For immediate release: September 8, 2003
For more information, contact Susan Griffith at 216-368-1004 or susan.griffith@case.edu

CLEVELAND—A new agreement with The Cleveland Play House (CPH) and Case Western Reserve University elevates their joint Master of Fine Arts Theater Program to that of the country's top acting programs.

"It brings to the Midwest region a new kind of graduate theater arts education deeply immersed in the professional experience," Case President Edward M. Hundert.

The acting program is part of the president's vision to create the most powerful learning environment in the arts through partnerships with Cleveland's leading cultural arts organizations.

Building on a recently completed six-year collaborative program that launched a partnership in training the next generation of theater professionals, this agreement outlines a vision to expand the CPH/Case program into all areas of theater, from acting to directing, stage and costume design, playwriting and arts management.

"The spirit behind the initial agreement was that together The Cleveland Play House and Case could offer a unique, creative and highly effective actor training program that, in a short period of time, could have a major impact on the American theater scene," states Peter Hackett, artistic director of The Cleveland Play House.

What sets the program apart this coming year is all of the graduate classes and conservatory ensemble performances will be at CPH. Under terms of the prior agreement, first-year students had classes at Case, with the second-year students transitioning into The Cleveland Play House environment. In the third year, students were totally immersed in an apprenticeship at CPH.

"This new arrangement creates a full immersion experience for the students from the very start of the program, allowing them the opportunity to understudy professional actors throughout the season and receive true apprenticeship training for the theater," explains Hackett.

Interest in the CPH/Case program has risen from approximately 100 applicants and 50 auditions in its first year to over 500 applicants and 400 auditions for the last incoming class in 2003.

"The growing number of applicants indicates a building of national awareness by potential students and their undergraduate theater programs to the Case/CPH partnership," stated Ron Wilson, chair of Case's department of theater and dance. "As the MFA program continues to mature, and now with the newly expanded relationship with The Cleveland Play House, our students are receiving a quality of artistic education offered only by a handful of theater arts training programs across the country."

The Cleveland Play House, the country's oldest professional regional theater, and Case, with the area's oldest University theater program, conducted a mid-term and six-year review of the MFA acting program. In response to the findings, CPH and Case forged the new agreement.

Other changes in the program since its inception in 1996 that will occur this fall, include:
* The addition of a new graduate-level directing program for the fall of 2004
* The availability of Cleveland Play House staff as teachers/directors for the Case undergraduate theater program
* Accepting eight acting students every other year, rather than every third year, to create a Conservatory Ensemble at CPH.

With the new agreement, Case will assume a portion of the salary costs of CPH personnel directly involved in the joint actor-training program. The University will also compensate CPH for the students' participation in the theatre's Next Stage Festival of New Plays and for their roles as understudies or performers in mainstage productions; for use of the Brooks Theatre for MFA Conservatory Ensemble productions; and for promotional materials in recruiting students. CPH will provide in-kind services in the form of utility, maintenance, security and insurance costs, which annually amount to $1 million. The University also will reimburse the Play House for the costs of making sets, costumes and props in support of the MFA Conservatory Ensemble productions. Prior to this new arrangement, CPH had incurred these costs of the joint program.

Currently Case's theater department has limited space to handle the production needs of both its graduate and undergraduate programs. With this move, the undergraduates will have more space for classes as well as more production opportunities on Eldred Stage at Case. At CPH, the acting program will have at its use a facility totaling more than 300,000 square feet on a 12.5 acre campus. Aside from the dedicated graduate classroom, among the available facilities are five performance spaces, three large rehearsal rooms, two general use classrooms and thousands of square feet in scene, paint, properties and costume shops.

Over the next year, a task force comprising members of both institutions will develop a strategic plan to create a Master's of Fine Arts programs, the culminating degree for theater professionals, in the areas of design, playwriting, theater management and technical theater and stage management. To this end, the task force also will investigate the involvement of other University Circle institutions and the physical needs necessary to suppor the expansion into these new areas, with a report expected in early spring 2004.

In anticipation of fall classes, The Cleveland Play House renovated a classroom into a fully equipped rehearsal studio, a green room into a social area to meet student needs and office space for Case faculty who will teach at CPH.

–Case–

 

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