NYU Tisch Drama announces its eleventh studio: Innovation Studio

The studio is set to launch in spring 2025 and will focus on the integration of technology in theater.  

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New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts is launching its eleventh drama studio, The Innovation Studio—marking the first NYU drama program to focus on integrating technology with theater.

The Innovation Studio, set to begin classes in spring 2025, is an advanced training program students may apply for after they’ve completed their primary training. Developed by Rubén Polendo, associate dean of the Tisch Institute of Performing Arts, the program aims to build on drama students’ initial training through interdisciplinary work, according to the Oct. 30 announcement. 

"I'm so excited for Tisch Drama to offer this training, not only because it investigates the kind of collaborator technology has the potential to be, an obviously necessary investigation for the future of our field, but also because it's teaching students how to engage in creative research,” drama department chair Tomi Tsunoda said in a statement. 

Polando and Tsunoda will both teach classes within the studio alongside adjunct professors Attilio Rigotti and Michael Littig, according to the studio’s curriculum.

“If you’re going to be in this studio it seems like you’re going to be one of the main developers of this form of theater,” drama student Lauren Bradley said.

The Studio will only select 16 upper-level drama students from across the department for its first semester, according to Tisch. The application includes a written response and one group-work session, followed by an interview. Bradley, who uses they/them pronouns, said they believe this “exclusivity” will draw more students into applying.

The role of technology in the entertainment industry has become increasingly controversial after the Writers Guild of American West demanded protections from artificial intelligence (AI) during its five-month strike in May 2023, according to Variety. Given the studio's focus, sophomore drama student Caroline Ritcco said she’s intrigued how AI can coexist with theater.

Ritacco said she feels the Innovation Studio will approach technology more as a “collaborator” rather than a “tool,” meaning that artists will learn to work with technology in more experimental ways instead of traditional theatrical lighting and sound.

Bradley said they worry the combination of technology and theater doesn’t warrant a full studio focus and may work better as a singular theater studies course, which NYU already offers. 

“I think the Innovation Studio is a worthy endeavor, but I’m curious as to what we are actually getting out of it,” Bradley said. 

Other drama students said they’re uninterested in the studio as they feel it won’t offer anything concretely new, first-year drama student Cassidy Yiengst said. 

“It seems like an upper-level reinvention of the Experimental Theater Wing,” Yiengst said, referring to NYU's avant-garde primary drama studio. “When I was hearing about it, it sounded like it took a similar approach to my studio so it’s not something I was interested in.”