Masters Degrees in Stage Management

Within a rapidly changing domestic and international environment, the work of stage managers is becoming more complex and technically challenging. The entertainment and live events industries are growing rapidly and the need for skilled stage managers has never been greater. The evolving range and scope of where, and how, live entertainment is delivered leads to often difficult and sometimes contradictory demands and challenges for the stage management team. This leads to a situation where there is a need for graduates with more holistic and integrated perspectives regarding the management of entertainment and live events and the artistic, economic, social and environmental conditions in which they function. This course has been developed in response to this need, and is rooted in a belief that effective stage managers need training that is both practical and critically reflective. It will develop your knowledge of the contemporary issues affecting the management of entertainment and live events while equipping you with the practical skills that are essential for developing a career in the field.

The course is run in partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School, which specialises in postgraduate vocational training and combines a  well established industry focus with successful graduate employment. It combines the best aspects of the vocational, practical and academic models.

This MA is designed as a conversion degree and we welcome applicants from non-arts related subjects. It is suitable for both graduates who wish to add a vocational stage management emphasis to their first degree, and those with equivalent professional qualifications or experience. It is likely to be of interest to those who studied the arts and humanities at undergraduate level, or those with significant workplace experience who would like to gain a formal qualification.

Teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching comprises a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, case studies, simulation exercises, and projects. You will undertake  professional practice working with QMU shows and events as well as engaging with the wider industry. Your performance on the course will be assessed by essays, reports, reflective blog, portfolio, presentations and a dissertation or project (MA only). Normally, there are around six to eight students undertaking the course each year.

Teaching hours and attendance

Each module will require you to attend classes and carry out independent work. Most modules consist of five or six hours of class time each day during the teaching periods of the semester. Where possible, all teaching takes place over three days per week.

Links with industry/professional bodies

Our partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School ensures an active industry focus to the course with key professional  practitioners delivering master classes and practical workshops. Our location in the festival city also allows for strong practical links between the course and the many arts, festival and cultural organisations based in and around Edinburgh, across Scotland and the UK.

Modules

15 credits: Core Technical Skills for Theatre Production/ Managing Productions: Theory & Practice/ Advanced Technical Skills for Theatre Production/ Managing People & Projects 30 credits: Professional Practice 1 (15 + 15)/ Professional Practice 2 (15 + 15)

If studying for an MA, you will also complete a dissertation or project (60 credits).

Careers

You will be qualified for a broad range of stage management positions within a wide spectrum of live entertainment and live events industries. Many career opportunities are open to you. Previous graduates (Edinburgh Stage Management School) have gone on to work in theatres, performing arts organisations, festivals, corporate events and ceremonies. In addition, many now tour within the UK, Europe and  internationally. Potential careers might include producing, fundraising, marketing, programming, or audience development, as well as many other roles across the cultural industries and all professions requiring skills in effective management.

Quick Facts

• Small cohort of students working closely and collaboratively with staff
•  Range of guest lecturers from key cultural organisations and associated industries
• The only postgraduate course of its kind in Scotland
•  Unique partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School

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Key Features

- For students wishing to specialise in stage management for the theatre and live events
- Taught element starting in September and running full time until autumn of the following year
- Tuition and supervision from a team of established industry practitioners
- Masterclasses and seminars from leading industry experts
- Training in the full range of skills required to be a professional stage manager or event manager
- Core skills module covering job roles, budgets, health and safety, essential lighting and sound, scheduling and CAD
- Management in Context module covering planning, problem-solving, management theory, logistics, team working and career planning
- Positions in up to four College productions/events
- Work placements with professional companies either locally or internationally
- Option to undertake a work placement in the College’s venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- Final component involving the completion of a Professional Practice Portfolio based on your professional employment, with support and mentoring from College tutors

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The MA in Theatre Directing run in collaboration with the multi-award winning Orange Tree Theatre is designed to explore the art and techniques of theatre directing within the context of contemporary theatre making.

The MA in Theatre Directing is predominantly housed at The Orange Tree in Richmond, enabling students to embed their practice in the working life of this award-winning theatre. Modules are taught by both academics and theatre directors with the assistance of professional actors in the practical classes.

The programme is both academic and vocational. It aims to provide an advanced understanding of theatre production processes within a context of both contemporary theatre making and the dramatic tradition. It further aims to develop students’ craft skills and technical abilities in order to prepare them for a career in theatre directing.

The programme is aimed both at graduates who wish to advance their understanding of theatre practice in order to develop their work to a professional standard and at theatre professionals who wish to formalise their experience with a course of study and a qualification.

