Our BFA program in dramaturgy is the only one of its kind in the United States. We prepare undergraduates for careers in literary management, production dramaturgy, criticism, and to continue on in academia as teachers. Students are exposed to both the intellectual rigor of a liberal arts program and the hands-on training a conservatory can offer. Our aim is to give students a comprehensive knowledge of theater and dramatic literature as well as an understanding of how theater works practically.
Writing is essential to the course of study in general.
Students attend seminars, classes, and workshops in dramatic literature, history and theory, as well as dramaturgy colloquiums. They hone these skills in productions at the school, working with faculty and student directors and then at the Merle Reskin Theatre in Chicago's South Loop. While in Chicago, students will develop research skills in the city's rich libraries. We have relationships with the Newberry Library, the Chicago Historical Society and the many other world class universities in the area. We're currently initiating relationships with dramaturgy programs abroad and hope to have these programs in place by calendar year 2003.