Department of Theatre Arts

For a student of theatre, New York City is the place to be!

Why Theatre at MMC?

The Theatre Arts Programs at MMC offer professional theatre education and training combined with a liberal arts education. It is our philosophy that the more well-rounded the education of theatre students, the better prepared they are to create and produce compelling and imaginative theatre. Individualized attention and a strong faculty advisement program enable qualified students to take on substantial projects and roles.

Independent study projects provide opportunities for specialized training and performance experience. Junior and senior level students may also study abroad for credit at schools such as the British American Drama Academy in London and Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Internships in a variety of settings (Broadway, Off- and Off-Off-Broadway, television, film, and dance) allow students to develop experience and a potential network in the NYC performing arts community.

We believe in training individual creative artists and encourage our students to explore all that the College and NYC have to offer. Co-curricular minors in Arts for Communities, Music, and Arts Management, Drama Therapy, Fashion Studies, and Music can complement the BFA majors in Acting, Musical Theatre, Design and Technical Production, and Stage Production and Management, and the BA majors in Theatre Arts.

Performance opportunities include mainstage and studio productions such as The Balcony, Parade, Love and Information, Bring It On, Spring Awakening (play), Blues for Mister Charlie, Electra, On Strivers Row, Machinal, The Laramie Project, Starlight Express, An Enemy of the People, and Ragtime. The MMC Directing Projects are performed in the Bordeau Box Theatre each semester. These short, contemporary plays are directed by students in the Directing III class, designed and stage managed by students, and cast with student actors. MMC Playwriting Projects provide student playwrights with an opportunity to hear and see their works-in-progress.

Through our Professional Preparation courses in acting and musical theatre, students present audition material in Senior Showcases for select panels of agents and casting directors through which they receive individual personal guidance and advice for starting their professional careers.

MMC Theatre Arts programs are unique in offering specialized opportunities to the qualified student. Theatre faculty teach students through flexible programs in which intensive production experience can be gained. MMC Theatre Arts graduates leave with viable, competitive portfolios. They have made successful careers in theatre, film, and television, and have been accepted into highly competitive graduate programs.

Commitment to Equity and Transformative Justice

The Theatre Arts Department is committed to creating a culture and curriculum that are ethical and equitable. Theatre Arts faculty and staff pledge to develop and implement recruitment strategies, curriculum, pedagogy, and theatre production practices that are anti-racist, anti-sexist, gender, body, ability, national origin, and LGBTQIA+ inclusive. They will also engage and collaborate with students to eradicate biased structures. This departmental work is grounded in a commitment to Transformative Justice.

Transformative Justice is a collection of methods designed to give communities—in our case, classroom, studio, production, and department communities—autonomy over social systems. Theatre Arts faculty implement these practices in Theatre Arts courses and productions as a way to build community. The hope is that these practices will help us to create new ways to listen, question, and respond to conflict/disagreement when it arises.

Our Admissions Process

Admission to the Programs: The BFA Acting and BFA Musical Theatre programs require an audition as part of the application process. The BFA’s in Design and Technology and Stage and Production Management, as well as the BA Theatre Arts Program concentrations in Directing and Writing for the Stage require an interview as part of the application process. The BA Theatre Arts Program concentrations in Theatre & New Media, and Theatre History and Performance Texts, require a special application as part of the application process.

For Application and Audition/Interview information, please go to our Admissions Application/Audition & Interview Process page.

Our Programs

• BFA Acting Major
  
• BFA Musical Theatre Major
  
• BFA Stage and Production Management Major
• BFA Theatre Design and Technology Major
  
• BA Theatre Arts, with a concentration in:
  • Directing
  • Theatre and New Media
  • Theatre History and Performance Texts
  • Writing for the Stage

Options for further study:

• Arts for Communities Minor
• Arts Management Minor
• Drama Therapy Minor
• Fashion Studies Minor
• Music Minor
• Music Industry Minor

What’s next?

Marymount Manhattan is perfectly positioned to launch your career in the theatre, as it did for our 2015 Tony Award-winning alumna Annaleigh Ashford.

Our alumni go on to perform in nationally recognized stage productions, TV shows, films, and more. Check out some of our alumni credits below:

Broadway Productions

Sweeney Todd (2023), Funny Girl, Slave Play, Paradise Square, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, Aladin, Come From Away, Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, Waitress, Six Degrees of Separation, Sunday in the Park with George, Sylvia, You Can’t Take it With You, Spiderman, A Night with Janis Joplin, Big Fish, Kinky Boots, Peter and the Starcatcher, Bullets Over Broadway, Sister Act, Jekyll & Hyde, Bring It On, Next to Normal, Hair, The Lion King, Legally Blonde, Wicked, Avenue Q, Rent, and The Drowsy Chaperone.

Film and TV Credits

Black Adam, Welcome to Chippendales, American Crime Story, B Positive, The Umbrella Academy, Gossip Girl (2021), Mr. Robinson, Supergirl, Kevin at Work, Penny Dreadful, Masters of Sex, Orange is the New Black, Glee, The Big Bang Theory, So You Think You Can Dance, The Good Wife, and Saturday Night Live.

NYC Theatre and Company Associations

Lincoln Center Theatre, The Public Theatre/Shakespeare in the Park, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Second Stage Theatre, New World Stages, The Vineyard Theatre, The New Group

Graduate Study

The Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, Columbia University, Harvard University, Old Globe/University of San Diego, Brown University, New York University, and the University of California, San Diego, among others.