Ideally, something in the middle - like a school the size of BC or American. But, she’d be open to a big state school or a small LAC depending on other factors (location near or in a city is a big one for her).
Oberlin, Muhlenberg, George Washington(they have a scholarship specifically for acting and MT), Northeastern, American
My S21 who is getting an acting BFA was very impressed by the GW program, they had a lot of opportunities and if you send an acting supplement you can get a decent award, Northeastern had a great program too and lots of productions.
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These are all super helpful suggestions. I really like both GW and American for her based on her other criteria, so those will almost definitely go on the list. She also already has Northeastern on her list and will be visiting it (as well as Tufts, BU, and BC) in a few weeks. Great to hear from you (and others) that these may all be good choice for MT options as well. Not sure I can talk her into Muhlenberg or Oberlin though (as great as those schools are!).
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One to look at because I dont know the answer is Fordham. They have a wonderful audition based BA acting program and I am sure they have fabulous productions, I do not know if their productions are open to non majors but the program is not large so I would guess it is.
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Here is another idea. My kid didn’t perform on stage, but she played in the pit orchestra for a couple of community theater productions near her college. Perhaps look for those opportunities too.
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I suspect most colleges will have the same. Check the clubs listing and I bet you’ll find at least one, if not more, at any school of moderate size. It’s quite a popular activity.
(D17 did crew/costumes/backgrounds in high school and also participated in/was an officer in PPC. Even acted in a show or two.It was a great way to get away from the rigor of engineering coursework)
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As an alum, l’d like to recommend Georgetown! They have the oldest continuously running student-run college theater group in the country, Mask and Bauble. When I was there in the late 1980s theater was almost entirely student-run; M&B had a lead faculty adviser who directed one of the five shows the group put on every year (usually the spring musical), and then there were a few other student-run groups including Black Theater Ensemble, Friday Afternoon Theater and Nomadic Theater. You could minor in theater but not major.
That’s all changed over the past two decades and now there’s a full Department of Performing Arts with several majors available, including one in theater and performance studies available; they have a lovely new theater building with great facilities (although our beloved old black box in Poulton Hall is still there too). So now there are shows run by the DPA, sometimes in collaboration with M&B or Nomadic or another group, and then M&B has its own season as well. And because it’s not one of the “musical theater schools,” while you will definitely have some crazy talented people there who are going on to careers in the field (we had a few of those even back in my day before the renaissance of the performing arts), theater at Georgetown is super welcoming to everyone who loves to perform.
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Take a look at Trinity University in San Antonio. They were very encouraging about non-majors even having big roles in theater.
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