The New School’s School of Drama is the division of the College of the Performing Arts for the study of theatre, film, and emerging media. The School of Drama offers a bachelor of fine arts degree in dramatic arts with majors in acting, dramatic writing, directing, and creative technologies; a master of fine arts degree in contemporary theatre and performance with an interdisciplinary focus; and a master of arts degree in arts management and entrepreneurship, as well as a cross-college graduate degree program and a bachelor’s-master’s program.

The first formal program of dramatic training at The New School was the Dramatic Workshop, a two-year diploma program with majors in acting, directing, playwriting, stage and costume design, music drama, and theatre management, which was established at The New School for Social Research in 1939. Erwin Piscator, a German theatre director and proponent of the epic theatre genre advanced by Bertolt Brecht, founded the Dramatic Workshop.

By 1949, when it became an institution separate from The New School, a number of promising theatre professionals had trained at the Dramatic Workshop, including: Bea Arthur, Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau, Rod Steiger, Elaine Stritch, Eli Wallach, and Tennessee Williams. Acting courses continued to be offered at The New School, with Maria Ley-Piscator, spouse of Erwin, and Dramatic Workshop alumna Judith Malina teaching 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.

The current theatre degree programs at The New School developed from a partnership with the Actors Studio, which was initiated in 1994 when Actors Studio director James Lipton approached university president Jonathan Fanton about the creation of a three-year MFA program to train actors, writers, and directors. The Actors Studio, founded in 1947, had become associated with “Method” acting technique, and according to the contract with The New School, the MFA curriculum would closely adhere to the pedagogical approaches 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.

The initial curriculum of the Actors Studio School of Dramatic Arts included courses in acting technique, theatre history, voice, and scene study, with repertory performance not to take place until the student’s third year in the program. Classes took place at The New School in the Alvin Johnson Building at 66 West 12th Street, but there were also sessions of a special Observers program, in which the MFA students would sit in on rehearsals at the Actors Studio on 44th Street. In addition to classes, the MFA curriculum included required seminar sessions, the video recordings of which were broadcast as a television program titled, Inside the Actors Studio, hosted by Lipton. Filmed at the 66 West 12th Street auditorium, Inside the Actors Studio brought well-known actors to The New School to discuss their craft and answer questions posed by the students. The program was aired on cable television by the Bravo network.

In 1997, The New School began leasing the Circle in the Square Theatre at 159 Bleecker Street to host a 15-week repertory season as part of the third-year MFA curriculum. Classic plays as well as works by student playwrights in the program were presented, with third-year actors and directors staging the works. By 2000, the School of Dramatic Arts was renamed the Actors Studio Drama School (ASDS), and in 2001, ASDS began negotiations to acquire a facility that could house its own classroom and performance space, a long-term goal of Dean Lipton.

In Fall 2003, The New School acquired a lease for the Westbeth Theatre Center, which became known as the Westbeth complex at 151 Bank Street, and ASDS moved its classes and offices there, with repertory performances to be held in the third floor theatre space. Lipton had intended to retire by 2003, but announced his intention to remain as dean for one more year to oversee the transition to the new building and a new dean. In March 2004, Sam Schacht, chair of the acting department, was named dean of ASDS, and James Lipton became dean emeritus. However, personnel changes initiated by Schacht were controversial with students and faculty, and he resigned from the post three months later. Evangeline Morphos, an Off-Broadway producer and a lecturer at Columbia University’s film department, was appointed Special Advisor to the Provost to recommend administrative changes to the drama school, one of which was to end the repertory season. New School Provost Arjun Appadurai replaced Morphos with Adrianne Marcus, director of joint and dual-degree programs, to represent the Provost’s Office in the administration of ASDS in March 2005.

Meanwhile, The New School’s contract with the Actors Studio had expired in 2004, and after a negotiation impasse, New School president Bob Kerrey announced that the contract was terminated in April of 2005. This was due in part to Kerrey’s concerns about program governance, specifically protocols for curriculum revision and for appointing deans. The Actors Studio MFA program moved to Pace University in 2006, along with Lipton’s Inside the Actors Studio interview series. The New School’s drama program, upon breaking with the Actors Studio, was re-established as The New School for Drama, led by interim director Robert Lupone, who soon became director of the program.

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. 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 2026, classes for the BFA Drama program are located on the 9th floor of 55 West 13th Street and the MFA programs are located at 151 Bank Street.

In 2021, the School of Drama initiated the MFA program in Contemporary Theatre and Performance, which integrated its previously separate graduate degree programs in acting, dramatic writing, and directing. Jermaine Hill, interim dean of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, was named dean of the School of Drama in 2023, under Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts Richard Kessler. When Kessler was named Provost of The New School in 2025, Stephen Brown-Fried, Vice-Dean for Curriculum and Learning of the College Performing Arts, became executive dean, with Hill remaining dean of the School of Drama, as of 2026.

In Fall 2025, The New School administration announced a restructuring of the university which would merge the College of Performing Arts and its units with Parsons School of Design, to form one of two remaining divisions of The New School by the Fall of 2026.



References

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