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UArizona School of Theatre, Film & Television to close two degree programs

Tina Giuliano

School of Theatre, Film & Television

By: Tina Giuliano

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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The University of Arizona's School of Theatre, Film & Television announced Thursday they are officially shutting down the Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Musical Theater and Master's of Fine Arts in Design Technology.

Last year, the university paused applications to the Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Musical Theater and Masters of Fine Arts in Design Technology programs. The university said they were taking a closer look at the curriculum.

"I was gutted that the musical theater program was going to be going," Alex Simpson, a senior in the BFA Acting program, said.

For Simpson, the university was the best place for him to grow his skills.

"Being top 17 in the country was really important to us as graduates," he said. "Arizona was the strongest theater program in the actual major area that I wanted."

Each major interact every day as they put together different stage and film productions.

"Especially now that I'm in the musical and working with these guys," he said. "I'm seeing how incredibly talented they are and how efficiently they work in a room together."

But since the decision to close the program landed in Simpson's email, he said it was a lot to take in.

"It's a gut punch because the MFA in design tech is one of the reasons our productions are so strong," he said.

The students currently in the program will complete their degrees and graduate. But then, the MFA in Design Tech will end in 2025 and the BFA in Musical Theater will end in 2026.

"Although they said they'll continue to do musical which is a really interesting caveat to that," Simpson said. "It's fading really quietly and it makes it harder to communicate with people the urgency of what's going on and why it's such a dire thing."

Simpson said when a program gets sunset, or shut down, it impacts the students after graduation.

"Part of our introduction to the industry is having that name on the piece of paper that we can leverage against our talents and the things that we know," he said. "Its encouraging me more to go to look at more training because I am worried about my degree and it meaning something."
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