<p>Any current NU Theater students willing to outline a day-in-the-life of an NU theatre freshman, specifically planning on auditioning for the MT cert? (in case that part matters)</p>
<p>Sorry there’s been no response from current NU students/parents, but I have heard that the freshman schedule is quite flexible, so there may not be any single representative schedule for folks to share. Maybe looking through a catalog of course offerings and Major requirements is as close as we can come at this point.</p>
<p>I’ll get D to ask if any of her NU friends can post a sample schedule, though I think some are in NY now for the Catch Me if You Can opening. I also think NU freshmen may be currently gearing up for their MT auditions, though I’m not sure on the timing.</p>
<p>I also added this to The Freshman Experience thread on the main forum, but will put it here as a partial answer to the OP’s question.</p>
<p>One Freshwoman’s experience at Northwestern</p>
<p>This is secondhand info from D, and only relates to the first couple weeks of school, but may still be of interest. I hope others can chime in and correct or supplement it.</p>
<p>Since Northwestern offers a BA or BS in Theatre, with an MT Certificate, specific course loads vary greatly – particularly since so many kids are double majoring – so I won’t go into that here.</p>
<p>The first week at NU is Wildcat Welcome, and is focused on moving in to dorms (D’s is RIGHT on an amazing beach) welcoming new students to campus. In addition to an incredible number of fun activities (this year including a command performance by Second City and renting Six Flags for a night) a cappella and dance placement auditions are held during this week. For D, that ended up involving over 12 hours of late-night auditions and as it turned out she started school ill, so keep in mind that for someone who wants to join one of the 17 amazing a cappella groups this can be a bit grueling. Apparently the “Glee Effect” applies to a cappella, as this year a record number of kids auditioned (maybe 300+ freshmen?) so they had to add two full days of auditions.</p>
<p>Kids also register for classes this week, so there is plenty to do. D said everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful throughout the entire week and she had a lot of fun in spite of feeling unwell.</p>
<p>The second week classes begin, and potential MT students can audition for an MT workshop course (this year I think only 18 were admitted), Voice Lessons (this year including a specialized MT course taught through the music school to which I think 20 students were admitted) and for student-directed shows. Most fall Mainstage shows are pre-cast the year before, though there was a Children’s Theatre Mainstage musical auditioning in addition to 6+ student-directed productions, so this is another week involving LOTS of auditions and callbacks. Again D reported that the process is very well organized and everyone is incredibly friendly, so she has been healing in the midst of many hours of auditions and callbacks.</p>
<p>Since part of the second week involves auditions which can place kids in additional classes (for example the MT workshop and MT Voice class) several kids drop other courses they’d registered for to make room for the added MT classes, but that’s anticipated and doesn’t seem to be any problem.</p>
<p>In D’s case, this quarter for Theatre-related classes she’ll have a Theatre general intro course (maybe with all 100 students?), a dance class, an MT Workshop, an MT Voice class, a Tech course for one quarter and maybe others in subsequent quarters. On top of that she has several distribution courses, a cappella 3 (late) nights a week and whatever shows she does. One freshman quarter they are not allowed to audition for shows so they can work tech (the quarter is assigned randomly at the beginning of the year).</p>
<p>So far D is absolutely LOVING NU, and starting to recognize that the biggest challenge will be learning to say “no” to some of the amazing opportunities that are available at every turn. </p>
<p>Hope someone can correct or add to this since it’s based on the TWO conversations I’ve had with D since she got there (her voice was gone the first week). ;-D</p>
<p>Momcares, how many hours is she taking this quarter? That already sounds like a lot of classes! Is she double majoring and if so, which classes is she taking for that major? Last question (for now) how will she balance rehearsals (if she is cast in a show) with rehearsals for her a cappella group? NU sounds like a great school that offers challenging academics with tons of theatre offerings. I am anxious to see how your D feels about the cold weather this winter. I hope she loves it so much, she doesn’t mind the arctic temperatures.</p>
<p>@mompop - It seems like she’s taking a billion hours, and we’re urging her to drop a class but we’ll see. She’s a kid that loves to bite off A LOT!!</p>
<p>This quarter she’s enrolled in the general Theatre course (3 days/week), Dance (2X/week), MT Workshop (3X/wk?), MT Voice (1X/wk), Multivariable Calculus or Linear Algebra (4X/wk), Classics (3x/wk), European Art History (3x/wk) plus a cappella (3X/wk from 10:00pm-12:00pm) plus whatever shows she decides to do. I’m not getting course names correct because I don’t have them in front of me.</p>
<p>It makes me tired just looking at her schedule, but she is young, spry and having a blast so she doesn’t seem to notice how busy she is! :-)</p>
<p>She also plans to add some private voice lessons with a team of teachers she’s been turned on to in Chicago, so we’ll see how/if she squeezes that in. Plus she’s heard she’ll be going on a school-funded performing trip to Qatar the Spring, so that sounds like an added adventure!</p>
<p>Oh - and in the prior post I forgot to mention that the MT Voice course is taught in 5 sections (I think) with 4 kids per section.</p>
<p>We’re from a mild climate, but ALL of the schools on D’s list were in frigid climes. She’s a downhill skier, so hopefully she knows how to bundle up. ;-D</p>
<p>Adding a few more bits of information.</p>
