波士顿大学

Our Master of Fine Arts in Scene Design program provides developing theatre professionals with the opportunity to cultivate their artistic identities while refining and enhancing their craft.

Our program seeks to:

Enhance artistic expression and communication skills through hands-on, mentored design experience within a wide range of production opportunities and classroom instruction.
Explore creative collaborations with directors, actors, technicians, and playwrights.
Develop a thorough understanding of professional working methods and standards.
Create new forms of theatrical expression for the next generation.

MFA Design students are being prepared for substantive careers as theatre artists. Training includes a rigorous curriculum, production design opportunities, and collaboration with professionals through our Professional Theatre Initiative. Students are mentored by working professional faculty and advisors.

Curriculum Highlights

In-depth classroom instruction in artistic, practical, and skills applications of design to the art of theatre.
Production opportunities to design in multiple venues and multiple genres.
Preparation and execution of a thesis that represents the culmination of three years of study.
Opportunity to work on productions with companies through our Professional Theatre Initiative (PTI).

Learning Outcomes

The Scene Design program aims to develop a complete theatre artist by fostering a passion for theatre, storytelling, design, and the collaborative process. Through their required coursework and production assignments, Scene Design students will:

Demonstrate a rich understanding of scenic design as an art form and its development since the classical period.
Demonstrate the development of critical and analytical thinking for the collaborative process of making a piece of theatre.
Demonstrate the development of an understanding for purpose and reason for making a piece of theatre.
Demonstrate the ability to explore the emotional and psychological power of a space and how to mine these qualities in the making of a piece of theatre.
Communicate conceptual ideas through a facility with the different mediums and tools available to the scenic designer.
Model a professional and artful attitude toward work process, communication, and collaboration with fellow members of the creative team.
Demonstrate proficiency in the skills necessary to be a working scene designer, including, but not limited to, hand drafting, scenic painting, drawing, and an understanding of the history of period styles and décor, with an acknowledgement of the broad range of creative work to which scenic design can contribute to the artful creation of theatre.