The Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program is a master's degree program specially designed for the major collaborators in the creation of new musical theatre and opera. Students and faculty include composers, lyricists, and bookwriters--those who put their individual talents together to write works for the musical stage.
The program's aim is to give students the skills to be able to wed form to content in original ways that best fulfill their unique artistic visions. Each year, 22 full-time students embark on a two year course, participating in ongoing writing workshops that emphasize craft, the art of collaboration, rewriting, developing the student's original voice, storytelling, and content (putting ideas on stage). Guided by a core faculty that is amplified by master teachers drawn from among the major artists in the field, students collaborate on an impressive volume of new material to give them experience with a variety of styles, genres, and approaches from the book musical to opera to new alternative forms of music theatre.
Themes, issues, and problems dealt with in the writing workshops are supported by integrated craft and history seminars. These seminars give an overview of music throughout the history of theatre, including ethnic and political theatre.
Fieldwork includes saturation in all aspects of New York musical theatre. Directors and actors are brought in throughout the program to present new material as it is being created, developed, and rewritten. The program culminates in the thesis musicals: the creation of full-length original works.
