Graduate Handbook

• Orientation to Graduate Studies (2 sh, beginning Fall 2005)
• Theatrical Analysis: Classical/Romantic (3 sh)
• Theatrical Analysis: Modern (3 sh)
• Theatrical Analysis: Postmodern (3 sh)

• at least 9 hours in theatre history, theory, literature, criticism
• at least 3 in non-Western drama or performance
• at least 3 in acting, directing, playwriting, design, stage management, or collaboration (e.g., The Collaborative Process, Collaborative Performance)
• (With the consent of the program head, some of these elective hours may be satisfied in courses outside the department.)

3 MFA Thesis Hours, taken in the third year of enrollment

Dramaturgy Seminar

MFA students take the Dramaturgy Seminar three times during their enrollment (once each year). The Seminar combines a dramaturgy practicum (discussion of student dramaturgical work; exercises in script reporting, program notes etc.) with in -depth exploration of a special topic. Recent topics have included: Dramaturgy and Theory, Dramaturgical Writing, and New Play Dramaturgy and the "How-To" Tradition).

Throughout the academic year, students receive supervision of their dramaturgical work in the Playwrights Workshop, as well as in conferences about their production dramaturgy work with faculty. Students are expected to take initiative in scheduling these conferences during and following the completion of projects and productions.

Playwrights Workshop and Graduate Playwriting Courses

MFA dramaturgs are required to enroll in 049:269: Playwrights Workshop for a total of 14-18 semester hours of credit over six semesters of enrollment. For fulfilling all dramaturgical responsibilities and assignments outlined in the Workshop syllabus, first- and second-year students receive a full 3 semester hours course credit.

During the third year of enrollment, students may request to enroll for reduced credit (1-2 sh) in Playwrights Workshop. The number of reduced credits must be made up elsewhere in the student's Plan of Study. If the student opts for reduced credit, his or her attendance, and assignments will be adjusted according to the amount of credit to be received for the course. The purpose of this option is to allow greater flexibility in planning the student’s work on the MFA thesis during the final year of enrollment.

Dramaturgy Students who demonstrate substantial talent as playwrights may be permitted to enroll in 049:270: Special Topics in Playwriting. Consent must be given by the instructor of the course (or the program head in consultation with the instructor) and is based on script submissions. At the discretion of the playwriting faculty, dramaturgy students may also be permitted to present plays in Playwrights Workshop during one or more semesters.

Normally, only MFA playwriting students may submit scripts for Festival and may enroll for 049:173: Guest Seminar. Exceptions to this policy may be made at the discretion of the playwriting faculty. Selected workshops of the Guest Seminar provide non-credit opportunities for dramaturgy students to work in collaboration with playwrights and other MFA students.

Requirements in Production Dramaturgy

In addition to required coursework, the MFA candidate in dramaturgy must complete the following during each year of enrollment:

1. Two production dramaturgy assignments to be assigned from among department Mainstage and Gallery productions. With the consent of the program head, students may substitute projects outside the department in the Division of Performing Arts to fulfill this requirement.
2. Dramaturgical work on two or more readings and/or productions of the New Play Festival.

The program head makes all dramaturgy assignments in consultation with the DOT and the directors and playwrights involved. Student preferences are taken fully into account in this process.

Students may earn a total of 2 hours of credit in their second and third years for work on a major production. These hours are in addition to the 64-hour minimum.

Guidelines for Production Dramaturgy

In their work as production dramaturgs, students are expected to carry out research and analysis that helps facilitate the director’s interpretation and conceptualization of the play; and to serve as a “sounding-board” and “extra pair of eyes” for the director throughout the rehearsal process. In the case of new plays, the dramaturg is expected to consult closely with the playwright on each draft of the play, and on rewrites made during rehearsals. The dramaturg should take detailed dramaturgical notes at all meetings and rehearsals attended, amassing the material for a potential dramaturg’s casebook on the production.

When and how often the dramaturg should attend rehearsals varies with the director, playwright, project, and process. However, with both established texts and new plays, the dramaturg should normally attend at least the following: the first read-through and all “table work”; run-throughs of acts or large segments of the play; final runs and dress rehearsals.

Depending on the production, the dramaturg may also be responsible for writing a program essay and/or compiling other program materials; preparing or assisting in the preparation of a study guide for school groups; assisting with the annual High School Drama Workshop; in moderating post-performance discussions with audiences; serving (along with the stage manager) as a liaison between the production, the department, and the DPA Marketing Department.

Development of Institutional Dramaturgy Skills

One of the professional dramaturg’s most important functions is to serve as a critical advisor to and administrative liaison between the various artistic and administrative units of a working theatre. To gain experience in this area, dramaturgy students are required to complete two of the following:

• Student Representative to the Department Season Planning Committee
• Graduate Assistantship in the Performing Arts Marketing Office
• Graduate Assistantship in Arts Share
• Graduate Assistantship for Darwin Turner Action Theatre
• Summer or Semester Internship at a Professional Theatre

Graduate Assistantships are assigned by the Chair in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and on the basis of recommendations by program heads.

