<p>About six months ago I asked CCers what their impressions of various pre-college theater programs, including BU's 5 week summer acting program - I never recived much feedback. My S just returned. He loved it and it has had a profound impact upon him; we can see it as parents. It definately solidified his decision to pursue a BFA, though we will still apply to a few LACs.
For those who have read my posts many months ago, my S had been an accomplished athlete and decided last Spring to give it all up to do theater. Though he had played a couple of HS leading roles, attended acting classes and though he has had an acting coach, the BU program really improved his skills. Only complaint; no AC in the dorm rooms.</p>
<p>hi! i am attending the bu summer theatre institute this summer and am really interested in learning all i can about the program from past participants. i’ve thoroughly read everything on the website as well as all the information they have mailed to me. is there any way i could hear more about your sons experience, particularly with what i should be prepared with when i go, as well as the audition process/rehearsal process for the performance project? (the play that rehearses in the eveings and on saturdays). Thank you soo much for your help and I am looking forward to hearing more about this great opportunity!</p>
<p>Hi! I attended BUSTI (as you will come to call it) last summer and it was the MOST incredible, life changing experience that I’ve had so far. Just be as open as possible, and hopefully it’ll be the same for you. Alrighty, so when I went in I had a few monologues that I had memorized that I liked that I worked on with some of the TAs. It kind of varies year by year if the TAs work with the kids as I understand it, but our year the TAs were very helpful and always were up to working on our pieces with us. It’s not a necessity to come in having anything, but if you plan on auditioning at the end of the summer for BU’s BFA Acting Program, having those extra pieces already memorized and picked can become a real lifesaver. There is no audition however, when you get to the program, you are placed in four groups for the rehearsals/shows that are about 15 people each. These rehearse every day except for Sunday and culminate into a show at the end. They aren’t traditional, get a script, memorize the script, block the script “plays”. They’re (or at least my year, all 4 were) ensemble based, theatre created with source material as a base. For instance, my group created a play based off of Found magazine (which takes pieces of paper, grocery lists that are found and then published in a magazine. We found objects and items off the street and then created stories about them and kind of wove them together to create a unique piece of theatre. Another group did an adaptation of Alice and Wonderland that took place all over the CFA (on all 5 floors!) and was really cool and had 15 different Alices and was an absolute adventure. Another group adapted a bunch of scary stories. So there’s no telling what it could be, but don’t fret about it because the focus is much more on process than anything else. The schedule is rigorous, there isn’t a whole lot of downtime. But it’s a blast, an absolute blast. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. :)</p>
<p>Hi Folks
Although this thread is a little dated I am hoping you are still here…My daughter attended a week long MT camp this summer and really loved it. However her true love is acting, and she would like to attend a longer program next summer prior to her Senior year. I saw some info on the program at BU and your posts caught my attention. Did you audition to get into the summer program? I think I saw you need recommendations but I don’t think I read about an audition. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Buggie</p>
<p>You don’t need to audition to get into the program, but I have to agree with the previous post. It was by far the an incredible life changing experience that really honed my acting skills. If your daughter is interested in acting, BUSTI is an absolute MUST. If you have any questions about it, feel free to private message me or e-mail me. I would love to encourage another person to go, I feel very strongly about it!</p>