Why St Mary's?

Directing workshops explore rehearsal techniques, script analysis, performance, design and technical aspects of production. A key module focuses on directing as a career. There is a particular emphasis on the study of the working relationship between the director and the performer.

At the end of the course students present a showcase production at the Orange Tree, or another London fringe theatre. Study is over one year full-time or two years part-time.

Previous graduates have found assistant and associate directing work with all of the major companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, Out of Joint and the Royal Court.

The Drama department has three fully equipped studios and a large theatre for rehearsal purposes. Technical and administrative staff support the programme throughout the year and students are provided with a production budget for their end-of-year production.

Course Content

The programme is both academic and vocational. It aims to provide an advanced understanding of theatre production processes within a context of both contemporary theatremaking and the dramatic tradition. It further aims to develop students’ craft skills and technical abilities in order to prepare them for a career in theatre directing.

The programme is aimed, then, at graduates who wish both to advance their understanding of theatre practice and to develop their work to a professional standard. It is further aimed at theatre professionals who wish to formalise their experience with a course of study and a qualification, as well as giving some the possibility of a career change to directing.

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The digital age has intensified the need to study performance. Performance is no longer confined to a segregated place and time – the theatre – but is, literally, everywhere. The last three decades have seen an explosion of hybrid forms of performance worldwide: cross-cultural theatre, documentary and socially engaged performance, live art, one-on-one performance, immersive and site-specific theatre, traditional and contemporary adaptations of classics.

Located in a vibrant research environment in one of the best-equipped Drama Departments in the UK, our MA in Theatre Practice nurtures practitioners and scholars of the future. The diverse and flexible programme taught by internationally renowned scholars-practitioners allows you to research, construct and deliver highly articulate ideas. Our rigorous teaching encourages collaboration across genres, disciplines and cultures. It is rooted in physical training, environmental, scenographic, object and site exploration, ensemble work, creative and critical writing, and expert supervision of artistically challenging ideas and projects.

During a one year course you will:

• Extend your practice by participating in workshops with leading professionals in your field of interest whether that may be performing, directing, socially engaged performance or Shakespeare
• Learn to contextualise your work socially and politically
• Sharpen your critical skills by engaging with theoretical and practice-based research
• Develop compositional, technical and management skills and strategies for creating independent work
• Forge relationships with an international network of organisations and/or universities
• Build creative communities

Modules

Please note constituent modules and pathways may be updated, deleted or replaced in future years as a consequence of programme development.

Details at any time may be obtained from the programme website.

Some examples of the modules are;

• Research Preparation and Writing Skills;
• Cultural Adaptation;
• Dissertation Term ;
• Contemporary Performance Practices
• Performance Practice Project

Assessment method

Assessment is via a combination of seminar presentations, essays, continuous assessment, presentations of practice (only for practice options) and a written research project and dissertation.

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The course offers exceptional professional training for the theatre and related industries. It is a one-year full-time course based on practical workshops, seminars and tutorials. The course can also be offered on a part-time two-year basis. This innovative course is taught in the newly established The Lir – National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College which is the professional training institution of the School of Drama Film and Music.

Course Details

Full-time and part-time students will take three concurrent modules in the first two terms. The final module (Production Design) will be taught in the third term and subsequent summer months (for full-time students) or in the second year of the course (for part-time students) and will culminate with a professional production staged in one of The Lir’s performance studios. Term Three will be supplemented by an ongoing series of master classes from professional directors and theatre makers. Students on the Master in Fine Art (Stage Design) will take two compulsory modules and choose two of four elective modules. Compulsory Module: Contemporary Theatre Practice, Production Design. Elective modules: Set Design Workshop, Costume Design Workshop, Lighting Design Workshop or Dramaturgy for Stage Design.

Please note that all applicants must include a financial plan in their personal statement which indicates clearly how they intend to finance themselves if successful in gaining a place on this course.

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Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Screening / Staging Europe at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).

If you have an interest or wish to develop expertise in drama and /or cinema with a European focus, the Screening / Staging Europe programme could be the degree for you. We have expertise in Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theatre, German Expressionism and French Surrealism, as well as the key auteurs of European cinema. We offer joint supervision with American Studies, Creative Writing, English Literature or Welsh as appropriate and are particularly interested in projects which explore cultural transfer from the European Continent to Wales in particular and the British Isles more broadly. Your project in Screening / Staging Europe may focus on drama or cinema or a combination of the two.

Key Features

An MA by Research in Screening / Staging Europe gives you the chance to pursue a project based around your own passions and interests, leading to a qualification which can open the door to an academic career or boost employment prospects outside academia (typically in the private sector, the Civil Service, or education).

