Scene Design Program

Head of Scene Design: Christopher Barreca

BFA, MFA

Focusing on the development of the skills and knowledge needed for professional scene designers, this program is based on the understanding that the designer’s multifaceted contribution to a production involves much more than providing a visual background. Under the leadership of scenic designer Christopher Barreca, whose teaching is informed by his active design practice in international, regional and Broadway venues, the curriculum explores all aspects of live performance as a collaborative process, giving special attention to the shaping of artistic vision, aesthetic sophistication, critical thinking and craft. Since scene designers are visual artists who work in theater, the program is closely allied with other visual arts programs at CalArts, as well as programs in dance, performance art, and film and video.

Performance/Scene Design Specialization in Puppetry — Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts

Head of Puppetry: Janie Geiser

BFA, MFA

Headed by award-winning filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Janie Geiser, the Specialization in Puppetry allows students to incorporate the uses of performing objects into their theatrical vocabulary, and to explore hybrid forms and new creative strategies in work involving puppets and performing objects.

This supplemental course of study is available to students in all School of Theater programs—the Programs in Performance and the Programs in Design and Production, at both the BFA and MFA levels—who are already in residence at CalArts. However, all first-year BFA, first-year MFA, and transfer applicants are required to apply to the Scene Design Program if they expressly wish to pursue studies in puppetry.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Janie Geiser, the Center for Puppetry and the Arts provides a multidisciplinary framework for this course of study, rooted in theater but also increasingly connected with the use of new technologies and creative strategies in video, installation, computer art, and other hybrid forms.

Open to both BFA and MFA applicants to the Scene Design Program, the specialization is also available to students in the Programs in Performance. The curriculum focuses on the full range of skills needed by artists who work with puppets and performing objects. It offers courses that cover the history of puppetry, a wide variety of construction techniques and formal approaches—both traditional and contemporary—to direction, design and choreography. These are supplemented by lectures, classes and workshop productions led by internationally renowned visiting artists.

Scene Design Specialization in Scene Painting

Head of Scene Painting: Mary Heilman

MFA

Available to applicants to the MFA Scene Design Program, this specialization is under the supervision by scenic artist Mary Heilman, who maintains deep connections to the professional community. The rigorous curriculum combines scene painting coursework with the direct application of new techniques and materials, as well as traditional processes, on a wide range of School of Theater productions.

The training is supported by coursework in design, figure and perspective drawing, lighting, scenery and prop construction, play analysis, and theater history.

Scene Design Specialization in Video for Performance

MFA

This specialization is offered to applicants to the MFA Scene Design Program but also open to students in the school’s other graduate design programs.

Today’s rapidly evolving video technology has now made it possible for artists to realize new creative possibilities for video in live performance. At the same time, performers have begun to use video as an extension of their own ideas, not simply as an extension of the performance design.

Designed to meet the emerging needs of this burgeoning professional field, the curriculum in this specialization focuses on training students to master the full spectrum of languages, aesthetics and unique technological processes of video in the context of all performance disciplines.