Institute for Advanced Theatre Training

History

Lacking a department of drama or even a drama concentration, Harvard was understandably reluctant to accept a graduate professional school of drama on the Yale model. When the A.R.T. came to Harvard from Yale in 1979, Robert Brustein originally proposed such a model for actors, directors, and dramaturgs connected to the theater, but was quickly advised that the idea would never fly. It wasn't until 1987, after noting the incidence at Harvard of institutes (e.g. the Nieman and the Bunting Institutes), that Brustein submitted the proposal again, under the name of the American Repertory Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training. Brustein was permitted to develop a training program in acting, directing, and dramaturgy. From 1999 to 2016, graduates received a Master of Fine Arts from Moscow Art Theater School and a certificate from Harvard University. The graduating classes of 2017 and 2018 received a Master of Liberal Arts from Harvard Extension School and a Certificate of Achievement from the Moscow Art Theater School, which became associated with the school in 1997. The institute's acting program is an intensive combination of classroom exploration and practical production experience. Acting students follow a two-year sequence carefully designed to help them incrementally increase their knowledge of and facility with text analysis, character development, spontaneity and impulse, period and aesthetic style, and overall expressiveness.

Suspension of admissions

In January 2017, the institute announced they would not be taking on any new admissions for the next academic year after the United States Department of Education gave the graduate program a failing grade due to the oppressive levels of student debt.

In June 2017, the institute's director, Scott Zigler, announced he was taking the job as the dean of the School of Drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

In July 2017, the graduate-level theater training program announced they would be taking a three-year hiatus of accepting new admissions and they would be working on a strategic plan for the school. In the announcement, Director Zigler said, “What we’re looking at is taking a three-year hiatus so we can come back stronger, better, and with better funding.”

Harvard University reported that the median debt for a student graduating from the two-year program in 2016 was approximately $78,000 with an average starting salary of $36,000 a year.

Program

In July of the first year, students study the Stanislavsky System as a foundation for their graduate acting training. This early training with teachers from the Moscow Art Theatre School focuses on concentration, imagination, observation, relaxation, and action analysis of a text. Classes combine extensive exercises, structured improvisations (also known as études), and textual analysis to help students form a cohesive whole out of their training. The Russian teachers also discuss the artistic and professional ethics of acting, sharing the philosophies of theater that have come to characterize the Russian tradition. In the fall of the first year, students focus on the work of Sanford Meisner and the acting theory developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy known as Practical Aesthetics. This work is designed to help students replace intellectual ideas with impulsive and spontaneous choices engendered by focus on and responsiveness to the actor's partner within an analytic framework. Classes also explore approaches to freeing the students’ creativity and imagination and expanding their range of behaviour in order to create the capability to play a broad range of characters and styles. Fall and winter classes involve extensive scene study, with the primary focus on contemporary work. In the winter, students are introduced to “outside/ in” work: generating character through physical and vocal choices first, followed by internal character choices. Also in the first year, students are encouraged to hone their time management skills. By taking on the demanding conservatory schedule of the institute, students are readied for the scheduling demands of life as a working actor. All acting classes and workshops are closely integrated with training in voice, speech, and movement. These combined skills provide each actor with a number of approaches for conquering the myriad challenges they are likely to encounter as professional actors.

In the spring of the first year, students travel to Moscow for a three-month residency at the Moscow Art Theatre School developing a play to be performed on the Moscow Art Theatre stage. In Moscow, students continue their training in acting, movement, ballet, fencing, acrobatics, singing and voice with Russian master teachers. They have the opportunity to see world theater and immerse themselves in the Stanislavsky System. They also continue studying speech and verse with their Harvard teachers. Students present and perform weekly their first production, an ensemble piece at the American Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre School.

In the second year, back in residence at the A.R.T., students focus on applying skills learned in the first year to a wide variety of styles and genres both on stage and in the classroom. Classes focus on a variety of acting challenges presented by writers such as Tennessee Williams, August Wilson, and Samuel Beckett. Students also focus on contemporary heightened text by playwrights such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Mac Wellman, and spend three weeks on intensive Shakespearean scene study with acting teacher David Hammond. Students perform in Institute productions directed by faculty members and guest artists. In some instances, students will also have opportunities to perform and understudy in A.R.T.’s professional productions. Students may also perform in staged readings or workshops of new scripts being developed by the theater and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University.

Production history

2017-2018

Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, directed by Melia Bensussen

Charlotte's Web, dramatized by Joseph Robinette, based upon the story by E.B. White, directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky

Familiar, written by Kirsten Greenidge, directed by Rebecca Bradshaw

Assistance, written by Leslye Headland, directed by Scott Zigler

Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder, directed by Marcus Stern

2016-2017

Middletown, written by Will Eno, directed by Marcus Stern

James and the Giant Peach, adapted for the stage by David Wood, from the book by Roald Dahl, directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky

Violet, music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Brian Crawley, based on The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts, directed by Sammi Cannold

Carmen, conceived, directed, and choreographed by Alla Sigalova

2015-2016

The Shipment, written by Young Jean Lee, directed by Marcus Stern

The Pirate Princess, music and lyrics by Mike Pettry, book by Lila Rose Kaplan, directed by Allegra Libonati

A Big Mess, created by Daniel Passer and the A.R.T. Class of 2016, directed by Daniel Passer

Dying For It, written by Moira Buffini, directed by Scott Zigler

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, written by Horace McCoy, directed by Wojtek Klemm

The Bard for Bryan, Artistic Coordinator: Scott Zigler

2014-2015

A Bright New Boise, written by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Marcus Stern

The Light Princess, music and lyrics by Mike Pettry, book by Lila Rose Kaplan, directed by Allegra Libonati

Bridge*Widow*Hag, written by Kim Rosenstock, directed by Shira Milikowsky

Silent Rage, a double bill of two plays – Heroin/e (Keep Us Quiet), written by Carson Kreitzer and Dutchman, written by LeRoi Jones, directed by Scott Zigler

The Lonely Voice, directed by Ilya Bocarnikovs, inspired by the short stories of Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin

Much Ado About Nothing, written by William Shakespeare, directed by Anya Saffir

Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, written by Paula Vogel, directed by Melia Bensussen

2007-08

Gray City, written by Keith Huff, directed by Lindsay Allbaugh

Expats, written by Heather Lynn MacDonald, directed by Jonathan Carr

Trigger, written by Kyle Jarrow, directed by Marcus Stern

The Lacy Project, written by Alena Smith, directed by Scott Zigler

The Room and Celebration, written by Harold Pinter, directed by Roman Kozak

Alumni

Jon Bernthal – Acting (2002)

Betsy Brandt – Acting (1997)

Ron Burch – Playwriting (1991)

Debora Cahn – Acting (1998)

Peter Cambor – Acting (2005)

Samrat Chakrabarti – Acting (2002)

Anthony Cistaro – Acting (1997)

Bart DeLorenzo – Directing

Maggie Flecknoe – Acting

M.A. Fortin – Acting (2003)

Jessalyn Gilsig – Acting (1995)

Katori Hall – Acting (2005)

Ellen Idelson – Acting

Tim Kang – Acting (2001)

Tina Landau – Directing (1989)

Gideon Lester – Dramaturgy (1997)

Jin Maley – Acting

Careena Melia – Acting (2009)

Ajay Naidu – Acting (1996)

Kristin Proctor – Acting (2000)

Mark Setlock – Acting (1992)

Zuzanna Szadkowski – Acting (2005)

Faran Tahir – Acting (1992)