ABOUT - Master of Arts

The M.A. in Theatre at UMKC is a research-oriented degree that prepares the student for admission into the top Ph.D. programs in Theatre nationwide. It also serves as excellent enhancement in humanistic studies for secondary-school teachers. M.A. students may serve as dramaturgs or audition for roles in departmental productions. There are also occasional opportunities to work with Kansas City Repertory Theatre.

The M.A. in Theatre allows a great deal of choice from a good variety of courses in theatre history, dramatic literature, text analysis, playwriting, dramaturgy, directing, and related courses in the departments of English, Communications Studies, and History. Informally, we sometimes refer to two emphasis areas: Theatre History/Dramatic Literature and Playwriting. The only real difference between the two emphasis areas is that a student who plans to write a thesis play--that is, one who chooses the Playwriting track--should submit some playwriting samples upon application for admission and should be building a portfolio of plays throughout his or her course of study. It must be noted that given the professional requirements of the department’s MFA training programs, we cannot offer fully-staged productions of M.A. thesis plays.

The graduate-level theatre history courses are at the core of the M.A. curriculum. There is a six-semester rotation of these courses (though most students will have completed their degree work within four semesters). The six courses are: 19th-Century Continental European Theatre/Drama (fall), Russian/Soviet Theatre/Drama (spring), 20th-Century Continental European Theatre/Drama (fall), French Theatre/Drama (spring), and a two-semester sequence in American Theatre and Drama.