M.F.A. in Playwriting Summer Program

Hollins’ M.F.A. program in playwriting is designed for those interested in playwriting as well as those who want an academic study of theatre with the playscript as the central foundation.
     Our unique summer program, with its emphasis on both scholarly research and creative writing, will enable graduates of the program to:

• write and articulate clear, perceptive, and informed analyses of dramatic texts
• produce dramatic works of the highest quality
• pursue careers in such professions as dramatic writing, dramaturgy, literary management, and arts instruction

Hollins offers an intensive, supportive, and challenging atmosphere that encourages academic excellence, a spirit of independent inquiry, a free exchange of ideas, and a love of learning. Our faculty of productive scholars and visiting faculty of established artists work together to help you achieve your academic, professional, and artistic goals.

Program Strengths

• You’ll work closely with Hollins’ visiting professional faculty, artists-in-residence, and guest speakers to develop the kind of personal and professional relationships that can lead to reading and production credits before graduation—an advantage few other programs offer.
• Mill Mountain Theatre, nationally known for its support of new work, provides opportunities for readings and productions of student writing, including the Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works, CenterPieces, and Discovery Reading Series.
• Students can take advantage of No Shame Theatre, a weekly venue for new work with a proven 20-year history of innovative experimentation that has been a launching point for some of American theatre’s most important artists and groundbreaking plays. No Shame is part of a national network, and the chapter at Mill Mountain Theatre has twice been invited to participate in the prestigious Piccolo Spoleto Theatre Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. No Shame alums include Rebecca Gilman, Toby Huss, Camryn Manheim, Stuart Sherman, and many others. Plays developed at No Shame include The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, by Jeff Goode, and Mambo Mouth, by John Leguizamo.
  
  

The New Works Initiative

The Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University is working with local arts organizations, like Mill Mountain Theatre, to find ways to increase the frequency and scope of new works programming available to Roanoke audiences. 
 
Imagine the value to our community if we can regularly bring prominent professionals from Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other important theatre centers to our community to work with student playwrights and local actors to produce or showcase new plays in downtown venues.
 
Imagine the potential of making Roanoke a vibrant nationally recognized center for new play development as those projects are then taken back to the home theatres of our guest artists. It can be a reality, not just imagination, with your help.
 
Charitable contributions to Hollins University designated for The New Works Initiative will be used exclusively to fund productions and readings of new plays written by our graduate students, faculty, and guest artists.
 
To support the New Works Initiative of the Playwright’s Lab, please visit us online at: www.hollins.edu/giveonline.

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