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Master of Fine Arts in Directing: Writing Sample
Applicant Name (First and Last Name): ___________________________________________________________________________
Applicant Email: ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Directions: Complete the following prompt and return to the Graduate School either via email as a saved .pdf attachment to
gradschl@up.edu or as a printed document via mail to the address listed above in the right hand corner. Please be sure this
completed form is included in your email or mail. For any program specific questions, please contact Andrew Golla via email at
golla@up.edu or by phone at 503.943.8657.
Write a directing approach for one of the plays on the following list:
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Clean House by Sarah Ruhl
Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Fences by August Wilson
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
In your approach, please address the following questions.
Why do this play? What’s in it for the audience?
How would you describe the story of this play for your production? Who is/are the central character/s in this story?
What is the major dramatic action, or spine, and conflict of the play?
How would you describe your thematic focus for your production?
What kind of play is this going to be in your production?
How would you describe the world of the play? What visual/aural references might you include to inspire the
designers?
Those questions are not meant to be an outline or short-answer quiz, but are articulated to give you some prompts
for your thinking and to require you to address some specific issues in your approach. Your written approach can deal
with these issues in whatever order or combination works best for you. Do not exceed 5 pages. You may include
images in addition to the 5 pages (alternatively, you may include web links for images or music in the writing itself).
The writing sample should give the reader a sense of how you articulate your ideas as a direction and whether or not
you can give me a clear idea of what your intentions would be in directing a production of this play.
