American Repertory Theater - Educational Institution

Educational Institution

In 1987, the A.R.T. founded the Institute for Advanced Theater Training, a five semester professional training M.F.A. program which includes a three month period working and training at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. This program provides training for graduate-level actors, dramaturgs, and voice students. For a time, the Institute included a director-training program, which was discontinued in 2004; the dramaturgy program was simultaneously tripled in enrollment. This joint program has historically conferred an M.F.A. from the Moscow Art Theatre School and a certificate of completion from Harvard. The program is administered and housed by the A.R.T., and training is provided by full-time, part-time, and visiting teachers and artists at the A.R.T. These include Russian teachers affiliated with the Moscow Art Theatre School, who teach in residence in Cambridge as well as in Moscow when the students study there. The Institute is remarkable among conservatory programs for the degree to which it offers the opportunity for exposure to and collaboration with internationally renowned artists of the "avant-garde," particularly those from eastern Europe and Russia.