<p>Maybe UArts has very long weekend auditions for productions?</p>
<p>UArts has an intersting way of handling auditions. They have 8 shows a semester (school productions) and auditions are held the semester before. First they have a couple of days of general mass auditions in front of all the directors that all acting and MT students must attend. About a week later, they have 3 days or so of call backs for each show and lists are posted of who has a call back for which show and at what time. A student can have multiple call backs and gets "sides" and music for them. Each student can only be cast in 1 show per semester (student productions are not included in this limit).</p>
<p>My daughter was cast as Emma the Socialist in Tintypes. It's a small cast of 7 but there are, I think, 58 songs in it. Rehearsals started September 30 and the show opens November 6. Tuesday through Friday rehearsals are from 7 - 11 pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 - 6 pm. As soon as her show ends, she has to serve as crew on another show for a week, I think, and then starts to prepare for the auditions for the spring shows as she gets ready for her end of semester juries. And I think I have a tough schedule! ;)</p>
<p>In our experience, that type of rehearsal schedule is pretty typical, even at my Ds arts h/s. My D who does theatre at her college on an extra-curricular basis has similar rehearsal experience, with the one difference being that a six week lead-in to a show is a long one. More similar to most professional shows, her rehearsal period is usually ~3 weeks then a week of tech, prior to opening.</p>
<p>Well said MichaelNKat. You have to want to live, breath and drink all 3 disciplines, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for a BFA-MT (and there are thousands out there that love exactly that) There is little time for anything else. So if you are more interested in acting, think twice.</p>
<p>My D has a similar schedule, MNK. For the fall production of Steel Pier, rehearsals ran Tues - Fri, 7 - 11 pm. Saturday and Sunday, usually 10 - 4. No rehearsals on Monday!! That's right, 28 hours a week. Students began rehearsing Aug. 15, and the show closed last weekend. All of this is in addition to a full schedule of classes -- many of which ALSO require extra rehearsals.</p>
<p>Auditions at Syracuse are also similar to UArts. Beginning this Saturday, students will audition for all spring productions: main stage, black box, the Equity Syracuse theater, and new workshop productions that may end up in NYC next summer. Each director will have individual callbacks next week, and most shows will be cast by the following week. Students may be cast in more than one show, depending on rehearsal schedule. My D was in Steel Pier, had one day off, and then began rehearsals for a black box show that opens in 3 weeks.</p>
<p>Yes, it's a very intense schedule; however, I don't think this is unusual for a BFA theater degree. Students who plan to audition for these programs really need to understand what they're getting into!</p>
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So if you are more interested in acting, think twice.
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<p>I'm curious. What makes you think that the schedule is any less rigorous for kids who are BFA acting majors?</p>
<p>alwaysamom, I think what was meant by the comment was that if you are primarily interested in acting that MT is not a good choice because of the time that must be committed to voice and dance. A BFA acting program is certainly an incredibly rigorous program. While MT students are taking voice and dance, acting students are take voice/speech and movement for actors. While acting students are taking additional courses in acting styles, MT students are taking courses in how to act a song. If one takes the time to line the curricula up side by side, they really are parallel in most respects; it's the focus and emphasis that differs, not the time commitment.</p>
<p>onstage, you are absolutely right, what our two daughters are experiencing is pretty typical for a BFA program across most schools. I made this comment on another thread and it's worth repeating here. Take our two daughters' schools - UArts and Syracuse. On the surface, two very different schools. 2700 students v. 15,000 plus. Arts college v. full blown liberal arts and science university. But in reality, when it comes to the microcosm of a BFA MT program, their similarities are much greater than their differences, including the all consuming intensity of the programs. It illustrates why it is so important for prospective students to really understand the specificity of focus and commitment required by a BFA program - whether acting or MT- compared to a BA program. Regardless of whether a student is looking at a "conservatory" program or one housed in a major liberal arts university, a BFA program is very much different in structure from a BA program. (This is not to say that one is better than the other; it's just really important to understand the differences so that appropriate choices can be made.)</p>
<p>I meant to say (above) that UArts probably has long weekend rehearsals. I didn't mean to write "auditions." :) </p>
<p>And as someone said upthread, the rehearsal schedule that MichaelNKat's D has at UArts sounds very similar to what my own daughter had at her arts high school, though they didn't hold 28 hours worth of rehearsals each week for many, many weeks. Because their productions were part of the curriculum, they were able to use class time to rehearse (at least during senior year) and after school and weekend rehearsals and wet and dry tech rehearsals were only held several weeks before the show went up. </p>
<p>But yes, the bottom line is: if you don't really want to be doing MT (or acting) almost round the clock, if you want a "regular" college experience, a BFA in MT or acting probably ain't a good choice!</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear that the rehearsals at these BFA programs command your time! GOOD. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify... I understand SOME schools put a strong focus on acting for the MT students and that the programs work together... But that is just some. And I do love musical theatre, that would be my first choice... BUT I'd rather attend a fantastic acting program over a mediocre mt one. I do believe you get what you give at all these programs though. They all have great things to offer prospective performers.</p>
