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INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED THEATER TRAINING
The Institute for Advanced Theater Training was established in 1987 by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) as a training ground for the professional American theater. In 1998, the Institute began an exclusive collaboration with the Moscow Art Theater (MXAT) School. The union of the two schools has created an historic graduate program that provides unparalleled opportunities for training and growth.
The wide range of courses given by the international faculty offers students unique preparation for the multi-faceted demands of the professional theater. The Institute program simultaneously respects the great traditions of the past and encourages the development of new ideas and forms of expression. Institute productions and workshops often develop into A.R.T Mainstage shows. Upon graduation, students receive a Certificate of Achievement from the A.R.T. at Harvard University and a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree from the Moscow Art Theater School. The Moscow Art Theater School is fully accredited by the Education Department of the Russian Ministry of Culture.
Each year, approximately twenty-three carefully selected students are admitted for a full-time, two-year, five-term graduate program of study in acting, dramaturgy and theater studies, voice pedagogy, or special studies. The Institute accepts inquisitive student artists, whose talent, enthusiasm, intelligence, and cultural curiosity can pioneer and lead the theater of the future. The two-year Institute curriculum combines study in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a three-month residency at the Moscow Art Theater School in Russia. Students begin their training in mid-July in Cambridge and spend the spring of their first year in Moscow, returning to Cambridge for the fall and spring of their second year. Both in Cambridge and overseas, students participate six days a week in formal classes, rehearsals, and special projects morning, afternoon and evening.
In Cambridge, Institute students play an integral role in the A.R.T. community, working alongside the professional company and guest artists in both rehearsals and the classroom. Throughout the season, some students have the opportunity to appear in A.R.T. productions. In Moscow, students continue classes and workshops with members of the Russian and Cambridge faculties. Each year, one Institute production joins the spring repertory of the Moscow Art Studio Theater. As members of the Moscow Art Theater community, students have the opportunity to attend performances at Moscow's two hundred theaters and studios. They also meet backstage and in class with directors, actors, playwrights, critics, and other prominent members of the Russian theater community. In recent years, Institute students have toured their productions throughout Europe, performing in Russia, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.
