Son and I are attending plays at colleges, what has your experience been?
I can’t answer your question, but I’d love to hear your experiences.
That was a huge deciding factor. When I was inspired by the plays I saw, the more excited I became about the program.
My D as well felt this impacted her decision. A school she highly respected dropped on her list after seeing a show she didn’t think was good. Not saying it was an accurate picture but it had a negative impact on her.
I’d say it does most of the time, but keep in mind that in many college programs, some casts are stronger than others, even in top programs. If a program does 6-8 main stage shows a year, it stands to reason that the talent pool would be spread out over those shows. A couple of the shows are bound to be weaker than others. For instance, I am in Pittsburgh and I’ve seen dozens of shows at CMU and Point Park, plays and musicals. PPU has more kids in their program than CMU, so there is a broader range of talent level. CMU doesn’t have a “B” team, so to speak, so you rarely see a weak play there unless it is something the students don’t completely grasp. But when Point Park loads up a show with their best upperclassmen, they are at least equal to what CMU does.
So I’d say generally it is a reflection, but maybe seeing one show isn’t enough of a barometer.
We live close to a school that has an excellent program, so we have seen shows there. Honestly, we’ve never walked out impressed; instead, to be honest, we’ve been mostly underwhelmed and bewildered–and not because we didn’t “get” the director’s vision or the show. While we know people who generally love their shows, we also know others who have felt the same as us. (In fact, I stopped going after a couple shows. My D went to a couple more, with the same feeling/thoughts after.) Did this affect D’s views of that program? Yes. Should it have? I don’t know; I don’t think so, though. Based on what some alumni have done and are doing, they have high quality training.
I think that basing an opinion about a program on one or even two shows can be a mistake (albeit an understandable one); the shows may not be a reflection of the training. As has been said often on here, there may different reasons for casting and/or other factors of which we are unaware.