My daughter has been accepted to the following BFA Acting programs- any suggestions on which you think is best program? She wanted to pursue MT initially but got offered places in Straight Acting, not MT. She is a strong singer but lacks the dancing skills.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City ( Also got offered place in Vocal Performance, but not MT)
Evansville
Montclair
Belmont
We are visiting all schools in the next 3 weeks before making a decision, but wondered if you have any advice on any of these schools.
One thing about Belmont is that the Acting BFA students cannot audition for the MT productions. They can and will have some productions within the theatre dept that involve singing and dancing but not full blown musicals. I would check into whether she can take private voice without having to pay extra (if that is something she wants to do). However I will say that the amount of outside opportunities to perform in Nashville are amazing! LOTS of professional theatre productions around the city. And from what I hear the Acting dept professors are super caring and supportive.
I hear great things about OU. I’m an OU grad and theatre kid mom. My D wanted a BA in Theatre so OU was off the table. It does offer a great college experience as well as the BFA program. Enjoy your visit. The campus is beautiful this time of year.
Thankyou gulf1609
Thank you actorparent101 That is good to know
Evansville puts on one musical every year, but they are NOT a musical theatre school.
… Okay, now that I think about it, we just saw Mother Courage there, and they used Jeanine Tesori’s music for it (first time it’s been used on stage since Meryl Streep played the title role), and, wow, some of those kids have AMAZING voices. This wasn’t “the official musical”, of course – it’s just a play with music, so that illustrates that they still do things with music. They considered writing their own music, as a matter of fact, so the talent is there in the theater department.
They have been very good with older D taking classes in other departments, so perhaps crossing over to the Music Dept. for voice classes is a possibility.
I have one D graduating from Evansville this year, and one who is possibly going next year. Let me know if you want to know anything specific and I’ll send you a PM. Also, we’ll be there for Grapes of Wrath later this month.
My D is strongly considering Belmont. We have visited a couple of times and the program director is very engaging. We’ve seen a couple of shows they have produced and seen work by Nashville Shakespeare which has a close relationship with Belmont. The campus is beautiful and the dorms/campus life seem above average. There’s a lot to do near the school as it is only blocks away from Vanderbilt and music row. It seems that there are multiple opportunities to perform and maybe even some to work with film students on projects. MT doesn’t really cross over but there seems to be plenty going on. My D really enjoyed the classes she attended. I know that there is opportunity for dance classes in the acting curriculum- but not a lot built in. We were told that she could get outside voice lessons without much difficulty if she wanted to continue working on voice, available from both faculty and privately. Hope this helps.