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Detailed Information

Programs of Study

As a premier performing arts school in the heart of Boston’s theater community, Emerson offers three streams of study in theater education, allowing students to explore themselves as both artists and educators. Theater teacher education prepares M.A. candidates to teach drama to children grades pre-K through 12. Theater and community explores the uses of theater in a variety of settings, such as community theater, recreation and arts centers, museums, and professional theater for young audiences. Theater education prepares students to go on to pursue a doctorate and teach at the college level.

As students cultivate their own talents, they are joined by world-renowned Emerson faculty members–distinguished directors, producers, writers, actors, performance artists, and educators. In demand nationwide, Emerson’s graduates are employed as theater teachers, community theater producers and directors, and as coordinators of educational outreach programs. For more information about Emerson’s M.A. in theater education, interested students should visit http://admission.emerson.edu/admission/graduate/academics/te.cfm.

Research Facilities

Emerson College offers theater education students the opportunity to hone their craft in the Cutler Majestic Theatre, a 100-year-old, 1,200-seat facility that is the home of fourteen of New England’s leading art troupes as well as Emerson College student theatrical productions. In 2003, Emerson opened the eleven-story, state-of-the-art Tufte Performance and Production Center adjacent to the Cutler Majestic Theatre. The new theater enhances the studies of students enrolled in the theater program by giving them access to the latest in sound and lighting technology for dramatic purposes.

The Emerson College library has more than 200,000 volumes, 20,000 journals (paper and electronic), 8,000 e-books, 10,000 nonprint materials, and 10,000 microforms in its collection that focus on the communication studies and performing arts. Through membership in the Fenway Library Consortium, graduate students have access to more than 2 million volumes. Computer-assisted reference services provide bibliographic databases through Dialog, BRS, and other online services. The Online Computer Library Center is used for student research support.

M.A. candidates gain valuable hands-on experience in the Media Services Center, which provides students with access to approximately 2,400 films, videos, laser discs, and DVDs. The center is the home of audio, video, and multimedia production facilities; a video studio; and several nonlinear editing suites comparable to those of any television studio in a major U.S. city.

Financial Aid

Emerson College offers several financial assistance programs that make graduate education possible: merit-based awards (domestic and international applicants), low-interest federal loans (domestic applicants only), federal work-study (domestic applicants only), private loans (domestic and international applicants), student employment (domestic and international applicants), and alternative payment plans (domestic and international applicants). For detailed information, students should visit the Office of Student Financial Services Web site at http://www.emerson.edu/financial_services.

Cost of Study

Tuition for the 2008–09 academic year is $886 per credit hour. Other fees vary and may apply.

Living and Housing Costs

Though on-campus housing is not available for its graduate students, the Emerson College Office of Off-Campus Student Services offers assistance in finding housing, including: local apartment listings, realtor lists, temporary accommodations, search tips, pertinent neighborhood information, a roommate networking service, and more. Costs for housing are comparable to those of rental properties available in larger East Coast cities.

Student Group

More than 950 graduate students representing forty-five states and sixty countries are enrolled in Emerson programs.

Student Outcomes

For the last few years, the theater education program has had a 95 percent placement rate. Among the recent employers are public and private schools, the Huntington Theatre Company, the North Shore Music Theatre, and the Wang Center for the Performing Arts.

Location

Situated in the heart of downtown Boston, Emerson offers access to the vast resources of a city that is the home of the nation’s finest educational institutions and an international hub of culture, media production, writing, publishing, communication, commerce, and medical innovation. Boston is a career launching pad for Emerson’s students, many of whom intern or work at world-renowned organizations throughout the city. Emerson students from around the country and world absorb the city’s unique blend of local and global culture, and many find that Boston is an education in itself.

The College

Emerson College, founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson, has expanded upon its original mission of promoting the study of oratory and the performing arts by offering some of the nation’s most distinctive graduate programs in communication.

Applying

Emerson’s graduate programs welcome applicants from across the United States and around the world. Admission is competitive and selective. Emerson is looking for students whose academic and professional backgrounds, communication skills, and passion for the field meet the demands of their chosen program and promise a successful career.

The application deadline is June 1 for domestic applicants and May 1 for international applicants. Applications that are not complete by the final deadline are not reviewed by the admission committee. Applicants are responsible for ensuring the completion of their application. Application fees are nonrefundable; application forms and supporting materials become the property of the Office of Graduate Admission once they are sent to the office, and they will not be returned.

