by university faculty by way of the
electives in other campus graduate programs.