Students are responsible for arranging internships on their own (although in consultation with the faculty). The Theatre Arts Department has informal relationships with a number of professional theatres and theatre practitioners through whom internships, or applications for internships, may be arranged. Once the student has secured an internship, he/she should obtain a letter from the sponsoring institution agreeing to employ him/her and in what capacity. If faculty approve the internship, a copy of the letter will be placed in the student's advising file with his/her Plan of Study. If the student plans to complete a sesmester-long internship, he/she is advised to do so in the Fall Semester of the third year. During that semester, the student can enroll for a 3 sh Independent Study and/or 3 MFA Thesis Hours. For the Independent Study, students must complete a portfolio of Internship work (sample script reports, research materials, etc.: to be arranged with the program head), and a paper based on the reading list for the Dramaturgy Seminar (if offered in the Fall Semester). No credit will be granted for summer internships; however, in the subsequent Fall Semester, the student may complete a follow-up Independent Study (as arranged with the program head).

First-Year Review

Student academic and dramaturgical work is supervised regularly through conferences with dramaturgy and playwriting faculty. At the end of the first year of enrollment, program faculty meet with the student to review his/her overall progress, in both his/her coursework and in his/her work as a dramaturg.

In accordance with Graduate College and Departmental policies, students must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 in their coursework. If the G.P.A.falls below this, the student is automatically placed on probation and must raise the G.P.A. to 3.0 by the end of the following semester. Failure to do so may be grounds for dismissal. Lack of demonstrated growth as a dramaturg and collaborative theatre artist may also be cause for academic probation.

For review of his/her dramaturgical work, the student must provide an Annotated Checklist of all dramaturgy projects on which he or she has worked during the academic year, as well as of projects on which he/she expects to work in the second year. Annotations should include comments on his/her role on each project, plans for future involvement, and a self-assessment of dramaturgical skills developed. The dramaturgy faculty will request input from members of the Theatre Arts faculty/staff with whom the student has worked as dramaturg.

As a result of the first-year review, the student may be (1) invited to return to the program for a second year; (2) placed on academic probation for the first semester of the second year; (3) asked to withdraw from the program.

Second-Year Review

The review at the end of the second year constitutes the Comprehensive Examination required by the Graduate College and is pivotal to the student's work in the program. For this review, the student is required to complete a portfolio consisting of the following:

1. A self-assessment essay, 5 pp. minimum, including an overview of the student’s academic and dramaturgical work over the previous two years and a preliminary thesis proposal, supplemented by a bibliography of sources relating to the subject of the thesis. (See MFA Thesis below.)
2. One sample of a research-based historical, critical, or theoretical paper completed in a course taken in the department or in another department of the UI Graduate College.
3. One sample of dramaturgical writing – e.g., a research article prepared for theatrical collaborators, program essay, or other example of writing aimed at communicating with collaborators or a general audience.
4. One sample script report of the kind that might be prepared for a literary management office. This may be completed in connection with the Dramaturgy course, Dramaturgy Seminar, Playwrights Workshop, or independently.
5. Any additional materials that the student views as representative of his/her work.

The second-year review will be conducted by the student's Graduate Committee. The Committee may make specific recommendations for revision of the student's plans for the third year, in particular the proposed thesis.

On completion and approval of the second-year review, the student may be (1) invited to return to the program for a third year to work towards completion of the degree as planned; (2) invited to return for the third year with the condition that he/she resubmit his/her portfolio, revised according to the recommendations of the Committee; (3) asked to withdraw from the program. Although the student might be required to resubmit his/her portfolio in the fall, he/she will not be asked to do so unless the faculty deem it passable at the time of the second-year review.

The Graduate Committee reserves the right to request withdrawal on the basis of insufficient progress or marked regress in any major area of the program - including coursework, production dramaturgy, and collaboration – over the first two years of enrollment. In the case of students who have been removed from probation, the Committee reserves the right to request withdrawal because of the student's failure to maintain satisfactorily the conditions of being removed from probation.

MFA Thesis

All dramaturgy students must complete an MFA Thesis during the final year of enrollment, to be submitted in the final semester. The thesis should consist of a significant piece of dramaturgical research that, with subsequent revision and editing, would be publishable in a journal of dramaturgy, history, theory, or criticism.

All theses should aim to bridge theory and practice and may take one of the following forms. (Page length necessarily varies with the subject and form of the thesis and will be determined by the Graduate Committee at the time of the student’s thesis proposal.)

1. A research paper in theatre history, theory, literature, or criticism that has specific application to the work of the dramaturg and the dramaturgical process. Alternately, a research-based historical or theoretical paper that sheds new light on dramaturgy as a profession and practice.
2. A paper that documents and analyzes the development al and production process on a department work on which the student has served as dramaturg. The paper should incorporate elements of a dramaturg’s protocol or casebook as outlined in the syllabus for 49:194: Dramaturgy. The thesis, however, should not follow the protocol/casebook format but rather build its elements into a cohesive analysis of the dramaturgical process on the work.
3. A new play, translation, or adaptation, supplemented byselected protocol materials – e.g., critical introduction, textual annotations - to be determined in consultation with the advisor. This option is for those students with demonstrated skills and experience in playwriting or translation.

Based on the subject of the thesis, the student should request a member of his/her Committee to serve as the primary thesis advisor. However, the student should seek the advice of all members of the Committee in the research and writing of the thesis. If appropriate, the student may request that a fourth member of the Theatre Arts or Graduate College faculty with relevant expertise serve on the Committee. This faculty member will join the Committee at the start of the third year of enrollment.

Between the First and Final Deposit to the Graduate College, the student must meet with his/her Committee to complete a one-and-one-half hour oral defense of the thesis. (In keeping with Graduate College policy, the First Deposit of the thesis must be as close as possible to what will be submitted for the Final Deposit.) In the defense, the student will be expected to discuss the thesis in relation to his/her coursework and departmental work as a dramaturg.

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