Earn Your Bachelor of Arts Degree in Directing from the Sargent Conservatory
Directors are storytellers 鈥 they bring a playwright's words to life through the voices of actors, set in the world of designers. 马会论坛鈥檚 Directing program offers you the opportunity to earn your Bachelor of Arts degree through the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts' Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts.
Students benefit from Webster's strong liberal arts environment 鈥 gaining a wide range of directing and theatre skills 鈥 as they are offered opportunities to discover the stories they want to tell. Study alongside professionals in St. Louis' theatre hub, with many opportunities to work closely with the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (the Rep) and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
In the third year of the Directing degree, students earn professional directing credit by assisting with a production at St. Louis' League of Resident Theatres (LORT). Students study abroad at one of Webster's diverse foreign locations during the fall semester of their final year, and conclude Directing studies by choosing and directing a production in the conservatory season. Graduating students also attend the annual New York Showcase, where they have opportunities to connect with working alumni and other theatre professionals.
Choose Webster for Your BA in Directing
Work and Study with Theatre Directing Professionals
You will work with theatre professionals from New York City and other theatres nationwide from a LORT B theater 鈥 the Rep. You will also benefit from unique opportunities to work with theatre directing professionals from The Muny (Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis), St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Variety St. Louis and Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre.
Broaden Your Global Theatre Perspective 鈥 Study Abroad in London
Webster鈥檚 commitment to Study Abroad is a key element of the BA in Directing. As the Shakespearean character, Jaques, from "As You Like It" once said 鈥 鈥渁ll the world鈥檚 a stage,鈥 and Webster鈥檚 study abroad program is an opportunity for students to broaden their perspectives and sharpen their curiosities.
Mentorship from Experienced Faculty
Conservatory faculty are working professional artists, published writers, playwrights and dedicated educators committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. Faculty highlights include Lara Teeter and Julie Hanson Battaglia, who have both appeared on Broadway, Tali Allen and Michael Baxter, who have ongoing associations with The Muny, directors Doug Finlayson and Bruce Longworth, actors Gary Glasgow and Rayme Cornell, and John Wylie, Renee Garcia and Dunsi Dai, who are frequently represented on St. Louis-area stages for their design work.
Gain Professional Directing Experience
Directing program students work on five major directing projects during their four years at Webster. Each of the productions require extensive research, which takes on historical, psychological, sociological and philosophical concerns relevant to the play鈥檚 time and place. You will spend hours implementing creative problem solving, team building, overseeing design elements and leading rehearsals. You will also learn to create and adhere to a budget, collaborate with a team and meet an opening night deadline.
Enhance Your Theatre Directing Skills in Outstanding Facilities
Webster鈥檚 Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts allows BA in Directing students the opportunity to work in a number of performance venues, including the Browning Main Stage, the Emerson Studio Theatre and Stage Three. Classrooms include six dedicated performance studios. Design rooms include a light lab, sound lab and two drafting studios. Webster's association with the Rep allows students to become proficient with a wide range of current technology.
Become Part of St. Louis鈥 Vibrant Theatre Scene
The St. Louis area features a thriving professional theatre community. Beyond working with our professional theatre partners, our students enjoy access to additional theatres and theatre directing professionals. Students can also access a respected history museum, an internationally renowned opera company and orchestra, a vibrant music scene and a number of thoughtfully curated art museums.
Directing Classes
Directing I explores the art of storytelling, by first asking, "what is the story," and then deciphering, "what are the pictures and staging that will best complement the text?" Directing is both a craft and an interpretive art. This class provides the student with the fundamental tools of direction: Play analysis, staging and composition, research and rehearsal process, culminating in the presentation of a short scene.
This class continues the process of developing analytical and compositional techniques, as well as an examination of the history of directing. The exploration of rehearsal process is expanded, and a dialogue will begin regarding communication with designers and actors. In Directing II, the student has an opportunity to direct fellow conservatory members in a short work.
In Directing III and IV, the student director's work is presented on scheduled Tuesdays. These ETS (Every Tuesday) are attended by the entire performance area.
