Dramatic Writing
Elevate Your Craft
Carnegie Mellon’s dramatic writing program offers unparalleled industry connections and professional channels for aspiring stage and screen writers. Emphasizing a disciplined daily writing practice, the program provides opportunities to design and teach undergraduate classes while benefiting from an astonishing guest faculty and a strong alumni network. A focus on the life of a professional writer is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this degree.
The MFA program partners with the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and the Dramatists Guild to provide free memberships, connecting the cohort with the most comprehensive databases of production and development opportunities for plays and playwrights, as well as labor and legal support. Career-advancement awards, special to the cohort, are provided through initiatives with ABC Signature Studios and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which awards $45,000 each year to current CMU writers.
Dramatic Writing Curriculum
The rigorous curriculum centers writing as a daily practice. Courses include advanced playwriting and screenwriting, pedagogical training, and a focus on equitable practices in theater. Students gain hands-on experience through a writer/designer project, teaching practicums, and new play development, all designed to refine their craft and prepare them for diverse professional opportunities.
Guest faculty are a vital presence in the program; recent guests have included Mojisola Adebayo, Eisa Davis, Jessica Dickey, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Alesia Etinoff, Gracie Gardner, Aleshea Harris, Julia Izumi, Aurorae Khoo, Carlos Murillo, Jiehae Park, Cori Thomas, Mfoniso Udofia, and Josh Wilder.
Student Work
Works in Progress
Elle Thoni (Class of 2024) organized and hosted a salon to hear excerpts from works-in-progress by dramatic writing students Zoë Norman-Hunt (Class of 2024), EmElise Knapp (Class of 2025), and Ellie Melick (Class of 2025).
Showcase & Expo
Each year, the graduating class travels to New York and LA to meet and network with alumni and industry professionals as they launch their own careers.
Pictured here: John Wells – prolific writer, director, producer, and CMU alum – meets with the Class of 2024 writers, directors, and dramaturgs to give advice about the industry in LA.
Student Leadership
Jamie Olah (Class of 2024) developed and executed a series of think tank meetings entitled “Visioning the Future of the American Theater.”
Pictured is a meeting about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which provided time to devise new solutions to systemic problems within the industry and utilize students’ individual artistic practices as tools for positive change.
Playground Opportunities
Gretchen Suárez-Peña (Class of 2024) rehearses pieces from an original cabaret that she workshopped and presented during the School of Drama’s annual Playground Festival of Independent Student Work.
Works in Progress
Elle Thoni (Class of 2024) organized and hosted a salon to hear excerpts from works-in-progress by dramatic writing students Zoë Norman-Hunt (Class of 2024), EmElise Knapp (Class of 2025), and Ellie Melick (Class of 2025).
Showcase & Expo
Each year, the graduating class travels to New York and LA to meet and network with alumni and industry professionals as they launch their own careers.
Pictured here: John Wells – prolific writer, director, producer, and CMU alum – meets with the Class of 2024 writers, directors, and dramaturgs to give advice about the industry in LA.
Student Leadership
Jamie Olah (Class of 2024) developed and executed a series of think tank meetings entitled “Visioning the Future of the American Theater.”
Pictured is a meeting about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which provided time to devise new solutions to systemic problems within the industry and utilize students’ individual artistic practices as tools for positive change.
Playground Opportunities
Gretchen Suárez-Peña (Class of 2024) rehearses pieces from an original cabaret that she workshopped and presented during the School of Drama’s annual Playground Festival of Independent Student Work.
alumni stories
Featured Faculty
“I think of the decision to enroll in graduate school as a huge commitment to your identity as an artist and your future as an artist. You are dedicating two years of your life to saying ‘I am a writer.’”
–Rob Handel, Area Chair of the Dramatic Writing Program
Are you ready to take the next step toward your dreams? Learn more about our application, audition, and interview process.