Does anyone know if the MFA Acting program at CalArts is well-regarded? I know successful actors like Ed Harris, Don Cheadle, and Alison Brie went to CalArts for their BFAs, but I’m interested in the MFA program. Is the program’s curriculum more experimental or similar to the programs at schools like Yale and Juilliard?
My daughter is a BFA, but the MFA program is considered one of the very best in the county as well. It is rigorous classical based training, but because it is at CalArts there are many opportunities for experimental theatre outside of the traditional classes. For example, the MFA film directing students just put on their production of the Glass Menagerie – with both MFA and BFA actors – which was very experimental. The actor training is classical – voice, movement, shakespeare etc there is a current student @milkshakespeare who can give you more details, but all I can say is that it is a great program. They won’t “break you down” like Juilliard, rather they are looking for artists who want to work on their own unique artistic expression.
@astute12 That’s really funny, I was in that production of “Glass Menagerie”.
The training at CalArts is very classical. I’ll break down the MFA course sequence for you:
MFA1: Acting - American classics, Film Noir and contemporary playwrights (the current class is doing Richard Foreman)
Voice - Linklater
Speech - Edith Skinner (Standard American and International Phonetic Alphabet)
Movement - Grotowski and Alexander Technique
MFA2: Acting - Shakespeare
Voice - Roy Hart
Speech - British R.P., Southern and a dialect of your choice
Movement - Modern dance and t’ai chi
MFA3 is basically just Showcase (including Acting for the Camera) and they merge the MFA3 and BFA4 classes, so the graduating class has a total of 40 people or more.
The “experimental side” of the program comes from first year Directing Lab, in which you work with the MFA1 directors devising pieces and the shows, which most times have some element of “experimental”. You can only audition for shows as an MFA2 though. They accept 12-13 people and ages vary, but there aren’t that many people who are older than 33 and most MFA1s come straight out of undergrad either from BA programs or prestigious BFAs. They also have a lot of international students this year.
Thank you for your response milkshakespeare.