A theater school, which previously operated out of South Philly, has found a new home in New Jersey.
Pig Iron Theatre Company, which previously called the University of the Arts home, has partnered with Rowan University to establish a Master of Fine Arts and graduate certificate in Devised Performance.
The announcement comes just a few months after the University of the Arts unexpectedly closed its doors in June, leaving the theater company and several others without a home.
“We are beyond grateful for everyone who has supported Pig Iron in this moment of crisis and uncertainty while we worked to ensure a home for our artistic laboratory now and into the future,” sand Pig Iron co-founder Quinn Bauriedel.
Pig Iron was forced to pause its degree program for the fall of 2024 due to the University of the Arts’ closure. The theater team went to work, prioritizing a partnership search in the hopes of minimizing hardships on the 35 students already enrolled in the program. Sixty percent of those students had already studied there with the remainder having submitted a deposit to enroll for the fall semester.
The new program will begin in early 2025 as Pig Iron plans to continue its mission to train the next generation of innovative theater artists at Rowan, which is located about 20 miles past the Walt Whitman Bridge in Glassboro, Gloucester County.
“Rowan University is the ideal partner for Pig Iron,” said Bauriedel. “Rowan’s deans, provost and faculty have been extraordinarily thoughtful during this difficult summer, which left our program, our faculty and our students adrift.”
Officials said there was no increase to tuition costs for Pig Iron students and Rowan will work with students to support them through the on-boarding process. New and prospective students will submit an application to Rowan University and complete a workshop-style audition format. Applicants will also attend an interview with faculty and submit an artist statement, two letters of recommendation and a work sample. This holistic approach ensures applicants are the right fit for the rigors of the graduate program, with the capacity to grow and thrive within the Pig Iron School.
“We are excited to be able to jump in to serve the faculty and students in this unique and exemplary program,” said Rowan College of Performing Arts Dean Rick Dammers, noting that expanding Rowan’s curricular offering in this way aligns seamlessly with the artistic vision of its undergraduate Theatre program, making Pig Iron the perfect extension.
Rowan’s College of Performing Arts offers a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, which is described as a program rooted in experimentation and collaboration where devising is central to the curriculum.
The program recruits and trains students from across the country through artistic innovation and cross-disciplinary training where each class becomes an ensemble of collaborators. Undergraduate students take a common core of production classes, intensified by five focused theater concentrations to produce holistically trained theater artists.
“This program’s exchange of ideas and creative process supports our mission to transform society and our world through the arts,” said Department of Theatre & Dance Chair Paule Turner. “Our partnership embodies the integration of theater and dance we have long been working toward.”
Launched in 2011 as a certificate program before expanding into an MFA with UArts in 2015, Pig Iron’s graduate program has graduated more than 140 students. Many of those graduates have won Pew Fellowships, Independence Foundation Fellowships, Barrymore Awards and OBIE Awards. Some have furthered their careers as faculty at Georgetown University, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Iowa.
“Our students are trailblazers and innovators, disrupting the status quo and playfully finding ways to expand access to a kind of theater that is physically sharp, intellectually layered and capable of reflecting all of society’s blemishes, wonders and deep-rooted questions,” said Bauriedel.
Following a final certification from New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Boards of Education and accrediting bodies, classes are set to resume in the Spring 2025 semester.