<p>NYQ12-I think the thing to remember is if you are in BFA/Acting you will be given some opportunities for classes in music and dance-depending on the school. If you are in a BFA/MT program you will definitely be taking acting most if not every semester along with music and dance. If you really love MT and you think you would like to be a contender in a career that includes musicals you really need to strengthen your dance and vocals. When you audition for a musical you need to get past the voice and dance call to even be considered in the ensemble. To be lucky enough to be called back for a named role and read "sides" is a real bonus. I have many students who didn't work hard enough on their dance skills in college and when they went off for a professional career it really hurt them. Some people think you should choose a school whose strength is your weakness so that you get the most training in that area. I agree that a terrific acting program might trump a mediocre MT program but many programs with terrific acting have strong MT programs as well.</p>
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<p>When looking at MT programs, it is, of course, important to understand how a school structures its program between acting, voice and dance. We made a chart broken into subject areas of acting, voice, dance, music, theatre history and Liberal arts. We the plugged in the courses for each school into their respective categories including not just credit hours but actual classroom hours per week (those numbers may be very different such as with dance classes). We read the course descriptions to help flesh out the course content. This gave us a great tool to compare programs.</p>
<p>Within a school, we did similar comparisons between the MT and acting programs. Voice became voice/speech and dance became dance/movement. We lined the courses up by program to see where they overlapped and diverged. We also inquired about whether the acting and MT students were in acting studio classes together, whether they had the same professors for acting. This helped us reach some conclusions about the strength of the acting component of the MT programs.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat,
I think the last piece of advice you gave examing how to actually dissect and cross-reference those two programs-acting and MT- is one of the most important of all of your great organizational suggestions equal to your advice on how to make an intelligent list of choices. Every potential MT or serious acting student should follow your advice.. I added up the hours my D has for this semester and next- actual time in the classroom as she has the same outside committments as your D- and found the time to be nearly identical- 26.5 and 28 classroom hours. And this at a university -PSU- with over 40,000 students! These programs are not only time intensive, but they limit one's free time to explore other academic subjects- much to my D's lament, as she wants to study foreign languages and literature in more depth to add to her craft but is doing it on the side-ha- in what free time??-- as well as limiting exposure to students in other disciplines, thus limiting the ability to forge friendhships beyond her discipline. These would be some of the downsides potential students should consider as well. In the end, after tons of self-examination, my D, now in her soph year- is still absolutely positive she cannot see herself doing anything else. A good litmus test for those thinking about a career in the arts, no matter what the economy!!!</p>
<p>Addendum to MichaelnKat Suggestion:
Review faculty bios for acting/MT programs, note variey -or not- of places they studied, their degrees and experience, current professional activities and contacts, # of facutly dediacated to the programs, ask if the current head plans on staying,... ;')</p>
<p>NYQ12 - I think you'd like the acting at Elon that is offered both separately and within the MT program.</p>
<p>Visited NYU over the weekend. D is in VP (MT) at Steinhardt and is very happy. Director of program spoke about the number of accepted applicants to the program and the number who enrolled. Seems they got more than they expected. 14 of the about 25 who were accepted enrolled for classical and 21/23 enrolled for music theatre. The music theatre number took them by surprise this year. I think they expected closer to 14 would enroll. It is one of their largest classes ever.</p>
<p>I was at NYU this past weekend, too (Saturday was Parent Day) and enjoyed visiting CAP21 and hearing about the studio. Worthy of note on this thread was the news (yet again) that more than 1200 of the 2000 kids who audition for NYU/Tisch drama select CAP21 as their first choice studio.</p>
<p>I was curious about the acceptance rate for MT hopefuls at Emerson...</p>
<p>This is off topic, but I just spent 20 mins on the site trying to figure out how post a new thread instead of replying.</p>
<p>I'm a MTR major in my senior year and I just recently decided that I am going to be applying/ auditioning for MTR and Acting Graduate programs. Because I decided this so late I missed some of the deadlines for Spring/Fall 09. I keep seeing application deadlines for Summer 09 and I was wondering does anyone know if these programs would be slightly bias or reluctant to accept someone later than the normal deadline? Or would it be better to wait next year for some of the these programs?</p>
<p>Is "MTR" "musical theater"? Sorry if this is obvious and everyone knows it but me!</p>
<p>Also, to start a new thread, there is a button on the left (near the top of the page) that says "New Thread" or something like that. Just click on that and you should be able to write a post for a brand new thread. Good luck!</p>
<p>Brittany87 -- it seems odd to me that you would have already missed graduate school deadlines for Fall 09. Graduate School deadlines tend to be a bit later than undergraduate. </p>
<p>Are you talking about URTA? Just curious at which schools you have already missed the deadline. I have students who often want to apply to Graduate School, and I want to be able to counsel them. Feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>THANKS!</p>