<p>Does anyone have any thoughts on Ithaca Acting? Does anyone know someone who attends (or yourself) and how there experience went?</p>
<p>No personal experience, but my son was accepted to Ithaca for BFA acting and is thrilled. Ithaca seems to be one of the schools where the MTs and Acting majors all work together. It has a great reputation for technical theatre as well. He wants to get the best possible acting training, and also learn as many technical skills as possible to make him more widely employable in the theatre world after graduation. </p>
<p>He says that every time he mentions Ithaca to someone who works in the theatre, they immediately say, “Great choice!” And he knows a lot of theatre people.</p>
<p>^I’ve had a similar response from some younger (30s) director friends–“fabulous program” etc.–everyone is extremely positive about Ithaca.</p>
<p>I know 2 Ithaca alumni and 2 current BA Theater students. They’re all great actors, even though they complain that pretty much only BFA students get cast in the plays.</p>
<p>^^A group of current students spoke extensively with parent and answered questions during the on-campus auditions. They were very clear (at least according to my memory me notes) that it is tough to be cast in mainstage shows if you are in the BA theatre studies program, but that it does happen. I’m pretty sure Dreambelle is in the BFA, though, right?</p>
<p>We live near to Philadelphia, a city with more than 40 professional theatres. There are many graduates of the Ithaca theatre program working in the Philadelphia area, and they speak very highly of the program and reflect well on it.</p>
<p>I have a questions about schools with both MT and just acting programs. Do the MT kids take acting classes with the same teachers that teach the acting kids? Or do they have their own acting classes with teachers just in the the MT track. </p>
<p>I ask this in this thread since Jeremy Jordan who went to Ithaca for MT was in Newsies books a lot of tv rolls and movies and just booked a pilot this pilot season. I do not think this new pilot has anything to do with song and dance or broadway.</p>
<p>I don’t know the answer shacherry, but I really think MT acting and straight acting are very different. Don’t flame me you guys!! But I think that is why certain programs that S looked at didn’t appeal to him, because they seemed more MT focussed, even though they may have been presented as Acting BFAs, compared to MT BFAs. I know there were a few programs that had courses like “acting through song” and the like, so I would imagine that those courses lean toward MT.</p>
<p>Yes I got into BFA…and yes MT and Acting do take acting classes together same with other schools like CMU and SU. From what I’ve been told Ithaca looks at both classes as ONE class with the MT students double majoring in music. Acting majors also audition for Musicals and are castes regularly. I like this bc unlike CMU special treatment isn’t given to the MT students who at most can always audition for plays.</p>
<p>MH… what are some of the schools that you felt were more MT focused? My DS isn’t really thrilled with MT, although he can sing. He is more the straight acting kid, and probably wouldn’t like being at a school that was heavily MT focused.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with you Marbleheader. My daughter breaks down a song with her MT coach just as should would a monologue. At the better schools with both programs, CMU, Ithaca, Syracuse, etc. – the acting and MT kids take the exact same acting progressions. As I mentioned in another thread, its one of my pet peeves about high school musical shows is that no one seems to understand that the song is supposed to be part of an acting performance. </p>
<p>Kids at CMU and Ithaca don’t take some special “acting for MTs” They learn to act, understand objectives, all the same vocabulary an actor uses in a straight play.</p>
<p>5boys – I do think there are some schools that are so MT focused that it could overshadow the acting a bit. I don’t think any straight actor should be scared away from CMU, Ithaca or Syracuse based on the fact that you’ll share acting classes with MTs.</p>
<p>I think what Marbleheader is referring to is the overall vibe at some schools that acting is perceived as a “stepchild” program compared to MT. This may or may not be an accurate perception, but it’s out there. I’ve heard it about Elon, Ball State, and others–again, I’m not saying it’s MY perception, just passing along what I’ve read. Other schools (like BU) don’t have a separate MT track and rarely if ever put up traditional musicals. My son isn’t particularly interested in musicals, but two of his top three choices (Ithaca and Otterbein) have that blended approach where the MT and AT kids take their acting classes together. He applied to schools with both types of approaches (blended and separate).</p>
<p>I think Dreambelle is referring to the fact that at CMU, the acting students cannot audition for musicals, but the MT students can be in straight plays. Some people perceive this as unfair. I have read the arguments and understand both sides of the equation, so I’m not trying to start a debate about that here!</p>
<p>When my daughter was a theater major at Kenyon, they rarely put on musicals, but the music department would do partially staged musicals once a year. It just wasn’t a big thing there. If a kid feels strongly about MT one way or another, it seems like a smart thing to investigate in a potential program. Again, I think (and I hope she’ll correct me if I’m wrong) that Marbleheader is referring to the overall direction/emphasis of the program more than she is to specific courses and skills.</p>
<p>When we did all of our research, we found some schools/ programs do favor their MT program more so than their straight BFA acting program. Of the programs we looked into that have strong programs IN BOTH, NYU and Syracuse showed no favoritism in my opinion. Both types of students can audition for any play or musical. I know a straight acting student at syracuse that got a lead in one of their mainstage musicals and she does not even consider herself a singer. But she is a strong actress and because she had the perfect look for the part.