Features are:

- Dual supervision by experts with matching specialist knowledge of two distinct areas.

- Opportunity to acquire and apply language skills.

- Projects with a focus in the Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish) and drama / cinema associated with them may qualify for a full-fee Maney Bursary.

All research students in Screening / Staging Europe are required to attend skills and training courses at College and Institutional level. They give presentations to other research students and staff at departmental seminars and the annual departmental postgraduate symposium in June and the College of Arts and Humanities conference in October. Advanced research students may have opportunities to teach undergraduate tutorials and seminars. You have a budget (currently £200 per year) to attend conferences outside Swansea.

MA by Research in Screening / Staging degree typically lasts from one year (full-time study) to two years (part-time study).

The MA by Research in Staging / Screening Europe is ideal for those who want:

- an MA qualification in niche areas where taught programmes are not offered;

- the experience of a research degree without committing to a PhD, while retaining the option to upgrade to MPhil or PhD.

As a student of the Screening / Staging research programme you attend a series of training courses and have regular supervisions while you are reading around your topic and / or collecting your data and materials. You will write a 5000-word introductory essay in the first term and have designed an outline and sketched a synopsis by this stage. You will agree a series of milestones and deadlines with your experienced supervisory team who will accompany you each step of the way on your research journey.

Research proposals are invited on any topic in Screening / Staging for which staff can provide supervision. It is advisable to email a member of academic staff in the appropriate area before applying.

For informal enquiries regarding the Screening / Staging programme please contact Professor Julian Preece ([email protected]).

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The Rome Business School’s Master’s Degree in Arts and Culture Management is an exclusive programme designed for motivated international participants aiming at getting world-class competencies and at developing a successful global career in the fields of arts and culture.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of the programme, attendees will be able to:

Understand the characteristics and trends of the arts and culture market and the role played by the cultural manager

Recognize the intersection of cultural management with other areas of political, economic and social concern, such as national identity, cultural diversity, economic development, urban regeneration and heritage preservation

Develop and apply effective marketing and communication strategies in the global environment of arts and culture, both for private and public/non-profit organizations

Identify and manage the characteristics of the main artistic and culture-related businesses and to develop effective managerial strategies

Develop and nurture cultural brands

Master the use of new technologies within cultural organizations and the most advanced communication tools and channels

Structure effective managerial processes and functions for cultural organizations

Organize fundraising activities and events to support cultural initiatives

Explore the impact of legislation on the cultural market

Manage financial dimensions related to cultural activities in the global economy

Develop a comprehensive business plan for arts and cultural ventures

Understand and utilize project management techniques for culture related managerial activities

Evaluate and apply leadership models as tools for ethical and culturally-influenced decision-making

INTERNATIONAL STUDY TOUR

The Master’s degree course offers the opportunity to study abroad for a week, which will give you a chance to learn further management models and systems worldwide. Students who might not be able to travel abroad may still follow the lectures comfortably from home via the latest generation platform for distance education employed by the Rome Business School.

PAID INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIPS

Interested attendees may take part in paid internship in numerous Countries at major companies and organisations.

A MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

The Rome Business School prizes intercultural exchange as a source of personal and professional development. Students from all continents regularly attend its courses.

TEACHING TECHNIQUES

The Rome Business School employs a wide array of teaching methods:

• Lectures

• Case study analysis

• Exercises

• Assisted private studying

• Guest speakers

• Videos

• Company tours

• Complementary cultural initiatives

LEARNING OPTIONS

The Rome Business School’s Master’s Degree in Arts and Culture Management, available either on-campus or through distance learning, in is structured over 12 months and includes:

- 6 months of lectures (twice per week)

- 6 months of final project work

- International paid internship opportunities

- Italian language course included

- Company visits

- Networking events

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

- All applicants must have a three-year degree (or be near completion).

- Applicants for English-taught Masters must demonstrate English language proficiency.

For both the on-campus and distance learning options and in order to ensure a high quality training course, classes can consist of a maximum of 15 attendees.

INTERNATIONALITY

Rome Business School is an International Institution that has already hosted students from 140 countries.

It employs university lecturers, company trainers, consultants, managers and entrepreneurs chosen because of their proven experience and skills. The faculty has a strong multicultural inclination, with representatives from diverse backgrounds and nationalities. It will synergistically leaves you with a patrimony of knowledge for your personal development.

Our selected renewed and highly competent formators are always assessed and rated by students, thanks to our quality assurance system.