All application materials, with the exception of GRE test scores, must be submitted together in one package to ensure a timely review. A complete application includes the application form (students may apply online or they may download the PDF version), the application fee ($60 for domestic applicants; $75 for international applicants), official transcripts from all colleges/universities previously attended, three sealed letters of recommendation (by persons best able to assess academic and professional qualifications, including motivation, goals, and potential), GRE test scores, an essay, an artistic resume, and a professional resume.

Applicants whose native language is not English must provide evidence of English proficiency by submitting official TOEFL or IELTS test results. (Applicants from India and the Philippines are considered nonnative English speakers and are required to take the TOEFL.) Emerson College’s school code for the TOEFL is 3367; no department code is needed. For more information about these tests, prospective student can visit http://www.toefl.org or http://www.ielts.org. Minimum TOEFL scores are 550 paper-based, 213 computer-based, and 80 Internet-based. The minimum IELTS score is 6.5. Applicants who do not meet this requirement are not reviewed for admission.

Decisions are made on complete applications within six to eight weeks.

Deadlines for merit-based and federal aid applications for fall are March 1 and April 1, respectively. For more information about financing a graduate education, students should visit: http://www.emerson.edu/financial_services/info-grad.cfm/.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Melia Bensussen, Acting Chair and Associate Professor; B.A., Brown. Ms. Bensussen is producing director of Emerson Stage and teaches directing. She was awarded an OBIE for outstanding direction in 1999. In New York, she has worked at Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Manhattan Class Company, Bay Street (Sag Harbor, New York), The Women’s Project, the WPA, and the New York Shakespeare Festival (where she was the artist-in-residence), among others. She was twice given directing awards by the Princess Grace Foundation-USA and is a recipient of their Statuette Award. Her edition of the Langston Hughes translation of Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding is in its fifth printing by Theatre Communications Group.
• Robert Colby, Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director, and Program Director of Teacher Education; Ed.D., Harvard. Dr. Colby teaches in the areas of theater education and theater for young audiences, and directing. His productions for young audiences have toured extensively throughout the New England area and have been showcased at regional and national conferences. He has published in Children’s Theatre Review, Youth Theatre Journal, and 2D: Drama/Dance. In 2003 he was recognized for his contributions to the field of theater education with the Lin Wright Special Recognition Award given by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education.
• Mary Ellen Adams, Assistant Professor; M.S., Emerson. Ms. Adams teaches in the design/technology area with a specialty in makeup, crafts, and puppetry. She received her training in makeup for theater from Jack Stein, and for film, television, and special effects with Vincent Kehoe at the Research Council of Makeup Artists. Her professional work includes design responsibilities at major Boston television stations, and historical productions for Sudbury Militia and Minuteman National Park in Lexington, Massachusetts. She continues to serve as consultant to local educational, community, and regional theater companies. She has also conducted workshops for the Puppeteers of New England and New England Theatre Conference. At the College, she has designed and executed costumes, specialty headgear, makeup, and puppets for department productions.
• Kathleen Donohue, Associate Professor; M.F.A., Iowa. Ms. Donohue has worked professionally in both television and theater. She has taught acting workshops for the International Association for the Study of Dreams in Delphi, Greece, and produced and performed in Living In Exile–A Retelling of the Iliad in Edinburgh, Scotland, after having toured the show at institutions including the Remis Theatre of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Professor Donohue produced the Clauder Competition in Playwrighting and has written and performed her own one-woman shows. From 1990 to 1996 she was artistic director for TheatreWorks of Boston, Inc. Kathleen is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and took the Advanced Training Program at The Goodman School of the Chicago Art Institute.
• Sarah Hickler, Assistant Professor; M.F.A., Boston University. Ms. Hickler creates movement/theater work, including solo, group, improvisational, collaborative, and interdisciplinary performances. Her work has been presented at Lincoln Center in New York City, Austin Arts Center, Trinity College in Hartford, the Institute of Contemporary Art, EventWorks, Mobius in Boston, the Dance Complex, Margaret Jewett Hall, and the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge. She is a former member of the Mobius Artists Group, an internationally acclaimed group known for experimental work. She is a member of Shakespeare and Company, Lenox, Massachusetts, and has worked on productions at the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company.
