USC School of Dramatic Arts Viewbook 2022-2023

At the USC School of Dramatic Arts, we foster the talents of artist-scholars who are dramatically different — who are willing to imagine the future of the entertainment industry and bring it to life.

Dramatically Different.

Our students arrive with enormous potential, which we nurture and empower through an interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial education that helps them develop the skills necessary to discover their unique voice. This approach exposes students to diverse styles and multiple mediums.

Through programs of the highest caliber, a creative and supportive community of artists, and access to an immersive professional experience, students become multihyphenated artists who are prepared to succeed and lead in every facet of the dramatic arts.

Location

Our students learn their craft in the heart of Los Angeles, a global city and an international center for arts and entertainment that continues to attract dreamers, innovators and storytellers of all kinds. Los Angeles is also an exciting place to live — with sun-drenched beaches, diverse neighborhoods, trendy restaurants and shops, first-rate performance spaces and cultural institutions just minutes away.

Alumni

Our alumni are part of an unrivaled legacy: spanning every medium and platform, our creative artists have made their way into the hearts and minds of millions. With their USC training, students graduate knowing that they are part of the university’s unparalleled Trojan Family — an expansive network of personal and professional connections that provide opportunities for career development, mentorships and partnerships among alumni practically anywhere in the world.

Faculty

Our faculty are working professionals from the stage, from the screen, from Los Angeles and from the nation. Our faculty provide real world insight into the craft, and the crucial knowledge and experience of producing exceptional work in their field. Our classes are purposefully small in size to give students ample opportunities to work closely with the faculty, and build relationships and partnerships that extend beyond the classroom and into the professional world.

Productions

Our stunningly ambitious season of plays includes an array of classics, musicals, new works and contemporary plays that enhance a distinctive and comprehensive curriculum. Curated by the School's Literary Committee, the season offers students the opportunites to work alongside or be mentored by guest artists, including writers, directors, designers and scholars.

Creating Change

Programs like our Institute for Theatre & Social Change and SDA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion show our students how the tools of the dramatic arts can be used to create powerful, transformative stories that have the potential to change the world. In doing so, we strive to instill the storytelling principles of compassion and empathy to help address our world’s most pressing problems.

Professional Development Center

We break the mold on career preperation by being the first drama school with a dedicated professional development center, a one-ofa-kind support office devoted to supporting our students and recent graduates as they establish successful careers as performers, creators and cultural innovators.

Visiting Artists

A wide range of distinguished talents and industry leaders of the stage, screen and digital media lead professional development sessions, lectures and master classes. Some of the world renowned artists to work with our students include award-winning actors Colman Domingo, Bryan Cranston, Connie Britton, Ben Kingsley, Josh Gad, Blair Underwood; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, Robert Schenkkan; and Tony Awardwinning composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown.

Internships

The School’s full-time director of internships and special programs vets prospective internships and helps students connect to significant hands-on industry experience outside of the classroom. The companies our students have interned at range from Center Theatre Group to Amazon Studios, NBC Universal and UTA to television series on IFC, Netflix, the Television Academy and more.

Global Opportunities

A wide range of global opportunities are available to many of our students, including study abroad programs at distinguished institutions like the British American Drama Academy in London.

MFA in Acting

The MFA in Acting is a progressive three-year course of study that fuses two strands of actor-training: the classical conservatory-style that attunes the voice, body and the intellect to the demands of text and performance; and an innovative physical approach that draws upon the work of the world’s most influential contemporary stage artists.

Students develop their craft and their vision as artists, and also gain the knowledge, skills, flexibility and confidence to work in any medium, form or technology. We nurture artists who do not merely adapt to changes in trend, technology or the “industry,” but will lead, create and innovate.

While the curriculum and faculty honor the uniqueness of every person, the program envisions a self-motivated, collaborative and flexible actor working with purpose to make choices based on her or his personal imagery, and having the craft to execute those choices with clear and decisive actions.

Recent alumni of this program have been featured on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in theatres across the nation, as well as in major motion pictures and television series.

MFA in Dramatic Writing

The Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing (MFADW) at the USC School of Dramatic Arts provides students with the foundation to not only build a fruitful career, but to further discover and develop their own authentic voice.

At the heart of this program, the MFADW teaches playwriting first and foremost, then expands into adaptation, screenwriting, television writing, digital media and beyond. Presentations occur each year as part of a New Works Festival, presented in conjunction with prominent local and national theatres.

Opportunities for collaboration with acting students at the graduate and undergraduate levels are also supported — as well as exposure to a wide array of celebrated guest artists, who have included Suzan-Lori Parks, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Colman Domingo, Hilton Als, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Tony Kushner and many others.

SDA MFADW alumni have found their success on stages throughout the country and internationally, as well as on film and television, and other media. More importantly, they have learned ways to sustain and to find joy in their dramatic writing, giving them not simply a career but a calling.