Rome Business School is developing an International didactic and corporate Network, thanks to several partnerships with business schools, universities and companies

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The programme will develop your conceptual and critical skills, which will allow you to engage with arts and management in an insightful way. The curriculum is designed to allow you to pursue opportunities within specialist fields of study to an advanced level, including undertaking an extensive independent project or dissertation of your choosing.

You will gain understanding of organisations, managerial techniques and arts practices in the current arts and cultural landscape in the UK. You will have a placement that will enable you to develop greater self­ awareness, professionalism and apply practical and organisational project management skills.

Christ Church University is very close to the city centre of Canterbury which has a developing, vibrant arts community.

Visit the website: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/courses/postgraduate/arts-and-cultural-management.aspx

Suitability

The MA in Arts and Cultural Management programme is for early career or established artists/practitioners and project managers who wish to develop further knowledge, skills and understanding as confident leaders and managers in the arts. This may be in relation to establishing or developing networks, research and development, communication and marketing forums, funding applications, using unusual spaces for the arts, event organisation or programme planning, widening participation and audience development and strategies for evaluation.

Content

Term One
• Principles and Practice (Research skills)
• Placement Preparation
• Curatorial 1: Visual Arts /Gallery
• Performance Programming 1: Multidisciplinary work and Collaborative Practice
• Spaces and Places 1

Term Two
• Cultural Management
• Placement
• Curatorial 2: Museums/Heritage
• Performance Programming 2: Site-specific and Collaborative Practice
• Spaces and Places 2: Performance Technologies

Term three
• Individual Study - The Reflective Researcher
• Placement Reflection

Format

You will be taught through seminars, workshops and a practical placement. A number of guest speakers/artists/managers will share their experiences and strategies.

Assessment

You are assessed through a range of assignments consisting of, for example, written proposals, learning log/blogs, reflection and evaluation, dissertation, developing a web-page and/or developing a performance project.

What can I do next?

Here are some possible careers/next steps :
• Manager with an arts/cultural organisation – programming/curating/event manager/project manager
• Freelance developer of arts/cultural experiences/events
• Community outreach officer
• Freelance performer
• Undertake further study

Students that have undertaken this programme have become freelance artists establishing their own companies and events.

How to apply

For information on how to apply, please follow this link: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/how-to-apply/how-to-apply.aspx

Funding

-Masters Loans-

From 2016/17 government loans of up to £10,000 are available for postgraduate Masters study. The loans will be paid directly to students by the Student Loans Company and will be subject to both personal and course eligibility criteria.

For more information available here: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/funding-your-degree/funding-your-postgraduate-degree.aspx

-2017/18 Entry Financial Support-

Information on alternative funding sources is available here: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/funding-your-degree/2017-18-entry-financial-support.aspx

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The MA in Theatre Making at Kent offers an opportunity to develop an advanced knowledge of practices, traditions and professional contexts of theatre making. Students have the opportunity to advance their skills in their chosen area of directing, devising, playwriting, dramaturgy, or applied theatre.

This MA is intended for graduates from theatre and performing arts degrees and other subjects as well as emerging theatre artists who want to further pursue their experimentation with a range of advanced theatre-making practices.

During the Autumn Term, you initially work in a varied range of artistic approaches, while also getting an insight into key key critical discourses as well as into practical theatre production concerns. You then work collaboratively as a theatre ensemble during the Spring Term, focusing on your chosen area while realising a range of projects. Throughout the year, the research-led teaching by Kent’s world-leading specialists is complemented by a sustained engagement with professional theatre-makers in workshops and guest sessions. We also work closely with the Canterbury theatres (Marlowe and Gulbenkian), who have mentored and supported many previous graduates to further develop their artistic work.

In this course, you learn how to make and think about theatre in a way that challenges conventional assumptions and boundaries. We also prepare you for the world of work by giving you opportunities to network with professionals and practise how to raise funding and market your portfolio. Over the course of the year, you will be taught by academics who are international experts in their fields.

Modules

The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take modules from other programmes so that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas that interest you.

Modules may include:
DR903 Theatre and Audiences (Term 1)
DR867 Performance Practices (Term 1)
DR832 Ensemble Work (Term 2)
DR899 Professional Study (Term 2)
DR995 (Year long) Dissertation of 12,500 words (Option to choose a practice-as-research route, with a 7,500-word written component)

Teaching and Assessment

Assessment consists of 100% coursework, including essays, performances, funding budgets, reviews, written reflections on own practice, analysis of professional practice, presentations, reports, placements, practice-as-research portfolios.

