RANKED AMONG THE TOP 12 MFA ACTING PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD

-The Hollywood Reporter (2024)

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Overview

Since 1996, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) has partnered with Cleveland Play House (CPH), recipient of the 2015 Regional Theatre Tony Award, to offer a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting.

Every two years, eight actors are chosen from the over one thousand applicants we see who audition nationwide and internationally to join this rigorous three-year conservatory program. The CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program admits a diverse group of committed young artists who possess a love of language, empathy for the human experience, a vivid imagination and the desire to develop the necessary physical and vocal skills for a successful and sustained career in the ever-evolving performing arts scene. The intimate class size enables the program to tailor curriculum and performance experiences to suit the specific training needs of each class.

Our faculty is comprised of artists who either direct, perform or coach in professional theatres, film and TV, all while committed to the training goals of the CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program.

These training objectives are pursued in an environment that integrates the educational, artistic and professional resources of one of the oldest academic theatre programs in the United States (Case Western Reserve University) and the nation's first regional theatre (Cleveland Play House).

Mission Statement

The program is designed to train committed 21st century theatre artists from a wide variety of backgrounds capable of performing skillfully in works from the classical to contemporary canons in a variety of genres, so they are prepared to meet any artistic challenge. Our expectations are high, and we challenge our artists to grow in a nurturing yet rigorous environment. We want our actors to leave the program with confidence, purpose, and the knowledge that they have grown significantly as actors and as people.

Throughout the three years of training, the acting, voice, speech, and movement instructors 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. The program’s goal is to instill the skills, discipline, and craft that will produce a distinctive and effective actor able to encompass the full range of professional demands.

Course of Study

First Year

The first year involves ensemble building, learning and applying a shared vocabulary, and addressing habits and tensions in body and voice. Improvisational work and devised creations are explored alongside contemporary scene work. The first year culminates in an MFA ensemble performance in the Helen Theatre. Students have possible performance and understudy assignments in CPH’s season and New Ground Theatre Festival.

Courses include:

• Acting: Contemporary scene study, Viewpoints, improvisation and collective creations
• Movement: Freeing the Instrument, Dynamic Neutral Alignment, Somatics, Le Coq, Viewpoints
• Voice: Linklater
• Speech: Skinner/IPA
• Text Analysis: How to collectively and individually approach text

Second Year

As a cohesive ensemble, the second year class is introduced to a wide range of movement styles and more complex texts. The program moves into the modern era and there is a particular focus on the classics: Chekhov, Ibsen, Shakespeare and Shaw among others are explored. Students are involved in classroom workshop presentations, singing tutorials and possible performance and understudy assignments in CPH’s season and New Ground Theatre Festival. The class also performs in fully produced MFA ensemble productions each semester in the Helen Theatre.

Courses include:

• Acting: Modernist, Classical and Period Theatre
• Voice: Lessac and Roy Hart
• Speech: Dialects and Classical Text
• Text: The Modernists as well as Classical and Period plays
• Movement: Dynamics of Composition, Object Work, Clown, Grotowski, Animal
• Singing Tutorials
• Audition Technique

Third Year

Performance experiences include a final ensemble production in The Helen Theatre, along with mainstage and understudy work with CPH, leading to full membership with Actors’ Equity Association. In conjunction with CPH, the class participates in a New Play Development Workshop with visiting professionals. Depending on the extent of CPH opportunities, other performances are developed, such as workshop productions and/or fully staged presentations. Each student presents a final solo show as an expression of their personal aesthetic and area of interest. At the end of the year, MFA candidates present an Actor’s Showcase for agents, managers, casting directors and Industry professionals in New York City. Recent graduates have generated dozens of interviews and signed with major agents and managers.

Courses include:

• On-Camera Acting: Scene work
• Professional Development: The business of being an actor
• Audition Technique: Film and theatre
• Workshop Intensives: On-Camera Commercial and Voice-over work
• Singing Tutorials

Requirements for the MFA degree include:

• A minimum of 82 semester hours of graduate work beyond the bachelor’s degree
• A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 for all course work on the graduate level
• Completion of the requirements for the MFA Thesis Portfolio
• Successful completion of the Third Year Internship at The Cleveland Play House

 Course requirements and credit hours for the MFA in acting are as follows:

• Courses in acting, including script analysis, acting theory, characterization, modernist playwrights, camera technique, and the classical canon: 24
• Courses in movement, including mask work, physical awareness, and stage combat: 12
• Courses in voice, including voice production, breath control, and integration with text: 12
• Courses in speech, including stage speech, dialects, and verse and lyric drama: 8
• Courses in dramatic text analysis and performance history: 5
• Courses in thesis preparation: 6
• Courses in professional orientation, showcase preparation, and internship: 15

 TOTAL UNITS: 82

Upon successful completion of the program, the student is awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting, along with membership in Actors’ Equity Association.

program requirements

Graduate Thesis Portfolio

The portfolio consists of a 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. Each year, MFA acting students will meet with their advisors to determine roles that might be included in the thesis portfolio.

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 each role and how this affected the actor's choices in rehearsal and performance.

In the final semester of the third year, students submit the completed thesis portfolio to their faculty advisor. Satisfactory completion of the Thesis Portfolio and the third-year internship with CPH are among the requirements for being awarded the MFA degree.