Graduate Studies: Professional Actor Training Program:
Letter from Program Head
LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF THE PROGRAM
Welcome to our site, and thanks for your interest in our program. It's said that graduate study in any field should offer students a bridge to their intended profession. The Professional Actor Training Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has offered such a bridge to its students for thirty years, and remains one of the most select and respected actor training programs in the country.
We offer our students a rigorous conservatory training program led by master teachers in excellent facilities, complemented by the opportunity for practical professional training as core members of PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional LORT theatre associated with the Department of Dramatic Art at UNC Chapel Hill. Each graduating MFA student leaves the PATP earning membership in Actors Equity Association and takes part in the prestigious New Leagues Showcase in New York. Summer opportunities include auditions for A Guthrie Experience (this past summer PATP actors Flor De Liz Perez and Matthew Murphy were among twelve actors selected from leading training programs nationally) and, new for 2010, auditions for the highly selective Chautauqua Theater Company. And the PATP is proud to announce that second year actor Marianne Miller was recently named Best Actress at the American Artist Film Festival for her work in the feature film Fire Lily.
For fall 2010 we will be looking for a select group of talented and ambitious early-career professionals who are committed to furthering their training and to making a substantial contribution as core members of the PlayMakers acting company. PlayMakers’ Producing Artistic Director Joseph Haj, who provides PATP students with candid professional feedback and guidance throughout their time in the program, was named in the April 2009 issue of American Theatre magazine as one of the 25 theatre artists who will lead the American theatre in the next quarter century. Joe’s leadership and artistry is supplemented by outstanding guest directors and designers. Recent and future guest directors at PlayMakers include Davis McCallum, Liesl Tommy, Brendon Fox, Timothy Douglas, Libby Appel, Trezana Beverley, and Tom Quaintance.
A small sample of PATP actors’ roles on the PlayMakers mainstage in the past two seasons would include Juliet, Benvolio, and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet; Meg, Babe, Barnet, and Doc in Crimes of the Heart; Sister James and Mrs. Muller in Doubt; Constanze in Amadeus; Marina and Lysimachus in Pericles; Laura and Jim in The Glass Menagerie; Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley in Pride and Prejudice, and Grace and Carl in Opus.
Click here for a look at PlayMaker’s fall 2009 epic production of Nicholas Nickleby directed by Joseph Haj and Tom Quaintance. All PATP actors have significant responsibilities in the production.
Classes in the program are no less rigorous and are the foundation of the training. In addition to regular classes with our superb resident faculty, the Professional Actor Training Program invites leading artistic and industry professionals to join us for workshops and master classes. Recent guest artistic professionals have included
--Musical theatre audition workshop with Tony Award winner Alice Ripley, sister of faculty member Scott Ripley.
--An eight day acting residency with Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson.
--An eight day residency with screen and stage actor John Carroll Lynch, with his remarkable workshop for young actors, “A Sense of Balance.”
--Two week basic acting workshop with returning PATP faculty member and four-time Emmy winner Joan Darling.
--Two week improv workshop with Zach Ward, Artistic Director of DSI Comedy Theatre.
--Commedia dell’arte workshop with Carlos Garcia Estevez of Teatro Punto in Amsterdam.
Recent workshops with industry professionals have included:
--Workshop with New York Casting Director Pat McCorkle.
--Workshop with New York Casting Director Stephanie Klapper.
--Workshop with Casting Director and Associate Director of Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Zan Sawyer-Dailey.
--Two-day industry and showcase workshop with Mark Schlegel of Cornerstone Talent Agency and Janet Foster of Janet Foster Casting in New York.
--Workshop with Mary Harden of Harden/Curtis Talent Agency in New York.
--Workshop with Heidi Griffiths Casting Director for New York's Public Theater.
The cost of graduate training can be a consideration for many prospective students. The Professional Actor Training Program is committed to limiting or eliminating debt burden for its graduates. Currently all PATP actors receive tuition remission and a competitive stipend, a financial package with a value of up to $35,000 per year. Due to current economic uncertainties we cannot guarantee that full three-year tuition and stipend packages will be available for all students in future, but we remain committed to providing our MFA actors with extraordinary value in addition to exceptional professional training.
We invite you to audition in January and February of 2010 in New York, Chicago, or Chapel Hill. See "Applying to the Program" for information on applications and auditions.
Ray Dooley
Head, Professional Actor Training Program
