AN OPEN LETTER TO BOSTON UNIVERSITY

​

Dear President Gilliam, Provost Duckett, Dean Sclaroff, Dean Allen, Vice President Young, and the leadership of Boston University:

 

We, the undersigned alumni, artists, educators, cultural leaders, and supporters of live theatre, recently learned that Boston University is discontinuing the MFA in Playwriting after its current students graduate in spring 2029. 

​

Frankly, this decision feels out of character given the recent national attention BU has drawn for expanding its investment in the arts. Several of you named above have publicly made the case for why universities must invest in the arts, especially in a difficult climate. 

​

We believe that a university of BU’s scale–with a $4+ billion endowment, substantial fundraising reach, and the institutional imagination to identify a sustainable path forward–has the capacity to honor its stated commitment to the arts. That is why we are asking BU to reverse this course of action, and ensure the continuation of the MFA in Playwriting.

​

BU’s three year MFA in Playwriting provides full tuition remission, a living stipend, mentorship, workshops with professional actors, and the opportunity to develop new work all the way through production. It is a program that gives playwrights the time and resources to become masters of this discipline without making personal wealth or a lifetime of debt the price of admission. And as dedicated playwriting programs disappear across the country, BU has the opportunity not merely to preserve this one, but to emerge as a national leader in the cultivation of new voices for the American stage.

​

Our fight to save this program is animated by these grounding principles:

​

• Playwrights are job creators. Before you can employ actors, directors, designers, technicians, and administrators, someone has to write the play. An investment in one playwright sets an entire creative economy in motion.
   

• “Close enough” is not an academic standard. Across the university, BU offers separate terminal graduate programs in closely related fields because it understands that specialized expertise demands specialized training. We respect Screenwriting as its own rigorous discipline and know it is not a substitute for Playwriting.
   

• Representation begins on the page. Training diverse performers while eliminating the funded training of the playwrights creating their roles is not a commitment to representation—it is only a commitment to its appearance. Take away both the program and its funding, and the voices already least represented in our theatre will pay the highest price.
   

• Our humanity is at stake. As the tide of AI-generated slop continues to rise, live theatre remains a vital bastion of our humanity—a place where we gather to share breath, space, and story. Playwrights bear witness to our world, challenge its narratives, and transform lived experience into shared meaning in a way no algorithm could. If BU stops cultivating these voices, it will surrender the future of our culture to recycled versions of our past.
   

The program’s 45 year history is one of evolution and enduring influence: from an MA starting in 1981, to a one year MFA, to the current three year MFA established in 2012. And though the alumni community of BU Playwrights is small, we have had an outsized impact across the arts, entertainment, and academia.

​

Our critically acclaimed and award-winning work has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and on regional and international stages. We include an Emmy and Golden Globe nominee; writers represented by leading literary agencies and published by the country’s major theatre publishers; Dramatists Guild National Fellows and Mass Cultural Council Fellows; and a playwright who has repeatedly appeared on American Theatre’s list of the Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights in the U.S. We are also screenwriters, producers, novelists, educators, artistic directors, public servants, arts administrators, journalists, and actors—one of us even has a day named in her honor by the City of Boston.

 

This is a living legacy, and the best chapters are still ahead. BU only recently recruited new leadership and expanded its investment by providing third year living stipends to support a new era. Ending it now would abandon that investment before its full impact can be realized.

We call on BU to reverse its decision to discontinue the MFA in Playwriting and commit the time remaining before 2029 to secure a sustainable path forward, so that future generations of playwrights can continue finding a home at Boston University.

​

BU, don’t let the curtain fall on the MFA in Playwriting.

​

Signed,