For Current New Studio Students - How strong is the program?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>Hi, I was recently accepted to the BFA acting major at Tisch, and while I don’t know my studio placement yet, I am hoping for the New Studio on Broadway Musical Theatre program. I have read a few students’ freshman schedules at the program and know that it is a large program (64 musical theatre kids per class and 30 acting), but I was wondering if anyone could talk about how STRONG they feel the program is.</p>

<p>A few questions - Even though there are a lot of kids in the program, through the other studios and mainstages at Tisch, are there enough performance opportunities to be cast in plays/musicals/productions for Sophomore-Senior year? I am worried that because there are 200-300 kids in Tisch as a whole, I would never have an opportunity to perform because it might be too competitive!</p>

<p>Also, are there speech, movement, tap dance and jazz dance classes in the Musical Theatre program? How flexible is the curriculum? What are the course offerings and where can I find the curriculum? How extensive is the dance program? Are you in classes with actors or only MTs?</p>

<p>Lastly, how much is it a bonus to be in NYC? Is it possible to add dance classes at Broadway Dance Center or Acting classes at various acting studios around NYC to supplement the Tisch education or would this be too hard? Is double majoring a plausible idea or would it be too much of a committment? How intense is the program as a whole and is there a cutthroat or supportive, family vibe?</p>

<p>I am deciding between NYU and UMiami Musical Theatre. I know that UMiami has a very very small program with around 10-20 acting and musical theatre students and therefore more opportunity to be in mainstage productions. However, I feel that NYU is a better fit in terms of the kids and the closeness to home. (UMiami has a little bit too much of a jock, football player, sportsy feel even though I love the weather!). What is your opinion on which school I should go to? UMiami is more focused on the MT curriculum and there are more speech, movement, dialect, etc. classes that I’m not sure NYU has as much - they have more liberal arts classes. Which would you choose and why?</p>

<p>THANK YOU! And if you can answer even one of my questions I would be so grateful!!!</p>

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<p>Let me help you out if I can! I’ll try to answer all your questions!</p>

<p>I’ll start by saying the program is AMAZING. There are very few things I would change and for me at least it is basically perfect. The teachers are some of the smartest, most caring and nicest people I’ve ever met, and the exposure and opportunities of being in New York are invaluable.</p>

<p>I can’t say much as to performance opportunities, as freshmen aren’t allowed to perform their first year (a very good rule if you ask me). I know though that at Tisch there is SO much going on–student-directed shows, studio shows, and many more small-scale projects in addition to the Mainstage series. I see flyers up and get emails about auditions multiple times a day for projects that look interesting, so I can’t imagine there would be a lack of opportunity for those who want it. Basically, while there are more actors, there are also more shows to accomodate them</p>

<p>Speech is great. Our teacher is unbelievable, and we are learning IPA this year as a foundation for dialect training later on.</p>

<p>We have a class called “movement dynamics” twice a week which is either Yoga, Eskrima (Phillipine martial arts), or a more traditional “movement for the actor” type class. We switch off between the three, and they are all great.</p>

<p>There is no flexibility in the actual studio curriculum freshman year–there are leveled piano and dance classes, but everyone takes the same things. Outside of studio, you take Essay Writing and Theater Studies and Production, in addition to a 2-credit elective if you want. I typed up my schedule on the MT “freshman experience” thread if you want to check that out.</p>

<p>We have dance three times a week, 75 minutes each time. We have contemporary dance, ballet, and broadway dance freshman year. Next year we will be starting to learn tap. The dance program is challenging especially for non-trained dancers (like me), but very, very good. The studio head of dance Byron Easely is AMAZING.</p>

<p>We have movement dynamics, acting, and speech with straight acting students, so there is a mix.</p>

<p>NYC IS ARGUABLY THE BEST PLACE TO BE FOR THIS TRAINING. I can’t imagine another environment that offers more opportunities for students studying in this field. For example, we had a class taught by Sutton Foster last semester, Brian Stokes Mitchell came in yeasterday to teach a class, Anthony Rapp has been in a few times, as well as Mandy Gonzalez, Karen Olivo, Cheyenne Jackson, and Shoshana Bean. Just being surrounded by these people and this atmosphere really puts you right in the world of this profession and I wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else. And many students take classes at BDC–you can’t take acting at other studios but there’s no need because the NSB acting program is amazing!</p>

