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California Institute of the Arts

Welcome to the School of Theater

Dedicated to the development of new voices and new forms, ours is one of the preeminent theater training grounds in the country, designed to educate the whole person and to prepare fully equipped theater artists to transform the field.

  • 100% working actors, directors, and designers

    on the School of Theater faculty

  • Top 10 Costume Design School

    in the World: Hollywood Reporter

  • Top Performing Arts Program in the US

The School of Theater offers students an educational experience that is experimental, interdisciplinary, international, and diverse. Each unique program gives students the flexibility, skills, and critical thinking tools to navigate a rapidly changing field and to pursue their professional goals with maximum agency. 

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Our educational mission is to forge a community of citizen artists who are rigorously trained in their respective metiers, and who are able to work effectively and innovatively across a broad spectrum of artistic settings, media, and technologies. As the school is based in Los Angeles, the epicenter of film and media production, the training gives considerable attention to students developing the versatility to succeed in a variety of arenas.

Theater students are especially encouraged to build professional experiences and relationships while in school, mining every opportunity for them to create effective careers after graduation. The CalArts Center for New Performance, the Institute’s professional producing arm, embodies the school’s firm commitment to open exactly such possibilities for talented, ambitious students.

Programs

Intensive critique, dynamic dialogue, and cross-disciplinary collaboration define the CalArts School of Theater. Here, you’ll cultivate a powerful creative network and refine a personal practice that will sustain and evolve throughout your artistic career.

Explore all CalArts programs

Performance Programs

Experience Design and Production Programs

From L.A. to N.Y.C.

Actors Showcase

As part of the transition from their training to the professional world, graduating actors present their work to industry professionals in Los Angeles and New York—performing before agents, managers, casting directors, producers, directors, and various creative professionals in CalArts’ annual Actors Showcase.

A large group of actors, dressed in glamorous clothing in shades of green, poses on a theater stage

Theater news

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Interested in applying to the School of Theater?

View our step-by-step application guide to learn more.

Start your application