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 Department of Theatre at the University of Tennessee consists of a full-time faculty of fifteen, offering a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Acting and Theatre Design. All faculty members are practicing professional artists as well as dedicated teachers. Eight faculty members teach in the acting curriculum while five teach design and technology. For faculty biographies, please visit our website at theatre.utk.edu.

The Department of Theatre operates The Clarence Brown Theatre, a LORT D Equity theatre, to foster professional standards in our training programs, and to serve East Tennessee with high caliber theatre.The Clarence Brown offers a full production calendar of new and classical plays, musicals, and international work that are vital to the cultural life of the region. MFA actors acquire production experience alongside working professionals, under the guidance of a faculty of professional artists and scholars.

International theatre exchange is a strong component of our programs. Students enjoy opportunities to work with distinguished artists in Knoxville and abroad, to travel in study-abroad programs, and to observe or work with international touring productions.

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 freely and consistently.

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;
• Experience of differing performance modes and aesthetics, through exchange with national and 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 profession;
• An understanding of the vital powers of the art within the community, the nation, and other cultures.