The New School's School of Drama grew out of a partnership with the Actors Studio, an independent organization. While the partnership was dissolved in 2004, the reinvigoration of theater at The New School prompted the university to inaugurate The New School of Drama. As of 2018, the drama program was situated in the university's College of Performing Arts.

The Actors Studio became affiliated with The New School in 1995, when its director, James Lipton, approached university president Jonathan Fanton about coming together to launch a three-year MFA program to train actors, writers, and directors. According to the contract, the curriculum would closely adhere to the pedagogical methods of Lee Strasberg and Konstantin Stanislavski. The first class of the Actors Studio School of Dramatic Arts at The New School graduated in 1997. James Lipton served as dean of the school.

In addition to classes, the partnership included a television program, Inside the Actors Studio, hosted by Lipton. Filmed at the school’s 151 Bank Street campus, Inside the Actors Studio brought well-known actors to The New School to discuss their craft before a studio audience. Students attended the taping, for credit, as a required course.

In 2004, after a negotiation impasse, the contract between the Actors Studio and The New School was terminated. This was due in part to university president Bob Kerrey’s concerns about program governance, specifically protocols for curriculum revision and for appointing deans. By this time, James Lipton had become director emeritus. The Actors Studio moved on from The New School to Pace University, and The New School established The New School for Drama, led by interim director Robert Lupone, who soon became director of the program. [1]

Lupone substantially revised the curriculum, exposing students to a wider variety of acting techniques. Additionally, Lupone hired new staff, including Robert Hoyt, who, as director of professional development, redirected funds toward student resources. [2] In 2011, Pippin Parker became head of school, and in 2013, under the leadership of associate dean Carrie Neal, Drama added a BFA degree track. In 2015, as part of a larger university reorganization, The New School for Drama became the School of Drama within a newly established College of Performing Arts, which included Mannes School of Music and The School of Jazz. As of 2018, these programs shared a production office in the School of Drama’s Bank Street building.

While The New School had offered performing arts classes almost since its inception in 1919, the first and only formal program prior to the Actors Studio affiliation was the Dramatic Workshop at The New School, led by Erwin Piscator between 1939 and 1949. After the end of a formal relationship with the Dramatic Workshop, Maria Ley-Piscator and Dramatic Workshop alumna Judith Malina taught acting at The New School in the 1950s-1960s and the 1980s, respectively. In the 1970s, the university offered classes through the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the Stella Adler Theatre Studio.

Sources:

[1] Kolhatkar, Sheelah. 2005. "Still Deep." Accessed April 13, 2018. http://observer.com/2005/06/still-deep/ Drama - The New School. https://www.newschool.edu/drama/

[2] As conveyed to archives director Wendy Scheir in a conversation with Hoyt on August 3, 2017.