Welcome to the Ohio State University’s MFA in Theatre - Design. We’re glad that you’re here.
At Ohio State, our Theatre Design program serves as a dynamic training ground for creative artists–folks who have big ideas, who ask lots of questions, and who want to see where those ideas and questions lead them. Exploration, collaboration, and innovation are at the core of our design, technology, scholarship, and beyond.
Our individualized program features both coursework and hands-on creative practice that we tailor to your needs and interests. We offer concentrations in scenic, costume, lighting, and media designs. In addition to identifying a primary area of expertise, you can pursue secondary areas and explore multiple disciplines.
Each academic year, we produce a full theatrical season that serves as a laboratory for our students. Starting in your first semester, you will be actively engaged in productions that are selected specifically for our student body, including plays, musicals, new works, devised works, and more.
We are proud to say that we support all of our graduate design students with an assistantship that provides a tuition waiver in addition to an annual stipend. We consider our assistantships co-curricular training. Our production studios are fully staffed with an incredible team of professional artist-educators who you have the opportunity to learn from every day. And if teaching is something you’re interested in, we have opportunities for you to practice and refine your pedagogy both inside and outside the classroom.
As the faculty mentors in Design and Technology, we’re here to help you identify your artistic and academic goals, chart pathways to achieve success on your terms, and tap into your unique creative potential.
If you’re interested, please reach out to any of our faculty directly. We’d love to get to know you!
Maranda DeBusk: Lighting Design, Arts & Community Engagement, Found Spaces
Alex Oliszewski: Media Design, Experiential Media Systems, Media Devising
Brad Steinmetz: Scenic Design, New Works Production, Live and Themed Events
Dr. Rebecca Turk: Costume Design, Art & Design as Engineering, Cosplay
The MFA program has close ties to the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD), a collaborative think-space, distinguished by a transdisciplinary approach to research and teaching, functioning as an applied collaboratory for time-based digital media production. ACCAD features specialized and flexible studios for animation, motion capture, interactive design, media production, and mediated performance design.
In addition, the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts is affiliated with the Wexner Center for the Arts, a contemporary arts center and educational program at Ohio State, with a wide range of local, national, and international presentations in the visual and performance arts, film, video, and architecture.
Applicants must possess an undergraduate degree, demonstrate a potential for excellence through their portfolio and interview, and meet the requirements for admission to the Graduate School.
The Theatre Graduate Handbook contains the policies and procedures that govern graduate admissions, degree requirements, advising, the determination of satisfactory.
The MFA-Design Advising Sheets contains the required coursework and other degree requirements, curricular timetable, and typical course offering patterns.