Theatre (Writing for Performance)

Student in the BA in Theatre with emphasis in Writing for Performance are offered a curriculum that includes a sequence of creative writing and literature classes, emphasizing the art and craft of writing as it applies to theatre and performance. MU student playwrights tell their stories through the words and actions of the characters they create.  Students take a series of introductory and advanced classes in playwriting, acting, directing, dramaturgy, theatre history, script analysis, performance studies, world dramatic literature, adaptation of literature for stage and film, and screenwriting for film and television. They study dramatic structure, plot and story structure, complex character development, and special playwriting problems and techniques.  Students participate in our annual Life and Literature Performance Series which is a celebration of original student plays, stories, poetry, and adaptations of literature, devised theatre, ethnography, performance art, music, and dance. Student playwrights have their new plays performed every week at our Missouri Playwrights Workshop, presented as concert readings during our annual Mizzou New Play Series and summer Comedies-in-Concert Series, and fully produced during our Academic Season as MU Theatre mainstage productions. Students are regularly invited to share their ten-minute plays, one-act plays, and full-length plays at local, regional, and national theatre events, including the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Graduates are involved in theatre, film, and television productions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and across the country. They are playwrights, screenwriters, dramaturgs, editors, storytellers, and teachers, who share their imagery, creativity, and theatrical imagination with audiences everywhere.

This is an emphasis area of the following major:

• Theatre, BA

This major has the following additional emphasis areas:

• Design / Technical
• Performance

You can do nearly anything with a Mizzou degree, but here are some common career paths taken by graduates of this major:

• Actors
• Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
• Editors
• Marketing Managers
• News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
• Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers
• Producers and Directors