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The MA in Musical Theatre at LJMU has been designed for actors, directors, choreographers, MDs, composers, lyricists, librettist and teachers, to develop mastery of personal craft, by exploring creativity and advancing scholarship in musical theatre.

•​Join a passionate community of musical theatre scholars and artists
•Participate in an annual festival of performance and scholarship titled “Adventures In Musical Theatre”
•Benefit from a highly flexible, student-centred curriculum and delivery structure, with an emphasis on learning through creative risk and play
•Take advantage of opportunities to include current work-based activity or undertake a placement
•A wide network of local, regional, national and international partners

This MA is an ‘adventure in musical theatre’, which will enhance the mastery of theatrical craft by helping you to define a personal methodology, style and approach to the relevant disciplines of Musical Theatre.

​You will have the confidence to apply knowledge and understanding with originality and creativity for the re-interpretation of received assumptions regarding dominant traditions and practices of Musical Theatre performance. You will also gain the confidence to work creatively, collaboratively and collectively with musical theatre makers who possess varying levels of experience and styles. This degree ultimately aims to develop students into adaptive and flexible musical theatre professionals.

​In order to develop your own creative practice as a Musical Theatre artist, you will learn how to effectively and appropriately employ a range of research methodologies and critical perspectives, including the ability to interrogate, evaluate and explore Musical Theatre ‘texts’ and processes. For students who wish to develop an entrepreneurial approach and set up their own theatre company, this MA will enable you to explore performance and event creation utilising organisational and managerial skills and industry knowledge.

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The ‘apprenticeship’ model allows you to acquire research expertise in developing and executing your own project while working alongside an expert in your field.
This programme will develop essential knowledge and skills in your field and offer a clear route into a chosen destination: whether PhD study, professional practice, or an alternative research-related career.
Our experts specialisms include British theatre, performance philosophy, and digital theatre.

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This Master's degree in London Theatre explores London; the world’s stage. Learn from a range of relevant industry professionals and dedicated research-active academics. 

Why study London Theatre?

The London Theatre postgraduate programme is designed for students who have a thirst to understand the unique contribution that London theatre makes to the development of theatre practices in the UK and why London is recognised as an international centre for theatre development.

This degree gives you opportunities to explore the diverse and ever-changing nature of the theatre scene and critically comment on it through academic study and professional theatre criticism. 

Why St Mary's?

Drama St Mary’s is a thriving unit of undergraduate and postgraduate Drama training. Our courses aim to offer the very best academic and practical training within a supportive, university environment. Our programmes are delivered by a strong core team of academics and a wide range of professional visiting practitioners. 

Studying in London means that you can take full advantage of the staggering array of diverse theatre and art available in the theatre capital of the world. This postgraduate programme expands on established links with London theatre venues and organisations to give you the most relevant and up to date training.

Drama St Mary's also offers Master's degrees in Theatre Directing (in collaboration with the Orange Tree Theatre) and Playwriting.

Requirements, fees and funding

Please check our website for more information about entry requirements, tuition fees and student funding.

Career opportunities

Drama St Mary’s graduates have gone on to work in a range of related arts industries. Our courses prepare students to find consistent, professional work in their chosen field. 

The module London Fringe introduces you to the area of London theatre where you are most likely to find work in your initial career as a theatre writer, critic or researcher

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In this one-year program you will encounter and explore dramaturgy beyond work with written texts and literary play scripts to encompass the contexts of dance, hybrid works, installation, community-based and performance art work. The program provides opportunities for you to develop your potential for artistic leadership and attain in-depth knowledge of dramaturgical thinking and practices.

The course is underpinned by a commitment to the pursuit of artistic excellence, collaboration and interdisciplinarity within established and emerging local, national and international dramaturgical practices. Students collaborate with other VCA postgraduate disciplines and engage with writers, directors, designers, choreographers, performance-makers and actors on a range of projects in an intensive training environment.

The course provides a balance of theory and practice across two semesters through laboratory-based workshops, seminars, lectures, self-directed exercises, tutorials, practical master classes and an independent project. An intensive first semester focuses on skills and research training, including a discrete subject where you will closely engage with the dramaturgical expertise of Melbourne’s diverse theatre industry. The second and final semester allows more independent practice and research, building reflective performance practitioners with a high level of research and practice skills.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Develop your potential for artistic leadership and gain in-depth knowledge of dramaturgical philosophies and practices
• Creatively engage with textual, visual and performed artworks
• Work collaboratively in interdisciplinary projects
• Learn practical and critical approaches to develop the future of Australian performance culture
• Build skills to work effectively in rehearsals with directors and creative teams

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