Ithaca, Michigan and even CMU seemed to show more favoritism to MT and are more known for their MT which is why they went down on my daughters list. They are still great programs obviously, but my daughter didn’t prefer them.</p>
<p>Thanks ActingDad and Times,mommy… That is what I took from MH’s post too, that it is more the vibe, not the actual classes. My S would be ok with everyone taking classes together, just might not like the straight acting students being perceived as the “step child” . All of this is SOOOOO overwhelming, and it doesn’t help that my S has yet been able to pinpoint exactly what he wants… and if you can’t tell already, I am more the type A personality and I don’t really do well with indecision. I know he will become more focused as goes through this process and will end up in the right place. I don’t know how I would cope if it wasn’t for all of you amazing people on this forum. You CAN NOT leave until all of us with kids in the next few years are through the process:)))</p>
<p>Thanks guys. It’s telling then that a MT kid at this school could get none MT film and TV work. That tells me that the acting classes are going to be great. </p>
<p>Did the BFA acting kids have to sing at their auditions? And can BFA acting kids take singing lessons and MT type of electives? My son cannot sing but would love to and I see it as something that would be a good skill for an actor. </p>
<p>Also, how far away from an airport is the school? Does anyone know how far a way and how easy it would be to get to NYC from there? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Y’know, I keep forgetting about this fact, but one of the primary reasons my son developed a strong interest in Ithaca was because of recommendations from his TAs (current undergrad BFA students) at Boston University’s summer theater program last year. Several of them had ended up choosing between Ithaca and BU and told my S that they thought Ithaca was a great program and that he’d like it. Bear in mind that BU is NOT oriented toward MT at all. Point is: meeting other kids, including current college students, at those summer programs has been a HUGE source of information and support for my son. I can’t remember, 5boys, if you’ve said what your son is doing this summer, but if he attends a pre-college program, you’ll find it to be big help in terms of him figuring out what he likes. I’m sure Marbleheader, OddDad, ActingDad, et al. would agree that it made a difference for their kids too. It’s not just the audition preparation–it’s the ability to hang out with all different “types” (fellow prospective students and current students) and get a sense of where you might fit as a college student.</p>
<p>Oops, Shacherry, I didn’t see your post when I wrote the one above. I can answer a couple of those questions. No, the acting applicants did not have to sing at auditions; however, a number of kids who auditioned for MT ended up being accepted for acting, so of course they would’ve sung. My understanding from the info session at Ithaca was that acting students do not get private voice lessons, but those are easily arranged outside of the curriculum (you do have to pay). We saw a lot of flyers posted in the halls advertising for voice lessons. </p>
<p>Re: transportation, I know there’s an airport outside Ithaca. Train is only available from Syracuse, though. I think it’s about a 4-hour drive from Ithaca to NYC. I’m sure other people could be of more help!</p>
<p>Times… he is waiting to hear from Northwestern’s Cherub’s program any day now. I am keeping my fingers crossed because it is the only summer program he applied to. The others did not offer FA, and we just couldn’t swing it without it. I agree, that if he does get in, it will be huge for him in being able to make that BFA vs BA decision. I will keep you all posted.</p>
<p>Yes - Times3 can explain what I said better than I can - LOL! Thanks, Times3.</p>
<p>I agree that MT and straight acting could and should take the same courses and use the same terminology, techniques, etc., etc. But they are not the same, no matter how you slice it. Facial expressions, body movements, they need to be different even if the intent is the same. Singers may have to hold a long note, or spew words in rapid fire (lots of songs like that), or repeat lyrics again and again - that is all different from most straight plays. Body movements are also different - S had to do a lot of “slashing” when he sang the Epiphany in Sweeney Todd, and if that was a straight play, he wouldn’t have stood there slashing that razor during the speech! So there are different techniques used.</p>
<p>Just as others may feel straight acting is the “step child” of MT, there may be some that see MT acting as less serious acting, because there is more exaggeration. My S went to a Shakespeare camp where the counselors used to say they were going to wring the MT out of the kids! Ouch! NEITHER of these views are true or valid.</p>
<p>One school that we felt had a very MT vibe was Emerson. Not only did our tour guides represent two musicals that were going on at the time, they talked about three upcoming shows that were all MT. When they asked all the prospective students’ in our group (about 10 kids) what their favorite high school shows was so far, my son was the only one who mentioned a play and not a musical. Of course, that was only one day in the grand scheme of things but it was telling for S.</p>