20 Master Programs in Theater studies in USA for 2024

Teach theatre and create transformative experiences in our Theatre Education & Applied Theatre (MA& MFA) program. Our program allows you to grow and refine your craft as both an artist and educator. We offer two tracks of study to choose from, Theatre Education and Applied Theatre, that allow you to pursue your professional goals. No matter which tracks you select, you will have the flexibility to choose elective courses that align with your unique interests and customize a course of study that supports your goals.

Harness the power of communication. Hone your proficiency in the theory and practice of communication, and develop an appreciation of differing perceptions of the world.

The MFA program in Writing for Film, Television & Digital Media will fine-tune your ability to deliver compelling stories, characters, and scripts that grab the reader’s attention. The MFA is an intensive program that concentrates exclusively on writing, pitching, and the business side of being a professional writer. Complete a portfolio of feature and television scripts that can be used to market your skills as a writer.

CIIS’ Drama Therapy program explores how dramatic processes work overtime to heal wounds for lasting change, and to help people reach their full potential. The Drama Therapy program is one of five master’s programs offered through the Counseling Psychology department, and offers an engaging, embodied, and interactive experience to students. It integrates experiential, didactic, and clinical courses in a curriculum designed to train students to become personally and culturally attuned to become master drama therapists.

Drama therapy is one of several creative arts therapies used by clinicians and practitioners to help their clients achieve emotional and physical integration, personal growth, and symptom relief. Like art therapy, it is the application of a creative modality to psychotherapy. Drama therapy allows you to develop your own way of working with clients using embodiment and theater processes. The Antioch program is broad-based, providing students with experience with Improvisation, Psychodrama, Playback Theater, Narradrama, Developmental Transformations, Healing the Wounds of History, Masks, Puppets, Sociodrama, Theater of the Oppressed, Storytelling, and The Story Within. Students are also exposed to other creative arts therapies incorporating art, movement/dance, music, poetry, film, and geek therapies. Drama therapists work in numerous settings, including, but not limited to, hospitals, residential treatment programs, schools, shelters, community centers, prisons, and private practice.

The Master of Arts program at AMDA offers students the opportunity to develop as original scholars of theatre. Unique at AMDA is the opportunity to study theatre arts at the graduate level amongst an active and diverse community of performing artists. This intensive graduate program is completed in one year, including three semesters of immersive courses and an original thesis project. Student theses are completed under the mentorship of faculty and through collaboration with peers.

The MA in Applied Theatre degree program, the first program of its kind in the United States, uses theatre as a medium for education, community development, and the pursuit of social justice.

During the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Acting for Film Degree program, students build mastery and expertise in the craft of acting through technical, emotional, and physical coursework and projects. Throughout their studies, students master advanced techniques and challenge their range through the rigorous curriculum, moving beyond their comfort zone and developing advanced skills in audition and performance.

The UMKC Master of Fine Arts program in Acting is a rigorous conservatory experience that provides advanced training for the young professional actor. Over the course of three years, the program challenges actors to develop the varied skills necessary to achieve success. Fundamental to the training is an exposure to a diverse set of performance methods from contemporary to epic, from devised work to Shakespeare, from the Greeks to new plays commissioned and premiered by us.

Prepare to work as a theatre artist and educator in arts organizations, private and community colleges, galleries, museums, and a broad range of cultural settings. You’ll develop new strategies focused on teaching and learning through drama while experimenting in the creation and presentation of theatre for diverse audiences.

Educational Theatre, Storytelling and the arts, M.A. is designed for educators without a theatre major interested in integrating dramatic play into their coursework. This program offers a rich array of multi-disciplinary courses in arts education, focusing on creative dramatics and storytelling.

The acting program is a three-year, minimum 60-credit-hour professional actor-training program interacting with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, a professional Equity League of Resident Theatres (LORT) B Theatre.

The Graduate Theatre program at Villanova offers a distinct fusion of both academic work and practical experience. As a student, you will have the opportunity to expand your mind through rigorous academic courses, covering topics such as theatre history, dramaturgy, dramatic literature, theatre criticism and script analysis.

In collaboration with Rose Bruford College in London is NTI offers two options for degree-granting, graduate training. Drawing on the benefits and experience of two noteworthy educational institutions with an excellent history of delivering high-quality vocational theater training, this program allows you to study performance and theater creation in its totality.

AFI gives Directing Fellows the crucial time, space, and resources to craft their own distinct voice while guaranteeing them the opportunity to direct over the course of two years. In a program that emphasizes visual language and collaboration, Fellows team with other disciplines to shoot three narrative films and produce a thesis film in their final year to create a polished directing portfolio.