<p>I agree with everything halklokum posted in post #50. For the record, my D did apply to CMU. In her year, CMU only accepted 3 or 4 girls for MT. Yikes. Afterwards, I questioned the wisdom of the money spent to travel there with those odds, but it just is the way it is. Actually, she got Priority Waitlisted for Acting. I saw that as an affirmation of her acting, considering she barely had any acting training prior to college (we lived in a rural area and there just wasn’t any, nor at our high school). </p>
<p>Anyhow, when I look back on my D’s experiences in her BFA program (Tisch), what stands out in terms of her learning is not really so much being in shows. While she performed in various capacities in college, come to think of it, she only performed in 4 musicals ((not counting summers). Only one was a MainStage show, and I do think she got something out of that particular show as she was a lead and it was particularly challenging given the subject matter and the nudity and taking risks. But otherwise, I think my D learned so much more in college outside of being in shows. After all, she had been in lotsa shows before college. I’m not discounting the importance of performing, let alone the sheer passion for it, but I still think many highlights of her learning experience were outside of being in a musical, while in college. </p>
<p>Some examples that come to mind…the training itself! She had very little acting training going into college and so valued and learned a lot in that respect in the four years of acting classes. In fact, after five semesters, she switched from the MT studio (CAP21) to ETW, in part, to focus more on acting. As well, I think her voice improved a lot, including in range. While the dance training was very good, she had plenty of that before college and so really learned more from newer experiences. I think she learned a great deal musically directing a student run production of Into the Woods and found that quite challenging (particularly learning to play the music well enough on piano). She also musically directed and arranged a professional world premiere and this was right after her18th birthday and this was really a stepping stone in her sophomore year. There was a course she took in writing adaptations and she wrote a little one for class and it was surely a stepping stone in her career (and she met her current longtime BF in that class, LOL). I think she learned (and enjoyed!!) the four years in a cappella, not only for the friendships and collaboration that continue to this day five years out of college, but as musical director, she learned to write arrangements that I am sure have been building blocks to her current career, plus all the harmonizing! In ETW, she did a workshop (had to audition for) that resulted in a show, with Moises Kaufman, and this was a great experience in creating original material with others. I would say a huge learning experience and one reason she closed out her college career in ETW studio, was the opportunity to write, compose and perform in her own original musical, her first. She learned a great deal from that and honestly, that musical went onto professional incarnations and opportunities and led to a whole lot else, including representation in that realm. And of course, there is all the coursework both in theater and liberal arts that enriched her mind. Then, there is the huge amount of networking with peers and teachers and others met during the college years that continue to this day. There is a lot more I am not mentioning, but simply trying to say that the highlights of my D’s learning in college are mostly not from being in shows. Of course she loves being in shows. She was in lots of shows before college and since graduating college. She was in a few in college, but performed in other ways besides being an actor in formal musicals too. Some of this other stuff expanded her skill set and experiences in ways that being an actor in yet another musical may not have. </p>