Acting

Plan of Study

The first year is a highly disciplined period of training. The year begins with a concentration on realism and contemporary American playwrights, and actors are introduced in their second term to the plays of Chekhov, Ibsen, and The Greeks. The first production opportunity comes at the beginning of the second term with collaborative workshops on three new plays written by Playwriting students for the acting company. At the conclusion of the New Play Lab, students in good standing enter the casting pool for Yale School of Drama productions. Students who have demonstrated and developed their talent during the year will be invited by the faculty to return for a second year of training.

Second-year work expands the focus into verse drama, with emphasis on understanding and performing the works of Shakespeare. Students strengthen their skills and attain a higher level of ensemble work through their classes and through increasing production assignments. In the second term of the second year, the emphasis on heightened and extended language continues through work on Molière, George Bernard Shaw, and diverse texts from world literature. The third year is spent exploring the plays of Bertolt Brecht and challenging material from the twentieth century and today. Students also have multiple courses in learning to work on camera, transferring their techniques to the medium of film.

Students are required to attend all classes in their curriculum.