<p>Another NU freshman mom reminded me to mention how very few a cappella slots are open each year in spite of the large number of groups. It seemed that this year the average group had 3 openings total, so maybe 1-2 girls per group. Also, some groups are all male or all female, PLUS upperclassmen are competing for open slots along with freshman, so the competition for a cappella groups is far more serious than we’d realized.</p>
<p>This weekend (after the second week of classes) there are auditions for yet another student-directed musical (Assassins I think) plus sign up sheets are out for Winter Shows, plus RTVF (radio TV film) auditions are coming up, so kids certainly get plenty of audition experience.</p>
<p>This was mentioned in another thread, but the head of the Communications department says they are hiring dedicated MT Voice professors for the Theatre program next year, so the situation with vocal coaching will change, though I don’t know any specifics.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Here are some more observations about Northwestern, as we recently returned from Family Weekend.</p>
<p>First, we got a real feel for what it’s like to be on a campus that produces over 60 pieces of theatre every year. </p>
<p>I’d noticed before arriving that seemingly every one of D’s friends at NU has a poster for a different show as their FaceBook Profile Picture, and those pictures seem to change at least bi-weekly. One day during Family Weekend we watched over 7 consecutive hours of amazing performances, including mainstage shows, student written and directed works, cabarets and A Cappella concerts, plus there were many that overlapped with those we saw AND shows continued far later into every night than we parents could last. I worked in professional theatre for many years but have NEVER experienced such a vibrant and exciting theatre community.</p>
<p>I realized how dubious I’d remained about the caliber of talent at a school that doesn’t audition for admission to their theatre department. It was a big source of concern that D would end up unhappy with NU, in spite it being her top choice over any auditioned BFA and applying Early Decision, so as we sat down to our first mainstage musical it was with some nervousness. It turned out to be among the finest performances I’ve seen. The casting, costuming, staging and direction were all fantastic. I shouldn’t have been so surprised, as D had seen her first mainstage play at NU earlier in the year and reported that it was the best play she’d ever seen (and she’s seen LOTS of great theatre on Broadway and the West End) plus she’d heard very sophisticated friends rave about the work they’d seen at NU for years before making it her top pick.</p>
<p>Northwestern is unlike BFA programs, in that the entering class has not been cherry-picked by audition – though they have been carefully selected out of a large pool of extremely bright applicants. The incoming class of ~100 theatre kids includes future MT kids, straight actors, writers, directors, designers, producers, etc. The amazing thing is that even as soon as two months in, the kids are clearly settling into their areas of passion and strength in a demanding yet rich and supportive environment.</p>
<p>As it turns out, the level of talent at NU – and not just MT talent but every manor of theatrical and intellectual talent you can imagine – should have been the last thing I worried about. Every student we encountered was poised, open and obviously remarkable, whether as a performer or otherwise.</p>
<p>Having watched D’s first two months there, and being temporarily immersed in the remarkable place that is NU, we couldn’t be more excited about her coming four years. Every kid on that campus is INCREDIBLY fortunate, and it honestly seems they’re all well aware of it.</p>
<p>This is a copy of a post in the general Freshman Experience thread, but I thought it belonged here as well for completeness.</p>
<p>I can add a bit more info about D’s experience at Northwestern, since now she’s been there a bit longer. ;-D</p>
<p>Both quarters so far D has had MT Workshop, Voice group and private voice lessons, plus a dance class (Jazz her first quarter and MT Dance this quarter). She’s also had one Theatre class, and 2 distribution courses (Math, Classics in Film, Shakespeare, Gender Studies) each quarter.</p>
<p>The Acting track at NU starts Sophomore year, as Freshmen observe every Acting teacher and select the one that seems like the best fit. As I understand it, they will remain with their small acting cohort for 3 years.</p>
<p>She has already completed two shows (a Children’s Theatre piece for young adults and a Sondheim musical), and she’s in the Freshman musical which will perform this spring. She has also been in something called Waa2, which premiers original music being written for the Waa Mu original musical.</p>
<p>Her A Cappella group did a tour over Winter Break, and had another scheduled over spring break which was cancelled due to changes in Qatar’s government. In addition, they’ve had several concerts on campus and participated in the ICCA competition.</p>
<p>She’s gotten to sing the Star Spangled Banner for a packed stadium for an ESP-televised Big 10 basketball game.</p>
<p>D rushed for a sorority and got a bid, which is completely alien to me but it’s part of the bigger college experience she wanted to… experience. They do offer the nicest on-campus housing and have a private chef. ;-D</p>
<p>D is constantly busy (and I mean CONSTANTLY), and she says the course work is definitely demanding, but she’s loving every minute of it and I can’t imagine that she could be happier with her choice of schools.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone as you ponder your upcoming list of options!</p>
<p>Oops, that was meant to say *** ESPN ***. Is there an ESP Network yet? ;-D</p>
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<p>@mompop – I think this has been a relatively mild winter (true?), but so far D seems to be enjoying cold-weather fashion. She actually asked for Sorrell snow boots for her birthday, then later commented on how much she loves her “cute” new boots! 
