Naropa University, MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Program 2004-2020
Document and Media Links
MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Self Study 2014: Written and Submitted by Wendell Beavers
This Self-Study was mandated by Academic Affairs in 2013 and submitted by the Chair in 2014. This was the basis for an external review that had been requested by the program Chair. The external review was completed in 2015. Recommendations by the external review team were ignored by the university. The Self-Study contains all language that was used to initiate the program, recruit students, and advertise until 2013. It also contains performance and curriculum histories for the program and many other curricular and administrative/operational documents.
Contemplative Education Center Stage: Training the Mindful Performer (2011) Linda Anne Sanders
A dissertation submitted to the University of Denver Morgidge College of Education. Linda Sanders spent a full year embedded in the MFA program as research for her PHD dissertation. This is an invaluable study and snapshot of a moment in the life of the MFA as we attempted to integrate contemplative view and practices with performance and devising techniques. Through extensive interviews with students and faculty at the time Linda Sanders has provided direct access to multiple voices living within this environment.
Beavers, Wendell. Integrating Pedagogies: Somatics, Mindfulness/Awareness Techniques, Expressive Arts and Experiential Learning. 2010.
Paper presentation, second annual conference, the Contemplate Academy, The Association for Contemplative Mind and Higher Education (ACMHE). Amherst, MA. September 24-26, 2010.
Naropa School of the Arts Presentation at The City Club, Boulder, CO. 2012
Powerpoint presentation by Wendell Beavers covering the School of the Arts programs at Naropa University in 2012: MFA Theater; Music; Visual Arts.
Amory, Kate Kohler. “Acting for the Twenty-First Century: A Somatic Approach to Contemporary Actor Training.” Perfformio, vol. 1, no. 2, Spring 2010, pp. 5–20.
Kate Kohler Amory, MFA class of 2009.
Wendell Beavers, Chair MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Interviewed by Susan Burggraf for CACE: March 9. 2007 for Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education (CACE) Naropa University
An extensive interview with Wendell on his personal art history, relationship to Shambhala and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Contemplative Education.
Naropa University’s MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance Program took in its first class in 2004, awarding MFA degrees to just under 200 students between 2006 and 2020. The program was discontinued by Naropa as part of university wide budget cuts, primarily born by the arts, at the conclusion of the 2020 academic year. The program was initiated at the behest of Naropa’s President John Cobb and was supported by existing arts faculty at Naropa and an ongoing association with prominent visiting artists and faculty. The program was founded and chaired by Wendell Beavers until 2017 with founding faculty Ethelyn Friend, Erika Berland and Barbara Dilley. This page dedicated to the MFA will be developed as an archived documentation of a visionary, unique program which gave birth to a large dynamic cohort of teachers, performers, writers and thinkers in the contemporary field of performing arts. We will continue to add materials to this site with the hope of being of benefit to not only our alumni but also for their students and their students’ students. Feedback is welcome as this resource develops.
Here is a statement by Wendell that was written for the programs 2014 Self-Study:
“The Naropa MFA curriculum, vision and mission are embedded in a ‘contemplative approach’ and a ‘contemplative pedagogy’ developed within the Naropa environment of contemplative education. The program has sought to create a unique curriculum in support of the individual artist’s voice while recognizing that the performing arts are exclusively a collaborative medium. The program has committed itself to performance as an agent of personal and societal change—a “critical” form as opposed to an entertainment form, or a form of self-promotion. In service of this intention the MFA curriculum emphasizes training in meditation and contemplative view, somatic movement techniques, vocal techniques supporting what has been called “the extended voice”, a particular strain of psycho-physical acting based on the work of Jerzy Grotowski and a variety of techniques for creating original or “devised” work for the theater. The program also aspires to support new or experimental work by prominent guest artists, viewing its mission as twofold:
1) Commitment to profound personal growth and a successful professional trajectory for our students
2) Serving the larger field of the performing arts by a) supporting professional artists through teaching and production opportunities and b) manifesting significant pedagogical research.”