Master of Fine Arts in Theatre - Acting

The Theatre, Master of Fine Arts in Acting Track is a NAST-accredited pre-professional actor training program. Through intensive practical and theoretical classwork and production experience, students are prepared physically and vocally as artists to succeed in this demanding profession. The program is a highly selective, rigorous, three-year professional training program emphasizing both theatre theory and practice. The first two years are spent on campus in classes and performing in Theatre UCF productions. The third year is spent as a resident company member at Orlando Shakes where students perform in mainstage and theatre for young audience productions, teach, study and assist with the operations of the theatre. Students, in addition to becoming highly trained theatre practitioners, must also demonstrate the ability to understand the conceptual basis of their art and to be able to articulate that understanding to others. Toward this end, the department will recruit and develop graduate students who can serve, along with faculty and staff, as role models for undergraduate students whose BA and BFA programs of study are integrally connected with the graduate program. The Acting track of the Theatre MFA program requires 47 credit hours of core and specialization courses that follow a suggested yearly schedule in addition to a thesis and an internship. The electives can be chosen (with instructor approval) from existing courses in other MFA tracks in Theatre. Because allowed electives are both two- and three-credit-hour courses, the course of study shows a sliding number of credits for electives. Consequently, although the 61 credit hours are required, a student may graduate with as many as 65 credit hours.

A 3.0 Theatre GPA in previous study The GRE is not required for admission to this program. An essay stating applicant’s academic and professional goals. Résumé. Three letters of recommendation. An audition. Interview. Complete the general entrance and area-specific undergraduate prerequisites or their equivalents. Applicants applying to this program who have attended a college/university outside the United States must provide one official transcript and official certification of degree, with date awarded. MFA Acting applicants are required to participate in an interview and perform two contrasting monologues. Auditions, Portfolio, and Interview Requirements: For more details about these requirements, contact the Theatre Department at theatre.cah.ucf.edu. General Entrance and Area Specific Prerequisites -Students applying for entrance into the MFA Programs must have successfully completed the following undergraduate courses or their equivalent: Acting – Script Analysis or Play Analysis, Theatre History or Dramatic Literature, Stage Voice, Stage Movement, Acting Musical Theatre -Fundamentals of Music, Acting I, Acting II, Musical Theatre Voice I, Musical Theatre Voice II are all recommended. Design -Script Analysis or Play Analysis, Directing I, Theatre History I and II, Dramatic Literature I and II, Stagecraft I, Stagecraft II, Theatre Drafting, 2D CADD, Scene Design I, Lighting Design I, Costume Construction, Costume Design I. Theatre for Young Audiences -Script Analysis or Play Analysis, Directing I, Theatre History or Dramatic Literature, as well as experience in some area of theatre and/or education.