Post-Graduate Experience and Outcomes

Even while they are enrolled in the department’s graduate programs, theatre students compete effectively for honors and recognition. Playwriting students have had their plays produced at the O’Neill Playwriting Center and in other theatres. Dramaturgs present papers at national conferences. During the summer, actors are cast in professional productions locally and around the country, and stage management and design students work professionally.

For decades alumni from the department have taken leadership positions in the entertainment field and have won awards at every level. Overall, about 75 percent of designers and stage management alumni sustain a professional career. About half the playwriting alumni receive productions or readings at nationally prominent theatres, and  the other half have their work done at smaller venues. Most dramaturgy and playwriting graduates teach at some point in their careers. Employment prospects for actors are more difficult—90 percent of the membership of Actor’s Equity Association is unemployed. Still, out of the eleven members of the class that graduated in 2006, one spent his final semester performing on Broadway, and three were working with prominent theatres within weeks. Some directing graduates freelance, some start their own theatres or join the staffs of existing theatres; some take teaching positions, and some go into doctoral programs.

The best way to get a picture of the road you might travel after completing your degree is to look at what other graduates have done. Use the links below to learn about the work of some of Iowa’s most successful graduates, and to see what some of our graduates have told us about their recent work.

Distinguished Alumni
Alumni News