Mission Statement

The MFA in Acting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, exists to identify, nurture and train actors of diverse backgrounds who have the talent to contribute substantially to the art, the profession and the national culture.

The faculty seeks to identify artists who have the impulse – indeed, the internal imperative – to act, and the imagination, intelligence, will, courage, voice and body necessary to succeed.

We provide an environment and training that elicit and guide the individual creative spirit. If you are selected, we will work with you to cultivate your creative energies, to address challenges, and to develop tools to realize your gifts with a consistency leading to the greatest possible freedom.

The training will offer you:

• A way of working that enables you to bring yourself fully to the work, and to transform self into character as written;
  
• A rigorous approach to texts, and to developing the actor’s essential resources: breath, voice, speech, movement, freedom of impulse and emotion, courage to stand openly before others in extraordinary experience;
  
• A solid body of experience, including opportunities to work in The Clarence Brown Theatre alongside professional actors, while earning membership in Actors’ Equity Association;
  
• Exposure to diverse performance modes and aesthetics, partly through travel and/or exchange with international theatre artists;
  
• A working knowledge of the history, traditions and forms of the art;
  
• A vision of mastery to inspire the lifelong endeavor of the artist;
  
• A practical introduction to the professional marketplace;
  
• An understanding of the vital powers of the art within the community, the nation,
  and other cultures.