MFA Stage Management Concentration
The MFA in Stage Management provides a contemporary approach for students who wish to pursue careers as professional stage managers. The program’s curriculum is designed to expand upon two central principles:
1. Stage managers must have portable, flexible, and scalable skill-sets that allow them to work in a variety of arenas.
2. Modern stage management requires its practitioners to embrace the concept of the SM as a “hybrid CEO/COO,” an executive-level position that is at the top of any production’s organizational chart.
The coursework uses methodologies specific to commercial (Broadway) and not-for-profit theatrical stage management as a foundation. This allows students to build best-practices in many other areas: opera, dance, television, and corporate events (to name a few). Courses in dramatic literature and all aspects of theatre practice are mandatory; enrollment in relevant classes outside the Theatre Program is encouraged. Students are expected to develop a thorough comprehension of union regulations and theater administration, as well as a working knowledge of various theatrical aesthetics that enhance creative development on a production.
A major focus of the program is on leadership training: setting the tone, driving the process, and delivering results. Current trends in workplace culture, team dynamics, and human-resource management are actively analyzed and discussed across all program platforms.
Classroom courses are augmented by practical experience that gives students hands-on participation in the production process, in both academic and professional situations. Stage management students are required to work on departmental presentations, as well as complete at least two internships in professional theatre. Individually designed field studies allow for the exploration of ancillary interests in other realms of entertainment management. Finally, the program gives students the opportunity to build contacts with subject-matter-experts who are working at the highest industry levels; this gives graduates a leading-edge when they enter an intensely competitive job market.
SAMPLE CURRICULUM
Fall Semester – Year 1:
Introduction to Stage Management – Michael Passaro
Theatre Management & Administration I – Julie Rossi
Special Topics in Stage Management – Bonnie Panson
Seminar in Stage Management – Marybeth Abel
History and Theory of Theatre – Carol Rocamora
Spring Semester – Year 1:
Collaboration – Anne Bogart
Directing for Stage Managers – Peter Lawrence
Stage Management Seminar: Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theatre – Ray Menard and Danielle Ventimiglia
Practicum: Trends in Contemporary Theater – Abigail Katz
Critical Issues in Stage Management/Focus on Contracts – Laura Brown McKinnon
Fall Semester – Year 2:
Advanced Stage Management: Plays – Linda Marvel
Advanced Stage Management: Musicals – Ira Mont
Special Topics in Stage Management – Bonnie Panson
Field Study
Spring Semester – Year 2:
Special Topics in Stage Management – Michael Passaro
Advanced Stage Management: Next Steps – Diane DiVita
Stage Management Seminar: Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theatre – Ray Menard and Danielle Ventimiglia
Additional Requirements: 2 Professional Internships; 2 to 4 Production Assignments, including the stage management of up to two departmental thesis productions in Year 2; Collaboration Weekend Workshop.
*Recommended Electives include Issues in the National Not-for-Profit Theatre, Viewpoints, History and Theory of Comedy, Promotions and Audience Development, Fundraising and Marketing, Critical Writing for the Theatre, Budgeting and Reporting, Models of Dramatic Structure, Press, Publicity and Audience Development, Planning a Theatrical Season.
Stage Management Thesis Project: Students must satisfactorily complete a 40-page thesis in order to graduate: a position paper with a viable thesis statement that is supported by research, experience, documented sources, and (if applicable), interviews, statistical analysis, and exhibits. Ideally, the thesis will be based on actual recent and practical production or work experience; however, students may choose to write about historical, economic, and/or sociological topics that are directly related to stage management. Traditional “prompt” books and/or production diaries can be used as supporting documentation.
AEA Eligibility: Two stage management MFA students per year will be eligible to join the Actors Equity Association through their participation as stage managers for the Classic Stage Company’s Young Company production. This production is held at CSC’s downtown venue every spring.
