Master of Fine Arts in Theatre - Acting

University of Central Florida

The Theatre, Master of Fine Arts in Acting Track is a NAST-accredited pre-professional actor training program. Through intensive practical and theoretical classwork and production experience, students are prepared physically and vocally as artists to succeed in this demanding profession. The program is a highly selective, rigorous, three-year professional training program emphasizing both theatre theory and practice. The first two years are spent on campus in classes and performing in Theatre UCF productions. The third year is spent as a resident company member at Orlando Shakes where students perform in mainstage and theatre for young audience productions, teach, study and assist with the operations of the theatre. Students, in addition to becoming highly trained theatre practitioners, must also demonstrate the ability to understand the conceptual basis of their art and to be able to articulate that understanding to others. Toward this end, the department will recruit and develop graduate students who can serve, along with faculty and staff, as role models for undergraduate students whose BA and BFA programs of study are integrally connected with the graduate program. The Acting track of the Theatre MFA program requires 47 credit hours of core and specialization courses that follow a suggested yearly schedule in addition to a thesis and an internship. The electives can be chosen (with instructor approval) from existing courses in other MFA tracks in Theatre. Because allowed electives are both two- and three-credit-hour courses, the course of study shows a sliding number of credits for electives. Consequently, although the 61 credit hours are required, a student may graduate with as many as 65 credit hours.