<p>The studio environment is SO supportive, we have already become kind of a family despite it being so large. I haven’t really heard of any “cutthroat” or negative behavior–we all genuinely want everyone else to succeed. In fact, the studio head said on the first day we arrived that negative words or actions of any kind would not be tolerated. It’s a great environment to learn and focus on improving one’s craft without having to worry about any of that.</p>

<p>I hoped that helped, let me know if you have any more questions! And CONGRATULATIONS!!</p>

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<p>thank you so so so much for your response! essentially, you have convinced me that nyu is the best place for me, whether I am an MT or not :). If I am not in the new studio MT and I am placed in Stella Adler studio for example, can I still take dance courses at NYU and how difficult is it to get MT experience/transfer to new studio? Thanks again I really really appreciate it!</p>

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<p>I know places like Broadway dance center, steps NYC, alvin ailey have open dance classes, but do you feel these classes would be a good substitute to improve technique, dance ability if I could not take a full dance curriculum at NYU New Studio MT?</p>

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<p>MTactor- the dance instructors at the dance schools you mentioned are all amazing pros, as far as I can tell from looking at the faculty lists - some are very, very famous in the world of dance. The prices for drop-ins are also reasonable. Dance classes in NYC are much less expensive than voice lessons. Go figure. We visited the Alvin Ailey studios earlier this year and the facility is incredible. Classes of all levels go on all day at these dance schools 7 days a week so hopefully, if it was needed, you could find extra classes at a convenient time for you.</p>

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<p>Mema123- About the New Studio:

  1. Will tap be leveled?<br>
  2. Are the acting/singing teachers shared with the other studios or does the New Studio have its own separate faculty?
  3. Are New Studio students forbidden from auditioning outside of the school? If something amazing comes up, does the school work with the student to keep classes going or adjust the schedule?
  4. Is there a dorm that is preferred by the MT students for location or other reasons?
  5. Are there plenty of practice rooms available at normal hours of the day?
    Thanks so much!</p>
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<p>MTactor–you can still try out for mainstage/tisch musicals after freshman year, and almost every studio does some sort of “acting a song” or “movement” class-I know Adler even does ballet! And as classical said, yes, there are plenty of opportunities in Manhattan, of course. From what I can tell so far a new studio transfer would be difficult-but it’s hard to say as we only have one class of students right now so transfer space is very limited. It’s definitely a possibility that more spots will open up as some of us may go elsewhere for advanced training.</p>

<p>Classicalbk-

  1. No idea. Probably, especially if some students clearly have more tap experience.
  2. We have all our own separate faculty, except I think one teacher also teaches at Meisner. Good for individual attention.
  3. Freshman year you’re not supposed to. I think that makes sense because you want to be transitioning to college and focusing on your craft rather than feeling pressure to audition for everything. In the later years and over summers, the faculty are very encouraging and work with students to help them succeed, as long as they are still attending and doing well in classes.
  4. We are all over the place! 3rd norths the biggest, so of course more are there than anywhere else, but really I know people from NSB in every dorm.
  5. Yes! The ones in our space at Tisch can get pretty crowded, but NSB also has a set of practice rooms at the second avenue building that are great. Both of these spaces are exclusively for NSB students, which is nice. There are also rooms of some sort in all the dorms, but those are open to all NYU.</p>

<p>Hope that helped! Let me know if anything else comes up!</p>

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<p>Mema123 you are fantastic! Thanks!</p>

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<p>While there are great drop-in dance classes in the city, I would not assume that you would really end up going there if you are a student. You will be very, very busy. My D has not made it there yet. She thought that by living in NYC, she’d be a regular at BDC. She is not an MT student and is in a different studio at Tisch, but she does love to dance. I suppose if she were absolutely driven, she would get herself there, but my point is, that right now it’s easy to say, oh, of course, I’ll get there, but the reality when you are a busy student is much different. NSB has alot of training work outside the classroom that begins right in freshman year as well. (not dance related, I don’t think, but voice, music theory, etc. I may be wrong on the specifics, but my D told me about the work her NSB friend had to do outside studio classroom hours.)</p>

<p>My D’s experience at Playwrights Horizons has been like being part of a family, and her friends I’ve met from other studios are not the least bit cutthroat! They are all in this together!</p>