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Actors Studio Drama School—Acting, MFA; Directing, MFA; and Playwriting, MFA

Location
  • New York City
Associated College
Sands College of Performing Arts

Effective October 2024, this program is no longer accepting applications.

Learn from the Masters

The Actors Studio Drama School MFA program at Pace University offers you the authenticity, continuity, and authority of the Stanislavski System and the Method. Uniquely modern in its approach, the School is an ideal conservatory for aspiring actors who want to be prepared to tackle a broad range of both character and leading roles, and for budding directors and playwrights looking to develop their expertise using the collaborative Actors Studio philosophy and tradition.

View Curriculum

Hone Your Craft

  • The only MFA program crafted and sanctioned by the legendary Actors Studio.
  • All core teachers are Lifetime Members of the Actors Studio. The curriculum has been designed and developed by the leadership of the Actors Studio, including the co-presidents of the organization, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Al Pacino.
  • Located in New York City, the theater capital of America and the largest media and cultural market in the world.

Program Collaborative Arch

First-year students are immersed in learning the acting methodology and language, as well as training in their individual craft.

Second-year students are introduced to unique collaborative training that encompasses the three disciplines.

Third-year students of all three disciplines apply their knowledge and work together as an ensemble to create and perform in a professionally produced Repertory Season that is presented to the industry and the general public.

From their very first day of training, our student actors, directors, and playwrights begin to develop their unique artistic voices—voices that arise from their talent, soul, sensitivity, imagination, and the courage to express themselves in the most personal and profound ways, no matter how diverse the style of production. And as we all know, when the expression of the artist is personal and profound, it becomes universal and affects the entire world.

Add Opportunities And Experiences

  • Throughout the three years, actors, directors and playwrights learn to collaborate with each other in classes in which the actors act, the directors direct, and the playwrights write. Collaboration among these three tracks is the heart of the MFA program and the Repertory Season at the end of the third year.
  • Throughout the three years, the best work of these classes is presented for the public in what we call the end-of-semester “Festivals.”
  • In the third year, all graduating students are presented to the industry in multiple showcases including the MFA Acting Industry Showcase, the ASDS MFA Playwright Staged Reading Series, and the MFA Directing Showcase.
  • In their final year, all Actors Studio Drama School students present their work to the professional world and the public, in a fully-produced professional Repertory Season at a theater in downtown Manhattan. In addition, after the Repertory Season, our actors present their work to representatives from the theater, film, and television industries in an Industry Showcase at the Actors Studio itself in midtown Manhattan.

Choose Your Career

The Actors Studio Drama School alumni are an elite group of artists who have a strong foundation in the theater, film, television, and entertainment industry, as well as the world of education. In addition to some of our graduates becoming Lifetime Members of the Actors Studio, many of our alumni have gone on to a wide range of accomplishments across the country and around the world.

Where Graduates Are Employed

  • Directing
    • Javier Molina was appointed the new Co-Artistic Director of the Actors Studio in New York City.
    • Saki Kawamura was selected as one of 10 directors for the 2023 Leon Levy Foundation Directors Group and the 2024 Directing Fellow at Roundabout Theatre Company.
  • Acting
    • Chris Stack was a featured actor in the Tony-award-winning Broadway play Stereophonic.
    • Christina Villa starred as “Rosa” in Wanted Man, co-starring Dolph Lundgren (Amazon), and featured in Dressed for Love and Spark, debuted at the Inside Out Festival and screened at the Dances with Films Festival.
    • Victor Almanzar played “Oswaldo” in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony-nominated Broadway play Between Riverside and Crazy and featured in the TV series Empire (FOX) and Chicago P.D. (NBC).
  • Playwriting
    • Lloyd Suh was nominated for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for The Far Country, which premiered at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City. His play The Chinese Lady won the 2022 Theatre World Award for Best New Play.

Did You Know?

The Actors Studio Drama School was named among the “Best 19 MFA and MA Acting Programs in the U.S. and U.K.” (Source: Backstage)