Structured as a Director's Lab, all students direct a scene at least once and act in scenes directed by their peers. The Lab provides an opportunity for students to intensely explore the role of the director as it relates to text analysis, staging, actor relations, visual choice and scenic performance. Topics covered in class sessions and during working rehearsals include table/beat/verb work process, language and space, staging geometry, and "spectatorship."

Over a weekly three-day session, small groups of students rehearse and present scenes from major plays covering a span of dramatic literature. The emphasis is on history of Western theater in its historical and literary context. Texts from the present day back to the "golden ages" of Spanish and English theater in the 17th century, and the Greeks. Ten to twelve plays are selected each semester for this intensive exploration of the creative and collaborative process.

A number of additional workshops complement the Directors Lab. Students also direct their peers during Playwrights Week, in which 15 one-act plays are staged.