Can anyone share information about this program?
My daughter was there 3 years ago as a theater design bfa for 2 years. She transferred to another school since they couldn’t support her current major anthropology. She comes from a known performance high school and did 4 years of musical theater and design,prior to college.
What specific are you looking for? Overall good training. First years get a bit of everything. Lots of behind the scene stuff to gain some experience. Over all productions are well done. The small black box shows more student driven, took more chances and really well done. The main stage one were mostly very good but not as chancy. But just looked at their current schedule and it looks really good.
They rotate the head of the theater department and this changes the dynamics a bit.
Talent level while she was there was fairly good. You always have a hit and miss person. You always have the high school star that doesn’t realize this isn’t high school anymore. You have the divas that realize no don’t do that… Lol…
My daughter knows kids from her program that are acting throughout the United States. All the behind the scenes kids seem to get jobs also. The school does have connections to Chicago and New York etc. But just don’t expect to be starring on Broadway anytime soon. Kids got acting internships at various places.
Thank you so much for your response. This helps. My daughter is very interested and I didn’t know a lot about the program.
Np ask away or PM me if needed. Know about several schools. Please keep in mind I am a bit critical due to my daughter’s training prior to school in Chicago… Lots of kids did the Shakespeare festivals and other festivals over the summer. They connected my daughter with a theater designer in Chicago that became a great mentor
It was a recent Alumni. She actually was allowed to travel to Chicago on the weekends to work with this person for a Chicago theater project with the schools blessing.
They administration seems to care. Unless things have changed just not a very diverse student body. I know they were working on that though like many Lacs.
. When evaluating programs look at their dance and voice lessons. Some take it more seriously then others but these will get you jobs later. Acting is just 1/3 of being a triple threat.
FYI… IWU graduates are in the same audition lines as people we know from DePaul, Northwestern and beyond ?.
DS had IWU as a strong top choice in his final decision. Thought their program was solid and caring - emphasis on development of the individual vs. being “competitive”. They also were generous enough that cost nearly matched in-state for DS. We are in NY though…so DS ultimately chose to stay close. We were impressed with the talent and the show we saw, students were wonderful, and though a small campus, it didn’t feel like it. Much luck in the decision process!!