1. Stage managers must have portable, flexible, and scalable skill-sets that allow them to work in a variety of arenas.
2. Modern stage management requires its practitioners to embrace the concept of the SM as a “hybrid CEO/COO,” an executive-level position that is at the top of any production’s organizational chart.
The coursework uses methodologies specific to commercial (Broadway) and not-for-profit theatrical stage management as a foundation. This allows students to build best-practices in many other areas: opera, dance, television, and corporate events (to name a few). Courses in dramatic literature and all aspects of theatre practice are mandatory; enrollment in relevant classes outside the Theatre Program is encouraged. Students are expected to develop a thorough comprehension of union regulations and theater administration, as well as a working knowledge of various theatrical aesthetics that enhance creative development on a production.
A major focus of the program is on leadership training: setting the tone, driving the process, and delivering results. Current trends in workplace culture, team dynamics, and human-resource management are actively analyzed and discussed across all program platforms.
Classroom courses are augmented by practical experience that gives students hands-on participation in the production process, in both academic and professional situations. Stage management students are required to work on departmental presentations, as well as complete at least two internships in professional theatre. Individually designed field studies allow for the exploration of ancillary interests in other realms of entertainment management. Finally, the program gives students the opportunity to build contacts with subject-matter-experts who are working at the highest industry levels; this gives graduates a leading-edge when they enter an intensely competitive job market.
SAMPLE CURRICULUM
Fall Semester – Year 1:
Introduction to Stage Management – Michael Passaro
Theatre Management & Administration I – Julie Rossi
Special Topics in Stage Management – Bonnie Panson
Seminar in Stage Management – Marybeth Abel
History and Theory of Theatre – Carol Rocamora
Spring Semester – Year 1:
Collaboration – Anne Bogart
Directing for Stage Managers – Peter Lawrence
Stage Management Seminar: Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theatre – Ray Menard and Danielle Ventimiglia
Practicum: Trends in Contemporary Theater – Abigail Katz
Critical Issues in Stage Management/Focus on Contracts – Laura Brown McKinnon
Fall Semester – Year 2:
Advanced Stage Management: Plays – Linda Marvel
Advanced Stage Management: Musicals – Ira Mont
Special Topics in Stage Management – Bonnie Panson
Field Study
Spring Semester – Year 2:
Special Topics in Stage Management – Michael Passaro
Advanced Stage Management: Next Steps – Diane DiVita
Stage Management Seminar: Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theatre – Ray Menard and Danielle Ventimiglia
Additional Requirements: 2 Professional Internships; 2 to 4 Production Assignments, including the stage management of up to two departmental thesis productions in Year 2; Collaboration Weekend Workshop.
*Recommended Electives include Issues in the National Not-for-Profit Theatre, Viewpoints, History and Theory of Comedy, Promotions and Audience Development, Fundraising and Marketing, Critical Writing for the Theatre, Budgeting and Reporting, Models of Dramatic Structure, Press, Publicity and Audience Development, Planning a Theatrical Season.
Stage Management Thesis Project: Students must satisfactorily complete a 40-page thesis in order to graduate: a position paper with a viable thesis statement that is supported by research, experience, documented sources, and (if applicable), interviews, statistical analysis, and exhibits. Ideally, the thesis will be based on actual recent and practical production or work experience; however, students may choose to write about historical, economic, and/or sociological topics that are directly related to stage management. Traditional “prompt” books and/or production diaries can be used as supporting documentation.
AEA Eligibility: Two stage management MFA students per year will be eligible to join the Actors Equity Association through their participation as stage managers for the Classic Stage Company’s Young Company production. This production is held at CSC’s downtown venue every spring.
Theatre Program
601 Dodge Hall
Mail Code 1807
2960 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
Phone: (212) 854-3408
theatre@columbia.edu
Faculty
Michael J. PassaroAdjunct Assistant Professor
Steven ChaikelsonAssociate Professor
Arnold AronsonProfessor
News
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Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.
Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.