<p>Does anyone have any thoughts about the U of Arts musical theatre summer pre-college program versus the Oklahoma City Musical Theater summer program? Any comparisons between the two would be much appreciated (or comparisons of the actual college experiences as well). Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi Kadie, funny thing, my daughter did both, 2 different summers. She says that OCU is more of a camp type experience in the way that you’re constantly monitored and activities are closely scheduled. They put on a full scale musical: you have classes in the morning, and the rest of the time is devoted to the musical or master classes. Everybody got a bit of individual time in the master classes. Many kids go for more than one year. More time is spent in rehearsal than classes. My daughter still felt she learned a lot! They do provide theory classes, unlike UArts, and my daughter uses what she learned all the time. Your voice classes are only in master classes, not individual. Mainly acting, dance and theory. The musical production, Urinetown, was amazing, very close to a college level. There is not a lot to do in Oklahoma City other than the camp, although every second was booked. My daughter didn’t mind that because she loved what she was doing.</p>
<p>UARTs, in Philly, was more of a college type experience. Dorms are like apartments in the center of the city. You have classes from morning through afternoon/evening in acting, song performance, voice, and dance, all with a lot of individual attention.(curriculum has gone through a change since she went, and is said to be even more college oriented for college credit, if you want.) Each student was given a song to perform in mock audition and that was a main focus in the voice and song performance classes. There is a showcase at the end rather than a full scale musical, but all kids had many parts in scenes from musicals. My daughter received individual evaluations at the end, which was very gratifying. After rehearsals and classes were over for the day, and on weekends, there was lots of free time to explore Philly. It’s an amazing town with lots of fun places to go, easy to get around and safe in most areas. They also take the kids on optional weekend excursions to the beach, amusement parks, museums, etc. They give the kids freedom within strong safety guidelines. They are supervised and there is a curfew. The school is in numerous buildings right in downtown Philly, so a real city feel. I never once doubted my daughter’s safety - she even flew there alone from Oregon and received very detailed instructions in how to get to campus by taxi, from where they met her and took her where she needed to go. It’s a fine tuned program. She loved this one, too!</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to get from the camp: she liked doing the Philly one first because it gave her well rounded, personalized training she was well set up for, for the rest of high school theatre and OCU the following summer. It also helped her be prepared for college auditions.</p>
<p>OCU’s main focus is on the show that you audition for. She learned how to be a professional performing actor because Dr. Herendeen treats the students like professionals.The kids became very close because they were with each other 24/7 and learned how to work closely together and learned a lot from each other.
OCU was more indirect training than Philly. Both were equally valuable.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions or send a pm.</p>
<p>To add to Christie2’s post, my daughter was a T/A last summer at the UArts program and will be a T/A there this summer. She tells me that the “9-5” curriculum has been revised to more closely emulate the experience of a “mini” freshman college year. What follows are links to the typical schedule of classes and activities for both acting and MT students and for the description of the specialty MT classes.
[UArts</a> Continuing Studies : Curriculum + Core Classes](<a href=“http://cs.uarts.edu/summerinstitute/theater/curriculum-core-classes]UArts”>http://cs.uarts.edu/summerinstitute/theater/curriculum-core-classes)
[UArts</a> Continuing Studies : Musical Theater Courses](<a href=“http://cs.uarts.edu/summerinstitute/theater/musical-theater-courses]UArts”>http://cs.uarts.edu/summerinstitute/theater/musical-theater-courses)</p>
<p>Thank you so much, this was such helpful information!! I am excited about my daughter having some good options and it sounds like both programs have different strengths. Thanks again, I really appreciate it!!</p>
<p>Christie’s post is a great informative comparison!</p>
<p>One more thing is that UArts’ program is four weeks and OCU’s program is three weeks.</p>