The Department of Theatre offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts centered in theatre history and dramatic literature or playwriting, either of which may include dramaturgy, Master of Fine Arts in acting or design and technology.

The department has a unique mandate. It is the only department in the state university system of Missouri empowered to grant the M.F.A. degree in theatre, the terminal degree for candidates preparing for a career in the professional theatre. Accordingly, the main thrust of the department is its master of fine arts programs that prepare professional actors, designers and technicians for the regional repertory and commercial production companies of the United States. Training in the master of fine arts programs is performance and production oriented. The unique arrangement by which the Department of Theatre and the Kansas City Repertory Theatre coexist, interact and support each other while using the same facilities provides ideal opportunities for candidates.

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Recent Submissions

  • Jessie Bonstelle: A Biography 

    Triplett, Lori L. (University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 1988)
    This thesis is a study of an oft-forgotten trailblazer in the theatre, Jessie Bonstelle, nee Laura Justine Bonesteele-Stuart. Through this paper I hope to bring her back into prominence among theatre historians as she ...
  • The Deputy 

    BurroughsScanlon, Jeph (2021)
    The Deputy is a play written by Rolf Hochhuth. Hochhuth was a German editor-turned-playwright who grew up as a Nazi youth. Something that we must understand is that to the Nazi youth of the 1930s and ‘40s, their own ...
  • The Unicorn Theatre: A Brief History 1974-2020 

    Haynes-Hohne, Sarah Jean (2020)
    The Unicorn Theatre was originally founded under the name Theatre Workshop in 1974. It was a theatre company formed by three UMKC graduates, Jim Cairns, Rohn Dennis, and Liz Gordon who wanted to create an Off-Off-Broadway ...
  • In Old Kentucky: A Study of American Melodrama 

    Hagar, Dakotta L. (2020)
    This project, a graduate research thesis, means to unearth Charles T. Dazey’s most famous work, In Old Kentucky. This thesis examines the facets of In Old Kentucky which made it a perennial favorite across the entirety of ...
  • Expanding Theatre: Directing Approaches from Contemporary Chilean Women Directors 

    Joseph, Mary Allison (2020)
    This thesis examines the careers, theatrical ideologies, and directing methodologies of three contemporary Chilean women stage directors: Andrea Giadach, Alexandra von Hummel, and Ignacia González. Respective chapters ...
  • Getting to Know Rodgers and Hammerstein: Education and Adaptation in 21st-century performance 

    Livingston, Gabriel J. (2020)
    Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II forever changed the face of American musical theatre when Oklahoma! opened on Broadway in 1943. This collaboration is often cited by historians as the first fully-integrated book ...
  • A History and Assessment of Jonathan Larson's Rent 

    Ramet, Geran Weil (2020)
    This project, a graduate research thesis, intends to provide information and analysis of Jonathan Larson’s 1996 musical Rent. It covers the life and works of Jonathan Larson, the production history of Rent, Rent’s 1896 ...
  • Family Systems Theory in Chekhov’s ‘Big Four’ Plays 

    Welder, Calan Hughes (University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018)
    This thesis discusses the Bowen family systems theory and its application to character analysis and family relationships in drama. Chekhov’s plays are renowned for their psychological realism. Each character has his ...
  • We Happy Few: An Exploration of the Feast of Crispian and Military Stories in Shakespeare 

    Hayek, Ellen Patricia (University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2018)
    This thesis examines the theatre group Feast of Crispian, a non-profit organization which brings together professional actors with post-deployment service veterans. The group formed in 2012 and is in the process of ...
  • Skywalk 

    Davison, Amanda (University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)
    This project, a full-length play, intends to illuminate the facts surrounding the architectural collapse at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in July 1981, when two bridges in the hotel lobby called skywalks collapsed, ...
  • No Way Out: Violence in Selected American Expressionist Plays 

    Pierce, Alexander Dalton (University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)
    This thesis discusses the American expressionist plays of the 1920s and the acts of violence that occur in several of them. The expressionist plays of Eugene O’Neill, Elmer Rice, Sophie Treadwell, and Susan Glaspell ...
  • The Ruhls of Relationships: Connecting with Others Through Theatrical Ambiguity 

    Jury, Whitney Rae (University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)
    The Ruhls of Relationships: Connecting with Others Through Theatrical Ambiguity aims to bring attention to the enjoyable relationship one should have with theatre that encourages ambiguity and to highlight the joy and ...
  • We are our Heroes: Understanding Western Culture through Faust, Don Juan, and Joan of Arc 

    Zogg, Ethan Royce (University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)
    The purpose of this work is to identify and analyze patterns in three of the most popular characters in Western (Europe and the Americas) theatre history. Faust/Faustus, Don Juan, and Joan of Arc are the subjects of ...
  • Emerging from the Ground: The Meaning of Messiah in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle 

    Cordero, Ruth Estrella (2013)
    Pittsburgh playwright and poet August Wilson wrote a series of ten plays in which each play is set in a different decade of the twentieth century. This series of plays is often referred to as the Pittsburgh Cycle. The ...
  • A Gathering of Voices: Storytelling with Nilo Cruz and Students in the Urban Core 

    Ruis, David Lorenzo (2016)
    “A Gathering of Voices: Storytelling with Nilo Cruz and Students in the Urban Core” examines the importance of storytelling and the impact it can have in our lives through theatre, literature, and our own context and ...
  • August Wilson’s Century Cycle: Preserving History and Honoring African Rituals Through the Proverb of the Sankofa 

    Walker, Melonnie Nicole (2016)
    August Wilson’s Century Cycle has been studied by scholars as a documentation of the history of African Americans. His ten plays in that cycle use historical events to chronicle the African American experience in ...
  • Mamet On Mamet: Politics and Poetics in Oleanna, Race, The Anarchist, and China Doll 

    Alderiso, James Michael (2016)
    Mamet on Mamet: Politics and Poetics in Oleanna, Race, The Anarchist, and China Doll” aims to illuminate Mamet’s mature aesthetic through a close examination of four of his later plays. The thesis blends textual ...
  • Directing Molière: Presenting the French Master to American Audiences 

    Vorbeck, Collin Michael (2016)
    This thesis examines the presentation of the plays of Molière by American directors for American audiences. How have his works been produced and reimagined by directors from his own country? What are the qualities ...
  • Hello, Cruel World: Antonin Artaud’s Pursuit of Primal Theatre 

    Hagerty, Andrew (2016)
    This thesis delves into the most volatile years of the notoriously volatile life of French poet and theatrical theorist Antonin Artaud (1896–1948). At the heart of the research is an examination of his voyages to Mexico ...
  • Redating Pericles: A Re-examination of Shakespeare’s Pericles as an Elizabethan Play 

    Stelting, Michelle Elaine (2015)
    Pericles's apparent inferiority to Shakespeare’s mature works raises many questions for scholars. Was Shakespeare collaborating with an inferior playwright or playwrights? Did he allow so many corrupt printed versions ...

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