• Timothy Jozwick, Assistant Professor; M.F.A., Carnegie Mellon. Mr. Jozwick’s design work has been produced for stage, television, and film. In addition to his responsibilities with Emerson Stage, he serves as a resident designer for Chamber Repertory Theatre. His work has been featured at Michigan Opera, the Indianapolis Opera, the Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis, the Goodspeed Opera, the Memphis Opera, the Opera Theatre of Syracuse, and the Dayton Opera. Tim’s exhibit designs have been installed in the Museum of Science, Boston, the California Museum of Science, the Franklin Institute, the Chicago Museum of Science, the Ohio Center for Science and Industry, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the City Museum of Saint Louis. Tim is also the recipient of a regional Emmy Award, and he was the art director for a film documentary that went on to win the National Golden Eagle Award. Tim is a member of United Scenic Artists.
• David Krasner, Head of Acting and Associate Professor; Ph.D., Tufts. David Krasner is the former Director of Undergraduate Theater Studies at Yale University (1997 to 2007) and the former Head of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Southern Illinois University (1995 to 1997). He taught acting, voice, speech, and movement at the New York branch of American Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1978 to 1987, while simultaneously acting in New York. He has appeared as an actor in numerous off- and off-off-Broadway productions of plays by Shakespeare, Brecht, O’Neill, and dozens of new works at Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and the Theatre Exchange. He has published several books on theater, drama, and performance, particularity on African American theater, dramatic theory and criticism, and acting. He has authored articles on method acting for twentieth-century acting training, and is the editor of the book Method Acting Reconsidered.
• Robbie McCauley, Associate Professor; M.A., NYU. Ms. McCauley is an OBIE Award playwright and a nationally recognized performance artist and director. An AUDELCO Award recipient for acting, her directing credits include the premier of Daniel Alexander Jones’ Bel Canto, co-produced with the Theater Offensive and Wheelock Family Theatre. One of the early cast members of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, Ms. McCauley went on to write and perform regularly in cities across the country, striving to facilitate dialogues on race between local whites and blacks. She is anthologized in several books including Extreme Exposure, by Jo Bonney, ed.; Moon Marked and Touched by Sun, by Sydne Mahone, ed.; and Out of Character, by Mark Russell, ed.
• Joshua Polster, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Washington (Seattle). Dr. Polster teaches theater history, dramatic theory, and criticism. His articles have appeared in Law and Literature, The Arthur Miller Journal, Texas Theatre Journal, and Theatre Tours. His scholarship earned him a Modern Language Quarterly grant and the Michael Quinn Prize. Dr. Polster recently completed his manuscript Rethinking Arthur Miller: Symbol and Structure. He has presented papers at the American Society for Theatre Research Conference, Mid-American Theatre Conference, Comparative Drama Conference, and International Arthur Miller Conference. He has taught at Roosevelt University, Columbia College and the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to his scholarship and teaching, Dr. Polster has directed critically acclaimed plays in London and Chicago. He was the Assistant Director of the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton, England, the Assistant Artistic Administrator at the Goodman Theatre, and the Artistic Director of the Steep Theatre Company in Chicago.
• Maureen Shea, Professor and Chairperson; Ph.D., Ohio State. Dr. Shea teaches in the areas of directing, dramatic literature, and theater history. She has collaborated with playwrights and composers on a number of new works, including staged readings at the Philadelphia Drama Guild, the Coyote Theatre Company, the Nora Theatre Company, the Theatre Offensive, and workshop productions and staged readings for Next Stage Inc., New Voices, and Word of Mouth in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston, Massachusetts. Her production of How I Got That Story was presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a national finalist in the American College Theatre Festival. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Iowa Playwrights Lab and at the Toneelacademie in Maastricht, the Netherlands. She was an associate director of the Company of Women, an all female Shakespeare Company. She is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
• Scott Wheeler, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Brandeis. Dr. Wheeler is a composer and conductor. As a composer, he has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the Fromm Foundation, Tanglewood, the National Endowment for the Arts, and many others. As a conductor, Scott Wheeler can be heard on several recent CDs conducting the Boston-based Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, of which he is co-artistic director, and on a recent Newport Classic CD, conducting members of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Recent musical compositions include The Little Dragon and The Construction of Boston.