In Directing III, coursework will include approaches for the use of light and sound, initial discussions on the meaning of "concept," and practical assessments of individual directing work. In this class, the student will have the opportunity to direct a longer scene or one-act. The class will focus on auditioning, preparing to go into rehearsal, developing techniques for creative exploration and problem solving in the production process.
In Directing III and IV, the student director's work is presented on scheduled Tuesdays. These ETS (Every Tuesday) are attended by the entire performance area.
In Directing IV, the class provides the director with the opportunity to work on material that best fits their personal interests. This class begins the process of identifying what it means to have a "voice" as a director. Explore an introduction to directing Shakespeare, along with exercises in directing style. The issue of non-realism and what implications that work has on analysis, visual storytelling and actor coaching will be covered in this class. Again, each student will analyze, research and direct an ET of their choosing.
This class includes second, third and fourth-year directors. In seminar, student directors evaluate current projects, research contemporary theatrical trends, prepare staged readings, focus on specific directing topics and discuss a particular book each semester (e.g. "On Directing," "Directors in Rehearsal").
In the final semester of study at Webster, the directing candidate will be tested over the reading list. A well-rounded director needs a fundamental knowledge of dramatic literature. This list is designed to introduce the student to a wide range of literature. In the final semester, the student will also research, cast and rehearse a capstone production to be designed in conjunction with the Performance and Design Faculty.
Previous Student Work
- "Machinal," Mackenzie Finklea, 2020
- "Miss You Like Hell," Gaby Rodriguez, 2020
- Trace Turner, 2019
- Gio Bakunawa, 2018
- Brooke Viegut, 2018
- Melaina Ricks, 2017
- Max Friedman, 2017
- James Kolditz, 2016
- Daniella Wheelock, 2016
- Michael Fling, 2015
- Jacob Farmer, 2015
- Austin Cooke, 2014
- "Eurydice," Anne Kreitman, 2013
- "The Pig Iron People," Rachel Roberts, 2013
- "Dinner With Friends," Michael Raymond, 2012
- "100 Saints You Should Know," Meghan Aul, 2012
- "Nevermore," Sharon Albaladejo, 2012
- "The Receptionist," Kaytlin McIntyre, 2011
- "A Year With Frog And Toad," Janet Howe, 2011
- "The Wonderful World of Dissocia," Matt Wills 2011
- "Dancing at Lughnasa," Shelley Carter, 2009
- "Betrayal," Karyn DeYoung, 2009
- "Private Eyes," Phillip Allen, 2007
- "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown," Nick Eilerman, 2007
- "Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune," Rachel Blackburn, 2005
- "Scotland Road," Andy Ottoson, 2005
- "Woyzeck," Stephanie Acosta, 2004
- "As Bees In Honey Drown," Daren Leonard, 2003
- "The Shape Of Things," Michelle Bossy, 2002
- Aeschylus, "The Oresteia"
- Aristophanes, "Lysistrata"
- Euripides, "Medea"
- Sophocles, "Oedipus Rex"
- Plautus, "The Menaechmi"
- Anonymous, "Everyman"
- Calderon, "Life is a Dream"
- Lope de Vega, "Fuente Ovejuna"
- Marlowe, "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus"
- Moliere, "Tartuffe"
- Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Romeo and Juliet," "Hamlet," "Othello," "The Tempest"
- Behn, "The Rover"
- Congreve, "The Way of the World"
- Goldsmith, "She Stoops to Conquer"
- Ibsen, "Hedda Gabler"
- Sheridan, "The School for Scandal"
- Strindberg, "Miss Julie"
- Wedekind, "Spring's Awakening"
- Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest"
- Wycherley, "The Country Wife"
- Beckett, "Waiting for Godot"
- Brecht, "Mother Courage"
- Buchner, "Woyzek"
- Chekov, "The Sea Gull"
- Coward, "Private Lives"
- Genet, "The Balcony"
- Ionesco, "Rhinoceros"
- Lorca, "Blood Wedding"
- Pinter, "The Birthday Party"
- Pirandello, "Six Characters in Search of an Author"
- Sartre, "No Exit"
- Shaw, "Pygmalion"
- Weiss, "Marat/Sade"
- Hansberry, "A Raisin in the Sun"
- Hellman, "The Children鈥檚 Hour"
- Inge, "Picnic"
- Kaufman and Hart, "You Can't Take it with You"
- Miller, "Death of a Salesman"
- O'Neill, "Ah, Wilderness"
- Odets, "Waiting for Lefty"
- Treadwell, "Machinal"
- Wilder, "Our Town"
- Williams, "A Streetcar Named Desire"
- Albee, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"
- Baraka, "Dutchman"
- Churchill, "Top Girls"
- Cleage, "Blues for an Alabama Sky"
- Durang, "The Baby With the Bath Water"
- Friel, "Dancing at Lughnasa"
- Fornes, "Conduct of Life"
- Fugard Master, "Harold and the Boys"
- Gilman, "Spinning Into Butter"
- Gotanda, "The Wash"
- Guare, "House of Blue Leaves"
- Hwang, "M. Butterfly"
- Kane, "Blasted"
- Kramer, "The Normal Heart"
- Kushner, "Angels in America: The Millenium Approaches"
- Lopez, "Real Women Have Curves"
- McDonagh, "The Cripple of Inishmaan"
- Norman, "Getting Out"
- Osbourne, "Look Back in Anger"
- Overmeyer, "On the Verge"
- Reza, "God of Carnage"
- Santeiro, "Our Lady of the Tortilla"
- Shaffer, "Equus"
- Shange, "For Colored Girls..."
- Simon, "Brighton Beach Memoirs"
- Shepard, "True West"
- Smith, "Fires in the Mirror"
- Stoppard, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
- Valdez, "Zoot Suit"
- Wilson, August, "Fences"
- Wilson, Lanford, "Fifth of July"
- Abaire, "Rabbit Hole"
- Baker, "The Flick"
- Cruz, "Anna in the Tropics"
- Eno, "Middletown"
- Gunderson, "I and You"
- Hudes, "Water by the Spoonful"
- Jenkins, "Everybody"
- Joseph, "Bengal Tiger at the Bagdad Zoo"
- Lopez, "The Inheritance"
- Majok, "Cost of Living"
- Morisseau, "Pipeline"
- Nguyen, "She Kills Monsters"
- Nottage, "Ruined", "Sweat"
- O鈥橦arris, "The Slave Play"
- Pamatmat, "Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them"
- Parks, "Top Dog/Under Dog"
- Rebeck, "Seminar"
- Ruhl, "Eurydice"
- Solis, "Lydia"
- Svich, "The House of Spirits"
- Yee, "The Great Leap"
- Bernstein, Sondheim and Laurents, "West Side Story"
- Bock, Harnick and Stein, "Fiddler on the Roof"
- Buoblil, Schonberg and Kertzmer, "Les Miserables"
- Flaherty and Ahrens, "Ragtime: The Musical"
- Hamlisch, Kirkwood and Dante, "A Chorus Line"
- Herman and Stewart, "Hello, Dolly!"
- Jones and Schmidt, "The Fantasticks"
- Kander, Ebb and Masteroff, "Cabaret"
- Kern and Hammerstein, "Show Boat"
- LaChiusa, "Hello, Again"
- Larson, "Rent"
- Lerner and Loewe, "My Fair Lady"
- MacDermot, Rado and Ragni, "Hair"
- Miranda, "Hamilton"
- Rodgers and Hammerstein, "Oklahoma"
- Schwartz, Holzman, "Wicked"
- Sondheim and Lapine, "Sunday in the Park with George"
- Sondheim and Wheeler, "Sweeney Todd"
- Styne, Sondheim and Laurents, "Gypsy"
- Weill and Hughe, "Street Scene"
- Weber and Rice, "Evita"
- Brook, "The Empty Space"
- Clurman, "On Directing"
- Crich and Chinoy, "Directors on Directing"
- Deer, "Directing in Musical Theatre: An Essential Guide"
鈥淚 want to tell stories about my Latinx roots because our culture is quite underrepresented in theatre, and I also want to amplify female voices, especially those of women who have been ignored by history.鈥
BA in Directing, '25
BA in Directing
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Contact: Doug Finlayson, Head of Directing
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