So You Want to Get an MFA?: A TDM Career Chat About Grad School

Want to learn about the process of going to grad school as a theatre artist? Bring your questions and chat with Harvard alums and staff who have attended or are attending grad school in acting, musical theatre writing, and stage management!

Guests for this Career Chat include Anna Fitzgerald '20 (University of California, Irvine; MFA in Acting), Sarah Rossman ’20 (NYU; MFA in Musical Theatre Writing), and Sam Tirrell (Yale School of Drama; MFA in Stage Management).

Register below. This event is open to Harvard students only.

If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation to attend, please contact Theater, Dance & Media at tdm[at]fas.harvard.edu.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Anna Fitzgerald is an actor and playwright based in Southern California. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Acting from University of California, Irvine and before that, she worked as a theater teacher for San Diego schools. In addition to performing, she also writes, and her new play, “Quit Bitchin’” is currently in production at the Claire Trevor Theater and will open on Feb. 28th. Recent acting credits include: OLIVIA in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” (New Swan Shakespeare Festival), MRS. MARTIN in Ionesco’s “Bald Soprano” and FRÄULEIN SCHNEIDER in “Cabaret” (UCI). 

Sarah Rossman is a lyricist, playwright, and performer based in NYC. As an artist across mediums, she strives to generate narratives about mental illness and trauma that combat stigma, validate individual experiences, and spark joy and laughter. She is passionate about communicating uncomfortable truths to audiences using compassion and humor and writing at the speed of thought. Sarah's work has been performed at the Williamstown Theater Festival (Itchin’ For An Itch), the American Repertory Theater (The Emperor’s New Clothes), Green Room 42,  54 Below, The Other Palace Theatre (London) and the Duplex. Sarah recently earned an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Follow her at www.sarahrossman.com

Sam Tirrell is a multi-hyphenate theatre artist based in Troy, NY. She joined Harvard’s Theater, Dance & Media program as Production Stage Manager in September 2022.

As a stage manager, Sam is specifically interested in immersive/site-specific works, musical theatre, and opera. She has stage-managed productions for the New York Musical Festival (NYMF), Yale Repertory Theatre, Dorset Theatre Festival, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, Troy Foundry Theatre, Yale Cabaret, and the Theatre Institute at Sage, among others. She was the 2020 recipient of the Yale School of Drama’s Bert Gruver Memorial Prize for Excellence in Stage Management.

Sam practices a theory-based approach to stage management, and she is interested in innovative and accessible ways to teach core technical skills. She served as Stage Management faculty at the Proctors School of Performing Arts and as a Guest Lecturer for the Stage Management department at the Yale School of Drama.