As you can tell by the title I would like to be a playwright (which I have been told is a “dying” career, but don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t follow your dreams!!) and it has been a passion of mine for a while.
However since the profession is so narrow there aren’t many schools so I was wondering if anyone had a good list of schools that either offer playwriting as a major or minor. Screenwriting is accepted, however I would prefer playwriting.
Thank you!
NYU has a studio called playwrights horizons
Fordham, I think.
You do not need to major in playwriting in order to take classes, write plays, screenplays, etc… so in addition to schools that offer an undergraduate major in playwriting, you whould also explore programs where you can major in Theatre, take playwriting, work with a mentor/ teacher on play development, and that offers production opportunities for student plays… from readings, to workshops, to productions.
I teach at James Madison University in VA, and those opportunities are available, as are opportunities to take screenwriting. JMU is also active in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and ahs student playwrights go to the festival every year.
I am sure others can also suggest schools to look at that may have opportunities for undergraduate playwrights to develop.
I know you can major in playwriting at DePaul! CMU, too, I think.
Please go to the Tisch website and look at the Drama Department and the Film and Television school to see which fits your training needs best. Playwrights Horizons is part of the Acting BFA offered by the drama department, and it will train you also in acting, theater design, directing and devising new work. This is also an option, but it depends on what kind of training you are seeking.
The Playwriting program is within the school of Film and Television as part of a BFA in Dramatic Writing. Despite the name, you can pursue playwriting, not only screenwriting.
I think that KatMT has a good suggestion - namely, to also look at schools where you can major in theater, take playwriting classes, and have the opportunity to have your plays produced. My S graduated last year with a degree in drama and while in college, he discovered that he enjoys writing plays and scripts. He had a ready audience because the drama students organized staged readings of student works during the evenings and produced student plays, and he has cast his classmates in his works. He believes that his training as an actor and as a result developing an understanding of how written dialogue would sound when spoken and how staging of the work would be presented has helped him as a writer. He is only a year out of college but certain things have occurred that make it seem that he may be on his way to a career as a writer, as well as an actor, but his training as an actor has been instrumental in forging that path. Please feel free to pm me.
Also look at the Creative Writing majors at many schools as they have a playwriting and/or screenwriting concentration or minor through that department working closely with the Theatre department.
If you are interested in a mix of writing, directing, acting, producing, perhaps check out the new Contemporary Theater program at Boston Conservatory (on the BoCo website, look under Conservatory College). The emphasis of the program seems to be telling stories rather than a specific emphasis on any of the above disciplines. There would be plenty of opportunity to write and collaborate, in addition to performing (if that’s your schtick).
I think Brown is a great place to be an undergrad playwright. They have a concentration (Major) in Theatre Arts with a Writing for Performance “track.”
They have a great student run group called Production Workshop (PW) where the undergrads can showcase their original work. Notable PW alums include Emma Watson and John Krasinski. I attended their fall one-act festival, 3C2C, and I was blown away by the creativity of the writing.
There seems to be an abundance of kids there (mostly non-theater majors) who want to be involved in theatre - from acting, directing, writing and just attending plays. I understand student plays often sell out within minutes of tickets going on online - and it’s easy to get 50 to 100 kids auditioning for your work.
There is a lot of playwriting at Yale, too. Some of the writers are English majors in the Creative Writing concentration, and some are Theater majors. Others are majoring in other subjects but write plays anyway. There are numerous original plays (and musicals) produced on campus each year.
I think the point you should consider is that it’s not enough to know whether a school offers a playwriting major–there may be lots of schools in which plays are written within other majors that might be just as good a fit for you.
^^^ @hunt I was impressed by the near-feature length movie about college admissions that a Yale undergrad produced and co-wrote while at Yale (it was posted here on CC somewhere). I think he is still at Yale making movies.