Theater Management

Edward A. Martenson, Chair

M.F.A. and M.F.A./M.B.A.

The Theater Management department prepares aspiring leaders to create organizational environments increasingly favorable to the creation of theatre art and its presentation to appreciative audiences. The department provides students with the knowledge, skills, and values to enter the field at high levels of responsibility, to move quickly to leadership positions, and ultimately to advance the state of management practice and the art form itself.

Although the focus is on theatre, many graduates have adapted their education successfully to careers in dance, opera, media, and other fields.

In the context of an integrated management perspective, students are grounded in the history and aesthetics of theatre art, production organization, hiring and unions, the collaborative process, decision making, organizational direction, motivation, organizational design, human resources, financial management, development, marketing, and technology. While focused primarily on theatre organizations, discussions incorporate other performing arts organizations, other nonprofits, and for-profit organizations to help identify the factors that make theatre organizations succeed. It is training in the practice, informed by up-to-date theoretical knowledge.

The training program combines a sequence of departmental courses, approved electives in other departments and schools, topical workshops, a case study writing requirement, and professional work assignments. In a distinctive feature of the Theater Management curriculum, students have the opportunity to engage in the management of Yale Repertory Theatre from the beginning of their training, and to collaborate with students and faculty from other departments in productions of Yale School of Drama and Yale Cabaret.

In the first year the student enrolls in seven required courses per term; begins a case study on a theatre organization to be completed during the second year; attends a variety of topical workshops; and is given several professional work assignments.

In the second and third years the student enrolls in four departmental and elective courses per term; attends a variety of topical workshops, and is given one or two professional work assignments of substantial responsibility. In another distinctive feature of the Theater Management program, the second-year student has the option of replacing one term residence with a fellowship in a professional setting away from the campus, selected by the faculty. (For students choosing the second-year fellowship, the course requirements are reduced by four.)

Joint-Degree Program with Yale School of Management

The Theater Management department offers a joint-degree program with Yale School of Management, in which a student may earn both the Master of Fine Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees in four years (rather than the five years that normally are required). A joint-degree student must meet the respective admission requirements of each school. The typical plan of study consists of two years at Yale School of Drama, followed by one year at the School of Management, culminating with one combined year at both schools. Generally, students have until the beginning of their second year at the School of Drama to decide whether they are interested in the joint degree option.

Electives may be selected from other departments of Yale School of Drama, from Yale School of Management or other professional schools, or from Yale College with the approval of the chair. One elective must be either Production Planning, or Production Management: Organization and Administration. One must be an additional course in dramatic literature or criticism in the Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism department.

Among other electives for consideration are Principles of Stage Management, Scene Design, Costume Design, Introduction to Lighting Design, History of Theater Architecture, Theater Safety, Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations, Strategic Leadership Across Sectors, Negotiation and Emotional Intelligence at Work.