• Artists-in-Residence and Production Experts
• Bonnie J. Baggesen, Production Manager, Department and Emerson Stage; M.F.A., Columbia. Ms. Baggesen teaches stage management. Prior to Emerson, she was the production manager for The Acting Company, a national touring company, and has stage managed in regional and commercial theater. Her regional credits include Trinity Repertory Company, Playmakers Repertory Company at UNC at Chapel Hill, and Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University. Her touring credits include national tours of Damn Yankees with Jerry Lewis and Sunset Boulevard with Petula Clark. In addition, she has taught stage management at Rhode Island College. While earning an M.F.A. in theater management and producing at Columbia University, Ms. Baggesen continued to stage-manage by substituting on The Lion King, Search for Signs of Intelligent Life, and other Broadway shows.
• Amelia Broome, Artist-in-Residence; M.A. West Florida; M.F.A., Boston University. Ms. Broome is a vocal and dialect coach and has more than twenty years of experience performing leading roles in opera, operetta, musical theater, and plays throughout New England, Georgia, Florida, and Canada. In Boston she has performed with Longwood Opera, Janus Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. Amelia is a certified Linklater voice teacher.
• Ken Cheeseman, Artist-in-Residence; Professional Training, University of Rhode Island Trinity Repertory Conservatory. Mr. Cheeseman studied at the International Film Workshops with feature film directors Mark Rydell, Alex Singer, Peter Werner, and Kevin Reynolds, and studied improvisation with Keith Johnstone. He received the grant “Partners in Production” to produce television programs with Boston’s Deaf Community. He is director of educational services for the Boston Shakespeare Company and has hosted two children’s television shows, Story Shop and The Lil’ Iguana Show, winners of New England Emmy and Massachusetts Broadcast Awards. He has appeared in films including: Domino One, Mystic River, Sundown, Big Night, Blue Diner, Next Stop Wonderland, State and Main, The Crucible, Malice, Housesitter, In Dreams, and The Proposition, and the television shows Monk and Law and Order: CI. He is a member of the American Repertory Theatre and Trinity Rep and has worked at regional theaters around the country as well as off-Broadway in New York.
• Stephen Terrell, Head of Musical Theatre and Artist-in-Residence; B.A. Mr. Terrell is a director and choreographer with an extensive background in musical theater, opera, and contemporary and classical theater. His work has been seen at off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House (Connecticut Critics’ Circle Award, Best Choreographer), and the Texas Shakespeare Festival, where he is a founding member and resident director. His work in opera includes productions for the Paris Opera and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro Real in Madrid; and Bunkamura Theatre in Tokyo, among others. A former actor-singer-dancer, Mr. Terrell appeared in shows on- and off-Broadway, at Radio City Music Hall, and at numerous theaters across the country.
• Rafael Jaen, Resident Costume Designer; M.A., Emerson. Mr. Jaen teaches costume design and the history of fashion and decor. He has been designing costumes in projects produced in the United States, Spain, Scotland, and Venezuela. Mr. Jaen is currently the Costume Area Head and Costume Design Resident at Emerson. Recently he has chaired portfolio development workshops at the USITT Annual Conference and Stage Expo and was a guest speaker at the MIT Theater Design Symposium. He is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) where he is chair of costume portfolio reviews. He is also is a member of the United Scenic Artist (USA) Chapter 829.
• Technical Staff
• Keith Cornelius, Scene Shop/Technical Supervisor. Mr. Cornelius has served as the technical director for more than 150 productions and is also a lighting and sound designer. He has worked at the Appletree Theatre, the Connecticut Opera, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and the University of Tulsa. He has been published in the USITT Biennial Technical Exposition Catalogue and Theatre Crafts, and is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.
• Ron J. De Marco, Properties Supervisor and Assistant Technical Director; B.A., North Central College. Mr. De Marco came to Emerson from Chicago, and his work has included technical director, stage manager, sound engineer, property designer, master electrician, special effects engineer, and changeover crew with companies such as Shakespeare Repertory, Light Opera Works, Theatre BAM!, Pegasus Players, Drury Lane, Northlight, Goodman, Steppenwolf, City Lit, Remy Bummpo, and Coyote Theatres. He has also led workshops in scenic design and construction for the Wisconsin Area Community Theatre Festival and for The Company Theatre in Norwell, Massachusetts. Ron is a member of USITT.

Correspondence and Information

Emerson College
Office of Graduate Admission
120 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4624
Telephone: 617-824-8610
Fax: 617-824-8614
Email: gradapp@emerson.edu