Master of Fine Arts Program in Acting

Download the 2010–11 Master of Fine Arts Program Bulletin (PDF)

The A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program in Acting is for individuals who, after serious consideration and self-evaluation, have chosen acting as a profession. This highly competitive graduate program offers a rigorous three-year course of training designed to educate and stimulate the most creative, promising young actors, who are selected through nationwide auditions.

The curriculum in the M.F.A. Program in Acting combines comprehensive actor training with the rehearsal and performance of classical and contemporary works. A.C.T. believes that actors who recognize a relationship between new and classical work, who have an intellectual and visceral grasp of dramatic literature, are uniquely prepared to collaborate in and support the development of new dramatic forms. These are the individuals who will go on to energize and advance the art of performance, and who will ensure the future of theater in America.

Our place at the center of a renowned professional theater company, as well as our urban location in San Francisco, enriches every aspect of the program, bringing students of diverse backgrounds into close contact with dynamic writers, directors, designers, and actors of varied theatrical traditions. Through exposure to professionals at work, our M.F.A. Program actors explore how drama informs the life of a community, and how, in turn, the life of a community inspires its theater.

The Training Experience

The essence of A.C.T.'s actor training lies in the interplay between our professional company and our conservatory. Within the A.C.T. artistic community, professionals and students are constantly learning from each other—M.F.A. Program actors audition for and perform in A.C.T. productions, and establish valuable mentor relationships with the artists, producers, literary staff, and other professionals who make theater happen. A.C.T. is unique among large professional theater companies in that it employs a core "company" of actors, and these artists are the M.F.A. Program actors' living link to the professional theater world. In turn, M.F.A. Program actors may serve as mentors to younger artists in the renowned A.C.T. Young Conservatory through teaching opportunities or performing onstage together in new works or in A.C.T.'s annual production of A Christmas Carol.

From the Directors
A letter from Carey Perloff and Melissa Smith

Acting Professionally
A note from Melissa Smith, Conservatory Director