GLDir

Hi @Odysseus24601! Thank you for this generous reply. My focus is less around TYA work specifically and more about how to genuinely and ethically create performance work (original, devised, or extant) in a community in partnership with that audience and its relevant non-arts organizations. Basically, how does Theatre fit in the community ecosystem to be a relevant player in the cause for social justice in that community? That could involve TYA work, but it should also be for adults. Your list pointed me toward an MFA Applied Theatre program at Eastern Michigan University that I didn’t know existed - so thank you!! And I will reach out to current/former students at each of these programs. Great recommendation. Best of luck on your search to find the right fit too!

Hi all! Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I'm interested in a couple of the rather specialized MFA programs around community-based work... MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities at UT-Austin MFA in Directing and Public Dialogue at Virginia Tech Has anyone looked at either program? UT looks super driven and takes 4 students a year. I haven't been able to get an answer on whether tuition is waived or if they just try to assemble a "competitive" financial aid package for accepted students. I like the idea of this program better than some of the M.A. applied theatre programs that do similar work. However, the head of the program has been hard to reach for answers to my questions. Do students direct performance work throughout their time on campus or only for their 3rd year thesis work? VT's program seems entirely individualized and only takes 1 student a year (!!). I know that Virginia Tech is tuition-waived and comes with a guaranteed assistantship, so I wouldn't have to worry about the affordability. The head of that program Bob Leonard seems like a walking encyclopedia of community-based theatre-making, having written a book on the subject and co-founded Alternate ROOTS and the Network of Ensemble Theaters. And Michael Rohd of Sojourn Theatre is one of their alums. I hadn't heard of them until I saw the program featured in the Directing issue of American Theatre Magazine. But now I'm really intrigued. I can find boatloads of information on the internet about Yale, CMU, Northwestern, Brown, etc, and none of those programs feel like good fits. Anyone know about either of these? Anybody else even looking at either of these?