Introduction
Theatre for Young Audiences is a Master’s programme designed for recent graduates and early-career artists interested in developing their performance-making through a professionally oriented academic framework.
This programme develops and expands the notion of students as producers of knowledge, with a pronounced emphasis on enhancing the employability of its graduates through live brief projects with existing partners such as schools, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, and theatre for young audience practitioners.
The programme aims to provide students with a professionally-facing environment in which to explore and interrogate their performance-making within a robust, methodologically informed academic framework.
Key features may include:
Supervision and teaching by practitioners
Extensive opportunities to show performance work in Lincoln and the county, with an expectation that students will be supported in their ambition to produce work for as broad a geographic and demographic audience as possible
Taught content that transfers the knowledge and skills necessary to allow students to confidently prepare funding bids for performance processes within and beyond their studies
Local, regional, and national opportunities for making and showing performance work
The opportunity for extended, practice-based work.
How You Study
The programme is taught through a combination of practical workshops, demonstrations, and seminars. Supervised development of performance processes happens in each term and aims to offer input from the theatre for young audience practitioners.
Students study two modules in Semester A: Audience, Author and Approach: An Introduction to TYA, and TYA and the Theatre. Both of these modules offer an introduction to seminal practices, theories, and approaches to creating theatre for young audiences.
In Semester B, students study The TYA Company, and the TYA and The School: Devising and Touring. These modules are designed to develop industry-facing skills in working with TYA.
The Professional Platform module in Semester C provides students with the opportunity to research, develop, and market a major TYA project aimed at the professional market.
During the programme, students have the opportunity to:
Develop their own performance practice to a professional standard
Understand the role of research for practice
Engage with the programme and its outputs as an active producer of their own work
To reflect upon, critically engage with, and evaluate contemporary methodologies, economies, outputs, and evaluations of practice.
Contact and Independent Study
Contact time will average nine hours per week in terms one and two, and five per week in the final term.
Students should expect to undertake two hours of self-study for each hour of seminar-based contact time, and three hours of independent rehearsal and devising time per hour of workshop contact time.
Modules
Audience, Author and Approach: An Introduction to Theatre for Young Audiences (Core)
Professional Platform (Core)
The TYA Company (Core)
TYA and The School: Devising and Touring (Core)
TYA and the Theatre (Core)
How You Are Assessed
Assessment takes place through a range of devised performances and the delivery of a school workshop, as well as essays, presentations, vivas, a business plan, and a final producer’s portfolio, which develops students’ web presence and wraparound materials to prepare them for professional life.
Assessment Feedback
The University of Lincoln's policy on assessment feedback aims to ensure that academics will return in-course assessments to students promptly – usually within 15 working days of the submission date.
Course-Specific Additional Costs
For each course, you may find that there are additional costs. These may be with regard to the specific clothing, materials or equipment required. Some courses provide opportunities for you to undertake fieldwork or field trips. Where these are compulsory, the cost for travel and accommodation will be covered by the University and so is included in your fee. Where these are optional, you will normally be required to pay your own transport, accommodation and general living costs.
Additional costs may include materials for performance and optional theatre tickets to see TYA performances. As a guide, costs are likely to be in the region of £300 per student.
With regards to textbooks, the University provides students who enrol with a comprehensive reading list and you will find that our extensive library holds either material or virtual versions of the core texts that you are required to read. However, you may prefer to purchase some of these for yourself and you will be responsible for this cost.
There may be additional costs associated with performances. For students who wish to participate in The Lincoln Company's Edinburgh Festival Fringe performances, there are additional costs. Students are currently required to contribute £150 towards the cost of attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and are responsible for their travel and general living costs.
Entry Requirements 2021-22
First or upper second class honours degree in a relevant subject. Applications from students with relevant industry experience (or equivalent) will be considered on their merits.
If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages for information on equivalent qualifications.
Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page.
If you do not meet the above IELTS requirements, you may be able to take part in one of our Pre-session English and Academic Study Skills courses.
These specialist courses are designed to help students meet the English language requirements for their intended programme of study.
Teaching and Learning During Covid-19
At Lincoln, Covid-19 has encouraged us to review our practices and, as a result, to take the opportunity to find new ways to enhance the student experience. We have made changes to our teaching and learning approach and to our campus, to ensure that students and staff can enjoy a safe and positive learning experience. We will continue to follow Government guidance and work closely with the local Public Health experts as the situation progresses, and adapt our teaching and learning accordingly to keep our campus as safe as possible.
Features
Students may have the opportunity to:
Develop skills in devising, writing and performing for young audiences
Perform to public audiences in established venues
Perform to audiences in external venues such as schools
Develop the knowledge and expertise to form small-scale theatre companies
Participate in workshops led by established practitioners in the field
Gain tuition in grant writing
Lead a final, public-facing project supervised by staff, including wraparound materials.
How to Apply
Young audiences are amongst the most challenging (and rewarding) any performer will ever encounter, and the School needs to be confident applicants are suited to this field. The School looks for commitment, imagination, flair, and resilience. Students will need all these qualities in the field of theatre for young audiences, so their application should talk about experience (even if they don’t have any directly with young audiences).
Students will also need a recent Enhanced DBS to be considered for the programme (schools, like professional venues, will not accept student performers working with children without them).
Interviews
The programme conducts applicant interviews as part of the application process. External applicants are usually required to prepare and present a short audition piece directed at a young audience.
Career and Personal Development
This programme is designed to lead directly into the field of theatre for young audiences, however, it may also prove valuable to those interested in teaching, management, or policy-making in the arts.
