MFA in theatre celebrates first graduating cohort

For Justin Hall ’25 MFA, on-campus residencies at Randolph feel a bit like summer theatre camp. 

Hall is part of the first graduating cohort for the College’s MFA in theatre program; they’re on campus right now for a final residency before graduating this weekend. 

“We’re all so passionate about creating the arts of the 21st century,”  Hall said. “We’re gathered in this kind of microcosm, where we’re able to bounce ideas off of each other and talk about the sort of spaces and places we want to create within the arts. When we go back home to our own communities, it’s really neat to see how everyone is able to implement that fire and inspiration in real time.” 

The low-residency program features five on-campus residencies and four semesters of virtual classes and one-on-one mentorship, during which students work virtually with their faculty mentors while pursuing a project that fits into their goals as theatre practitioners. 

“The structure of the program is special, but the people who gather during these residencies are just some incredible artists,” Heather Eisenhart ’25 MFA said. “The fact that we all get to come together and feed off each other’s energy—and that the group keeps growing—is really just amazing. It fills you with inspiration and energy, and you bring it back into the world with you.” 

The program now boasts five cohorts and a total of 43 students, who can choose from three tracks—acting, directing, or design—though many have chosen to pursue two tracks during their two years of training. 

Like many of their fellow students, Eisenhart and Hall have completed the program while working full-time. 

Eisenhart is a theatre lecturer and technical director for King University in Bristol, Tennessee, and Hall teaches and serves as costume shop supervisor and designer at Averett University. 

They’ve both loved watching the program develop with each incoming cohort. 

“We now have this huge network of people who want to see each other succeed and provide resources and connections,” Hall said. 

Bonds exist among all the students, but there’s something special about the relationships within each cohort. 

Toby Emert, Jr. ’25 MFA points to their January residency, when they were tasked with creating a performance together. 

“It’s a testament to who we are as individuals and also who we are as a collective group that we were able to do that,” said Emert, a theatre professor at Agnes Scott College and co-chair of its Department of Creative Arts. “I’ve worked with many talented, brilliant people who would never be able to accomplish what we did in three or four days because they wouldn’t have been able to put their egos aside.” 

Hall jumped in, picking up the thread. 

“When you have so many directors and designers in a room,” he began, “for us to come together and create a piece of art—”

“—with no one person in charge,” Eisenhart added.

“It truly was a shared project,” Emert finished, smiling. “I was really impressed with us.” 

Now in the midst of their last residency, the seven graduates are preparing to present their thesis projects. They will miss each other after it’s all over, but also share a sense of achievement and pride in what they’ve built together. 

“Putting on a cap and gown feels right,” Hall said. “We’ve earned it.” 

Saying goodbye

Despite the energy that comes with being together, it’s also a bittersweet moment for the program, which is grieving the loss of founding faculty member Dennis Whitehead Darling, who died in an accident in New York last month. 

For Stephanie Earl, the program’s director, and Ally Farzetta, the assistant director, being back among students and faculty members has brought some comfort. 

Darling was the first faculty member who signed on to the MFA program.

“He is ingrained in the DNA of this program,” Farzetta said. “We think about him all the time.” 

An award-winning stage director, Darling worked in opera, theatre, musical theatre, and film. 

He studied theatre arts at Texas State University and directing at the University of Memphis. In 2018, he was Opera Memphis’ Inaugural McCleave Fellow in Directing, a fellowship dedicated to fostering the careers of stage directors and music directors of color. 

His directing credits include several world premieres, including Grammy-nominated Sanctuary Road with the North Carolina Opera, The Secret River with Opera Orlando, and Marian’s Song with the Houston Grand Opera. Recently, he directed productions of Die Zauberflöte (Pensacola Opera), La Bohème (Opera Columbus), and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Red Mountain Theatre).

The College will pay tribute to Darling during a celebration of life this week. 

“It’s good to be back together to grieve as a community,” Earl said, “and to celebrate him as a community.”