How many audition, and how many do they accept? Is the curriculum heaviest on dance, singing, or acting? If I audition early action in December, how much does that benefit me? Please let me know soon!
My D is a soph at Hartt. Her experience so far is that she spends the majority of time in vocal-type classes. My D has a larger sized class (30+) but this year’s freshman class was far less. I have no real direct knowledge but understand for Class of 2023 there were over 800 applicants and yielded a class of 18. One might assume they wanted a smaller yield since the previous class was large. (Again, that’s an assumption.) I cannot speak to ED as my D didn’t apply ED. Hope someone else here can help with your questions on that.
The advantages of auditioning early action in December are 1) at that point, you’re only competing against the other people who auditioned on that one particular date, not everyone who auditions for the entire audition season, and 2) you find out if you were accepted within a few weeks. So if you get in, you know early and youhave one solid acceptance in your pocket before the main audition season starts. If you audition at one of the later dates, then you have to wait till February or March to find out if you got in.
I was wondering, MTHopeful, what program the 800 applicants refers to. Just music? Just vocals? Thanks.
@Boings , it was 800 applicants for musical theater for the class of 2023. (This is the musical theater forum - if you’re looking for info for music majors, that forum is at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/ ) The previous year there were 600 applicants, so it’s really grown a lot.
@actorparent I thought you don’t find out about getting into the actual MT program until March know matter when you apply. Am I wrong?
@SavsMom , when my daughter applied in 2017, they had one Early Action audition weekend in December. If you auditioned in December, you would find out within a few weeks if you were accepted. Otherwise, for the later audition dates, you would find out in February or March.
Looking at the audition dates for this year, I see that they do have auditions on December 7th and 8th as well as later ones. So I would THINK if you audition then you would find out within a few weeks, the way they did it in the past.
But of course it’s possible that they’ve changed things since then. Check with the school to find out for sure.
Do you happen to know if the December 7-8 audition is for both the 7th and 8th or for either the 7th or 8th? We were thinking about coming to campus to audition (if there’s still space) but realistically would only be able to make it for an audition the 8th since we’ll have to travel on the 7th. Thanks for any information!
@TenaciousC My D has an audition scheduled for Dec 8th. The audition is for sure only one day or the other. Each day they have 2 general blocks of time morning and afternoon. For auditions scheduled before 1:30pm, the itinerary runs from 7:45am to 1:30pm. If your audition is scheduled after 1:30pm, the itinerary runs from Noon to 6pm. (MT Auditions)
Thank you! This would be for Actor Training. I’ll call them tomorrow to see if there’s any space left.
Are there any in-state tuition waivers for out of state kids?
@mter6274 University of Hartford is a private university. So, in-state out of state is not taken into consideration.
Here’s a good interview with Alan Rust, head of the Hartt Theatre Division.
https://www.courant.com/hartford-magazine/hc-hm-alan-rust-hartt-theater-20200223-20200215-szvdazriwfhehljzrfpodjiv4a-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2s4bbZkDCljbdAC5Bm3-1yVIuBPcq1UFv6VSbRHJPu1Wc-5OrP-ugXW9E
Any update on what size class they are aiming for during this audition cycle?
They generally aim for about 12 for Acting and about 25 for MT (but I don’t know if that’s changed for this cycle).
More “general info”: my daughter at Hartt says they were informed that going forward, junior acting and MT majors will be allowed to audition for ALL the junior and senior shows - meaning acting majors can audition for the musicals and MT majors can audition for the plays. This is a big change, since up til now they were separate. Hopefully that will be a positive for prospective BFA students who want to do both!
Great info @actorparent1 - thanks!
My D has been accepted into the BFA Actor Training program. She indicated in her audition she would do either MT or Acting, but was surprised to get an offer for acting! What is life like on campus? Is the Actor Training program well respected by the broader acting community? We haven’t researched acting programs and don’t really know how to assess the acting-only programs. Thanks for any insight!
@QballMom , yes, the acting program is very well respected. Alan Rust, the head of the theater department, was previously at UNCSA and SUNY Purchase, so he’s well known in the community. The acting curriculum is a toolbox approach, so they get to learn a lot of different acting methods and techniques (Method, Meisner, Stella Adler, Atlantic, Viewpoints, and others).
My daughter says that the biggest strength of the program is the movement curriculum. They do Suzuki, Alexander Technique, LeCoq, Laban, neutral mask, Drozin (sp?), and a lot of other things. She says that it has been truly transformative for her and that her movement is so much more spontaneous and free and she’s much stronger and much more “in her body” than before.
Students have guaranteed casting sophomore year and do two shows with their ensemble that year.
One big change is that going forward, during junior and senior year, the acting and MT students will be allowed to audition for ALL the junior and senior shows, meaning that the acting majors will be allowed to audition for musicals as well as plays and the MT students will be allowed to audition for plays as well as musicals. That’s a change from previously, when the two programs were kept separate. My daughter is happy about that, because even though she’s an acting major, she does like doing musicals too, so she’s glad she will have that opportunity.
Acting students get ballet and Music Theater Chorus freshman year, and can take additional dance classes as electives if they have time in their schedule. They can also take private singing lessons (for an extra cost) as well as an elective called Acting Through Song, which is a weekly singing master class.
Acting majors go to London second semester of junior year and study Shakespeare in London, and then come back and perform a Shakespeare play. Senior year they perform in “A Christmas Carol” at Hartford Stage, so they get a professional credit on their resume before they graduate.
West Hartford is a cute little suburb in Connecticut with a charming downtown area of shops and restaurants and movie theaters. It’s about 2 and 1/2 hours from New York city, so you can pop into New York for a weekend to see some Broadway shows, and even audition in NYC occasionally depending on your class schedule.
Feel free to ask me any other questions!
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Thank you for the wonderful summary of the program, @actorparent1. Alan Rust made a great impression on my daughter during the school presentation and audition. Also, the London program is a huge plus for her. We can’t wait to visit Hartt in the coming weeks!