Master in Theatre

Are you a theatre director or theatre designer looking for a context in which to examine your artistic process and/or explore new artistic paths?

The Master in Theatre at the Toneelacademie Maastricht offers you an inspiring program that combines a focus on Artistic Research with extensive mentoring of your Artistic Project.

About the education

The Master consists of

• An intensive organized program with seminars, workshops, meetings and mentorings. You get a challenging and varied input to help you develop your Artistic Project and accompanying Research.
• An individualized itinerary in which you choose your own specific mentors relevant for your Artistic Project and Research.
• An ongoing critical discussion with your peers, guest lecturers, theatre-makers and organizers, and professionals and master students from other disciplines. Through these exchanges, you develop your discourse and vocabulary.
• A hands-on training where your artistic practice is central. You finish the Master with an Artistic Project that will be presented within the professional field.
• A program composed of 4 building blocks: the meeting between scenography and directing, artistic research, transdisciplinarity and networks (cultural entrepreneurship).

Collective sessions

The 3 semesters are spread over 2 years. All meetings are scheduled on Mondays and Tuesdays in Maastricht or on location. The majority of collective sessions are organized during the first semester (September-December 2018) allowing you to combine the Master in Theatre with other activities.

Practical Information

The 3 semesters are spread over 2 years (85 ECTS credits). All meetings are scheduled on Mondays and Tuesdays in Maastricht or on location. The majority of collective sessions are organized during the first semester allowing you to combine the Master in Theatre with other activities. The program language is English.

Mission

The Master in Theatre offers an educational context for scenographers, directors and other artists with an acquired artistic identity and a keen interest in theatrical performance and scenography. In the Master in Theatre, artists can explore new artistic practices and/or develop their qualities as an artistic researcher. The Master in Theatre nurtures the innovative potential and diversity of theatre practice and artistic research.

Essentials

• The Master in Theatre believes in endorsing the expertise and the self-organization of the artist. The Master program is conceived as an individualized trajectory designed by the student.
• The Master relies on the creative power of the meeting between experts on a basis of equality. It aims to create a reflective community composed of all of its participants (students and mentors).
• The Master in Theatre believes that artistic research is a major contribution to the development of the artist.
• The Master in Theatre advocates the meeting between scenographers and directors in a research context as an enrichment for both theatre disciplines.
• Performance is by definition an interdisciplinary art form. The Master in Theatre takes this a step further and focuses on transdisciplinarity: the exploration of alien, non-artistic, methodologies within the performance domain.

Artistic Project

You apply for the Master in Theatre with a concept for a theatrical performance or a theatrical installation. This Artistic Project is the core of your trajectory. The workshop and seminar program, the tutoring by mentors and the peer-to-peer discussions will mostly take your artistic practice and your Artistic Project as the specific entry for discussion and action.

Besides the organized program and mentoring, you have a personal mentoring budget at your disposal to arrange meetings with specialist mentors and coaches that you need for the specific artistic goals you have set for yourself in the Master.

During the program, the different aspects of your production process are being considered at a pace that fits with your personal development. You finalize the Master with the production of your Artistic Project in the professional field. The production and its production plan are part of your final evaluation of the Master.

Artistic Research

Your Artistic Research has a direct relationship to your Artistic Project. The starting point is a research question that allows you to examine the thematic of your Artistic Project in a different or a wider artistic, cultural, social, political, scientific or another context. The Artistic Research allows you to position yourself within this chosen context.

Where the Artistic Project results in a concrete theatrical production, the Artistic Research a is a non-result oriented exploration of how you function as an artist. You can consider alternate methodologies and strategies; you can replace the usual selection model of decision-making with alternate ways of open discovery. Artistic Research focuses on your possibilities and potentialities, opening up pathways rather than narrowing down your options to come to a product.

Your Artistic Research leads up to the Critical Reflection, the end communication of the research. The Critical Reflection can be an essay, a lecture-performance, a portfolio, a documentary, an exhibition, a seminar, etc. You choose a format that fits the content of your Research and that maximizes its communicative qualities. The Critical Reflection is part of your final evaluation.

Program

The organized program of the Master in Theatre does not intend to present a monolithic view on artistic practices and Artistic Research but rather a ‘mosaic’, offering you many possible connections with your individual practice. Through these encounters, you acquire the tools to contextualize your Artistic Project and Artistic Research.

The program is divided into 3 semesters, each with a different emphasis. The first semester is the most packed (organized meetings every Monday and Tuesday), with a focus on introducing the principles of Artistic Research. In the second semester, there is a movement from organized to self-organized, artists' workshops and mentoring take the upper hand. In the third semester you are, besides being the host of the new students of the first year, completely self-organized. You take care of your mentoring and complete your production with production plan (Artistic Project). You finish and present your Critical Reflection (the communication format of your Artistic Research).

In addition to seminars, workshops and meetings, the Master in Theatre offers you a wide-ranging mentoring program: a general and long-term mentoring by the program director and the lector, mentoring associated with your Artistic Research and with your Artistic Project respectively, peer-to-peer mentoring, mentoring of the production plan, etc.

Furthermore, you have a personal mentoring budget at your disposal. You use this budget to arrange meetings with specialist mentors and coaches that your trajectory needs.

Apply

Procedure

To register for the selection, applicants have to upload their application via the online form. An application contains:

• a concept proposal for their professional theatre production and the related artistic research,
• a cover letter with motivation
• a diploma transcript
• a portfolio including a CV
• if possible a letter of intent from the organization hosting the student’s theatre project for the Master.

The application is meant to give an insight into the background, motivation and goals of the candidates and to assess their research and critical abilities. Applicants will receive confirmation of their application upon receipt of their proposals. Candidates may be asked to give more information or to specify certain elements of their research proposals. To this purpose, they may be invited for an interview.

The selection committee consists of at least three people: the coordinator and two teachers of the Master course.

To apply for the master starting September 2019 there are three selection opportunities:

• First option: Application due on Friday 01-03-2019, selection day on Monday 18-03-2019.
• Second option: Application due on Friday 07-06-2019, selection day on Monday 24-06-2019.
• Third option: Dates to be announced.

Please do not wait until the application deadline to contact us about your interest in the Master. We like to get acquainted with your ideas about the artistic project and/ research before your application. We can offer feedback on your application in advance to the deadline to increase your chances for admittance.

Criteria

• applicants have a bachelor’s degree in scenography, costume design or directing for performance.
• holders of another bachelor degree are admissible provided that they have relevant artistic experience in the professional performing arts.
• preferably applicants already have a connection with a professional theatre organization for the project they want to develop in the Master.

Credits

The total study load amounts to 85 ECTS credits, spread over two years.