</p>
<p>There seem to be a lot of formal events on and around campus, so there’s no shortage of opportunities to make a very different fashion statement.</p>
<p>In short, the weather has so far been absolutely NO obstacle to college fun!</p>
<p>just a comment as I’m from the Chicago suburbs - yes this has been a VERY mild winter! tell your D not to get too comfortable for next year 
it’s usually much more windy and icy…</p>
<p>We haven’t mentioned to her that it’s a mild winter. We’re just viewing it as yet another part of this glorious honeymoon period she’s so enjoying with NU. ;-D</p>
<p>Hi Momcares–My D was just accepted to Northwestern 
She is not interested in MT, strictly in straight acting. Do you happen to have any info on the experience and opportunities for straight acting only? THanks so much for your time!</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter on her acceptance!</p>
<p>Congratulations, hoveringmom!</p>
<p>@hoveringmom - CONGRATULATIONS!! </p>
<p>The straight acting program at NU is considered among the best in the country, which was a huge factor in D’s decision. Only ~20 kids from each incoming class are serious MT kids, and most of those are also very strong actors. </p>
<p>D has been in one straight play as a freshman and has seen mainstage productions this year that she considers to be among the strongest pieces of theatre she has ever seen (“Never the Sinner” and “The Bluest Eye”). The school also nurtures a very strong writing program, so there are lots of opportunities to premier amazing student-written work. There are over 60 pieces of student-directed theatre (most are straight plays) done on campus each year, so you will be AMAZED by the amount of talent and opportunity on campus. Some kids also work with theatres in Chicago at various stages in their training.</p>
<p>In addition to an unusually low student-teacher ratio, and lots of award-winning faculty, NU has a unique system where freshman observe all of the acting classes for part of the year before selecting the small acting cohort with which they spend three years. D says this enables students to find the form of training they most need and she thinks it’s part of why NU students are so successful.</p>
<p>D had originally planned on a BFA but fell completely in love with NU after her first visit and could not be happier.</p>
<p>Again, CONGRATULATIONS and feel free to ask if you have questions (D is in town one more day before heading back after spring break).</p>
<p>@hoveringmom - here’s a bit more objective info (from Time Magazine) about NU’s theatre faculty. They named NU the best theatre school of the decade.</p>
<p>{Northwestern’s Theatre} Faculty Make Time’s Best of Decade List</p>
<p>Three of top five plays named by Time Magazine {“Best of the Decade”} were written and/or directed by {Northwestern} Communication faculty</p>
<p>By Wendy Leopold</p>
<p>EVANSTON, Ill. — A play about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family. A staged re-telling of the myths of Ovid. And what one critic called a gripping drama that makes men think and women shudder.</p>
<p>What have they got in common? Northwestern University theatre and performance studies faculty and accolades from TIME magazine as the top plays of the past decade.</p>
<p>“August: Osage County” won TIME’s top slot as best play. In 2008, Anna Shapiro, professor of theatre and director of the MFA in directing program, earned the coveted Tony Award for Best Direction of the play by Tracy Letts. Todd Rosenthal, associate professor of theatre, won a Tony Award for the play’s scenic design. Assistant professor of theatre Ana Kuzmanic designed the costumes.</p>
<p>Number four on TIME’s best of the decade list is “Metamorphoses,” Mary Zimmerman’s modern interpretation of the poetry and myths of Ovid. Zimmerman, Jaharis Family Professor of performance studies and former MacArthur “genius” award winner, both wrote and directed the play. She won the Tony Award for Best Direction of “Metamorphoses” in 2002. The play first was performed by students at Northwestern.</p>
<p>Fifth on the list is playwright Rebecca Gilman’s “Boy Gets Girl,” a drama about sexual stalking that premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre before moving to New York. On a separate list, TIME drama critic Richard Zoglin also named Gilman’s “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” as one of the top 10 plays of 2009. Gilman is assistant professor of radio/television/film.</p>
<p>All are faculty members in the Northwestern School of Communication Theatre department.</p>
<p>[Faculty</a> Make Time’s Best of Decade List : Northwestern University Newscenter](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2010/01/time.html]Faculty”>Faculty Make Time's Best of Decade List: Northwestern University News)</p>
<p>hoveringmom - I sent you a PM</p>
<p>Wow, thanks to all. This is why I love CC. So much support and kindness, even when/if we happen to disagree </p>
<p>We’re waiting anxiously for the financial award. I’m nervous because it doesn’t look like NU gives a lot of need based grants/scholarships. We’d need a fair amount. PLEASE keep your fingers crossed for us! Send those positive thoughts! xxoo</p>
<p>By the way, my D also got into Coastal Carolina, which she LOVED. (She got into other colleges, but so far it’ll be between CCU & NU.) We were both super impressed by CCU. So we’re still not sure where she’ll go and we’re also still waiting for a couple more colleges… It’ll be a combination of factors. But we feel really, really grateful to have a choice. Such a rough process, isn’t it? And then there’s paying for it all…Sigh.</p>