Directing

 We seek articulate, educated, and introspective students who bring a body of directing, theatre, and/or performing arts experience. We actively recruit students from around the nation and the world, with recent students hailing from Virginia, New York, Syria, Arkansas, Texas, Italy, Colombia, South Korea, and Kansas. Our directors are passionate to learn, grow, and embrace challenges. They are engaged, curious citizens, eager to create art that awakens our daily lives and challenges the status quo.

The theatre faculty provides directing candidates opportunities to develop their unique artistic voices, equipping them with the skills and experiences to become confident and imaginative storytellers. Directors prepare for production work by learning and practicing: script analysis and research; communication methods for collaborating; rehearsal organization and time management; and exploring visual and aural tools of our art form.

The student directors’ primary focus here is on their work with actors, helping them to discover, distill, and communicate story, relationships, and character. To that end, directors take many of the classes offered in the graduate acting track and lead our M.F.A. actors in directing studio classes throughout their three years of study. In classroom and production experiences we train directors to collaborate with an array of theatre artists, including: scenic, costume, lighting, sound, properties, and projection designers; playwrights; dance and fight choreographers; music directors; stage managers; technical directors; and business managers.

It is our hope that artistic relationships forged with their peers here will endure well beyond their graduate studies.

Students practice the process of directing a play with focused, rigorous classes that cover a wide range of historical and contemporary genres and styles. They helm productions that include new plays, devised theatre, and extant scripts, in our studio, black box, and proscenium spaces.

We value the flexibility of our program, striving to meet the individual needs and future goals of our students, offering strong guidance and mentorship as well as a wide range of classes, training and production experiences. We admit only two or three directors at a time, enabling us to offer small, intensive classes and provide personalized attention.

While the priority deadline was February 1st, applications are now being accepted on a rolling basis until all positions are filled.  After March 1st the window to apply for Graduate School Fellowships closes. Our Theatre Department Graduate Assistantships will be available until all positions are filled.

If you have any questions, please contact Morgan Hicks, Head of Directing, with questions @ mhicks@uark.edu.

Applicants wishing to apply to the MFA Directing  Program should prepare to provide:

• Applicant Information
• Unofficial Transcript, including GPA
• A résumé detailing academic experience, professional work in the theatre, and other relevant work experience.
• A Personal Statement, one- to two-pages, addressing the applicant’s reasons for wanting to pursue an M.F.A. in Directing. The statement should also discuss the applicant’s goals after completion of the program. Applicants are welcome to share other relevant information that might give the selection committee perspective on their application.
• A portfolio of work which should include:
  • Video of up to 15 minutes that showcases the applicant's directing work. This may be from one production or a compilation of several productions. We prefer being sent an online link, although you can also upload a file.
  • A list of plays you’d be excited to direct, as well as any adaptations or other projects that intrigue you.
  • Optional: production photos of shows you have directed.
• Three Letters of Recommendation from theatre professionals, professors, or other people who are familiar with the applicant and/or their work.  One of the recommendations must speak directly to the applicant’s theatrical work.

Please note, select students will be invited to interview in February/March of 2026.

>>Apply Now via our application  portal.

The GRE Test is not required for admission to the M.F.A. Program in Directing.

Final admission into the MFA Program requires an application to the University of Arkansas Graduate School for formal admission to the University. This step is not necessary until one has been invited to interview for the MFA Directing Program. To apply to the Graduate School, one should expect to provide:

• Current official transcript (official transcripts must come from a College or University Registrar or similar office).
• If  one’s undergraduate career is incomplete at the time of application, a  final official transcript must be sent to the graduate school before registration begins for one’s second semester.
• Please note, the deadline for this will be determined by and communicated to you by the area head.

In their first year, directors typically direct a one-act or full-length play with limited production support, which allows the faculty to assess the student's strengths and potential growth areas; the focus is on script interpretation and analysis and collaborating with actors. In their second year, directors expand their horizons to more complex styles, directing a full-length play that typically includes a collaborative process with two or more designers, along with a limited production budget and technical support. In their third year, directors mount a full-length thesis production, usually on our mainstage, with a full collaborative process and department support. The thesis production requires extensive research, analysis, and subjective journaling about the artistic experience, all of which culminate in a thesis paper. In their second and/or third year, directors collaborate with a graduate playwright on a staged reading or production of a new play. As time permits, directors are encouraged to work on independent projects both within our department and in the community.

Directors are given regular, in-depth feedback on all aspects of their work, including scenes directed in ongoing studio classes. The faculty directing mentor typically attends two or three rehearsals at various phases of each production process and provides written notes and oral feedback. Following the productions, the faculty mentor discusses the processes and end results, student accomplishments, and potential growth areas. In addition, the directing mentor requests and collates anonymous, aggregate feedback from the participating actors and stage manager, which is then shared in writing with the student director and reviewed with the mentor. This candid assessment provides invaluable, immediate, and direct feedback. Following the second and third year projects there are post-mortems with the design and production teams. Student directors are urged to visit privately with design and production collaborators and their mentors to glean further insights on their collaboration processes.

The Department of Theatre typically produces five-six productions a year with generous budgets in three different venues giving designers a variety of experiences.

• The University Theater is a 315-seat proscenium stage theatre, housing fully equipped scenery, and costume construction facilities and state of the art lighting, sound and rigging systems.
• The UA Black Box Theater is a 181-seat flexible black box space, located on the Downtown Fayetteville Square. This theatre features state of the art sound, lighting and production systems.
• Studio 404 in Kimpel Hall is a 75-seat black box space which accommodates student directed, projects, experimental productions and new play workshops.

As stated above, most students assistant direct at least one production with our acclaimed local professional theatre, TheatreSquared. In the summer and during their third year of study, students are encouraged to pursue assistantships and internships in alignment with their passions and needs.

The Graduate School also provides modest financial support for some opportunities, including select directing labs and workshops.