Learn about our graduate programs

dramaticarts.usc.edu/graduate

The School of Dramatic Arts has one of the most diverse graduate student populations in the nation.

Bachelor of Fine Arts

Acting for Stage and Screen

The BFA in Acting for Stage and Screen connects the foundation of classical theatre with innovative training for the contemporary performing artist in the digital landscape, including on-camera techniques and much more.

Musical Theatre

The BFA in Musical Theatre is a unique program that joins the classical methodologies of all cultures in drama, music and dance to contemporary performance expressions. This degree empowers students to develop their unique identities as performers at the intersection of acting, music and dance and prepares them to be entrepreneurial and media agile.

Theatrical Design

The BFA in Theatrical Design combines up-todate training in scenic, lighting and costume design with practical experience in making such designs a production reality as part of the School's season. Students receive one-on-one guidance from a faculty of award-winning working professionals and graduate the program with an extensive design portfolio.

Sound Design

The BFA in Sound Design offers students the necessary tools and experience for success in sound design and engineering in all areas of the theatre and entertainment industry. Students are trained in a combination of technical, management and design skills — including sound recording and mixing, and receive hands-on experience sound designing for the School of Dramatic Arts’ theatrical season.

Stage Management

The BFA in Stage Management offers practical experience in technical aspects of production, management and design. Students hone skills in leadership, problem solving, and thinking creatively and collaboratively, while stage managing at least one production each academic year. The program provides a firm foundation in theatrical history, current practice, and affords opportunities to explore the intricacies of commercial and non-profit work in theatre, opera, team-based collaborations and beyond.

Technical Direction

The BFA in Technical Direction prepares students for a career in the implementation of the designed elements utilized in live entertainment and associated industries. Through theoretical course work and practical experience during the School of Dramatic Arts’ rigorous production season, students are immersed in the design process and eventual construction, and installation of the scenic, lighting, projection and sound elements of production.

Bachelor of Arts

Dramatic Arts

The BA in Theatre program combines a liberal arts education with an intensive study of the dramatic arts. This program offers a firm grounding in all aspects of the dramatic arts, while allowing students the freedom to select courses they feel will benefit their own interests and career goals. From classical theatre to stand-up comedy, from playwriting to medical clowning, from critical studies to entrepreneurialism in the dramatic arts, the range of course offerings in this degree program is as wide as it is deep.

The number of required courses for this degree allows students to participate in most minor and double major programs, and still graduate within a four-year period.

ACTING, COMEDY AND DESIGN EMPHASES

Beginning the second semester of their first year, students may elect to choose an emphasis in acting, comedy or design to further focus their studies.

Visual and Performing Arts Studies

The BA in Visual and Performing Arts Studies is an interdisciplinary degree offered jointly by the School of Dramatic Arts, the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, the School of Architecture, the School of Cinematic Arts, the Roski School of Art and Design, the Thornton School of Music, and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Students complete a core of required courses that provides them with a broad understanding of the various disciplines, and will then be able to blend this exposure into a more distinct curricular path befitting a multi-layered artist.

Learn about our undergraduate programs

dramaticarts.usc.edu/undergraduate

BE A PART OF OUR THRIVING COMMUNITY.

Our alumni have gone on to acclaim and flourish in all areas of the entertainment industries — regardless of mediums — and beyond. School of Dramatic Arts alumni also use their training and liberal arts education to achieve success in fields from business and law to therapy and social work, among many other careers.

Financial Aid

Did you know that spproximately two-thirds of USC students receive some form of financial aid? USC administers one of the largest financial aid programs in the United States and works with families to meet 100 percent of the USC-determined financial need for students who meet all deadlines and eligibility requirements. USC is need-blind in its admission process. Ability to pay, or a student’s interest in financial aid, has no bearing on admission decisions. For more information, visit usc.edu/finaid

ATTENTION APPLICANTS

You are strongly encouraged to submit all financial aid documents as soon as possible to the Financial Aid Office. Early submission of your documents will allow the Financial Aid Office to provide you with a financial offer letter before the May 1 commitment date (First-Year deadline).

The University of Southern California admits students of any race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical disability or mental disability to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical disability or mental disability in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. The University’s full nondiscrimination policy can be found on the Web at policy.usc.edu.

The University of Southern California complies with all federal and state laws that protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination based on their disability status. As such, reasonable accommodations and auxiliary aids and services are available to individuals with disabilities when such modifications and services are necessary to fully access the institution’s programs and services. Disability Services and Programs (DSP) provides accommodations and services to enrolled students with disabilities. Applicants and registered students with questions may contact the Office of Disability Services and Programs at osas.usc.edu. The university’s ADA/504 Coordinator is Christine Street. She may be reached at streetc@usc.edu.