Juries/Cuts?

<p>I was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of a cut or jury program UArts has. Thanks!</p>

<p>UArts does not have a cut system nor must students "re-audition" to stay in the program. It does have juries and evaluations each semester. These are designed to be instructive and informative about a student's progress, strengths and weaknesses. The juries also count towards grades. If a student is not making expected progress, they will be advised. From what I understand, in the past students who did not reflect the expected work ethic or were not meeting expected levels of progress were urged to pursue other paths and in some cases were not welcomed back the next semester.</p>

<p>to add on to michael, we do not have cut. we have a vocal jury 7 or the 8 semesters at uarts (you don't do one your final semester) in which you have a list of all your voice lesson songs from the semester. all the voice faculty are there and you pick one song and then a teacher other than your own picks the second song for you to sing. they all write comments and feedback, which is always very useful..we also have formal evaluations with our acting studio teacher, voice and speech teacher, and the head of our MT program...there are 4 of these formal evaluations in total, one freshman year, 2 sophomore year, 1 junior year..</p>

<p>if students are not meeting the expected poor work ethic, their grade will not exactly let them continue on in the program, but it's not cutting them either. every semester, you have usually 3 core classes (for freshmen, it is Voice for Musical Theater, Voice Lesson, and Acting Studio). If someone gets below i believe a C- in either of those classes, they cannot continue on with their core classes for the semester and have to re-take that semester of core classes....they can still continue with other classes: dance classes, music skills, liberal arts, etc...i hope this helps!</p>

<p>Piggybacking off of MichaelNKat and BroadwayWannabe,</p>

<p>Students are always PERMITTED to come back to the program, but many do not choose to continue on if they receive "failing" grades (mentioned in the previous post) in their core classes. It is rare that a student is not forewarned of declining grades in these important core classes.</p>

<p>That being said, even when students fail a core class or are forced to "withdraw" (before the middle of the semester is up), some of them still graduate. I can think of two in the past who've done it and two who are going to do it this year. :)</p>

<p>Just to add to the above, if a student's grade in any of the core classes each semester is below a certain threshold (B- I believe), the student is put on casting restriction; the student still must audition but can not be cast until the grade is brought up. So, for example, students auditioned for the fall 08 shows in late April. Castings lists will go up only after grades are turned in for the spring 08 semester.</p>

<p>Based on some inquiries I received in PM's, I thought I would update and bump this thread. Sophomore 1st semester evaluations just occurred for MT and acting students. Apparently, there were students who were advised that it would probably be in their interests to seek another area of study. In addition, as noted above, a student can not progress in the program with below a c- in a core class and is put on casting restriction with below a B-. (In this regard, grades in all performance classes are not only based on performance but also require adherence to stringent attendance policies.) </p>

<p>So while there is not a formal "cut", there is very candid discussion and feedback about whether a student is progressing in an appropriate manner. Between the juries (which impact on grades), evals and grade requirements, there is an effective approach to letting a student know where they stand and to provide opportunities to take remedial action. Students who are not making expected progress and for whom it is felt that continued participation in the program is not appropriate are told so. What makes this educationally different from a "cut" system, however, is that short of flunking out, serious misconduct (which includes attendance ) or student disciplinary issues, no one is forced to leave and the opportunity to remediate is always available. And one of the things that makes UArts a very appealing school is that its overriding educational philosophy is one of nurturing and supporting developing artists in a demanding, rigorous program so that the faculty and admin are receptive and encouraging to a student who has had serious issues but wants to make a good faith effort to turn their progress around.</p>

<p>Effective today, the casting restriction policy has been amended. Here's the text of the announcement:</p>

<p>"The School of Theater Arts Faculty voted yesterday to revise its policy regarding the grading threshhold for casting and production restriction.</p>

<p>Effective immediately, students who receive a grade of C+ or lower in any Core Class (as defined in the Catalog) will be subject to Casting or Production Restriction. In the case of Acting and Musical Theater students, this means that students who receive a grade of C+ or lower will not be eligible for casting in Mainstage or Studio productions. For students in TMP and Design/Tech, this means that students will be restricted in the production assignments they will be eligible for in future semesters, as assigned by the Program Heads.</p>

<p>Students who receive a grade of B- or better in all core classes will be given full consideration for casting in mainstage and studio productions and in all production assignments.</p>

<p>This policy supercedes the language in the University Catalog and the Student Handbook, effective immediately"</p>

<p>MichaelNKat- Just curious. How did you receive this annoucement?</p>

<p>My son told me that there were a few seniors on casting restriction; I wonder if this is in response to that.</p>

<p>AZKmom-My D. showed me some pictures of your S when she was home for Thanksgiving. He is SO adorable! She had such nice things to say about him also. Is he loving UArts as much as my D??</p>

<p>the seniors that your son is refering to are on casting EXEMPTION, not restriction. the difference is that casting exemption is a choice. some seniors put themselves on casting exemption because they are doing a show outside of school and do not have the ability to be in a show at school because rehearsals conflict....and others do it because they want to leave their choices open to audition for stuff outside of school and not feel obligated to a show.</p>

<p>we received the announcement about the change in the casting restriction policy in an email from the head of the school of theater arts and it is posted all over school.</p>

<p>Thanks for the clarification BroadwayWannabe. </p>

<p>holly06 - Yes, he LOVES UArts and Philly; though he is really ready for a break. I know after a few days here in Wisconsin (maybe a week if we are lucky), he'll be itching to get back. He has been exhausted lately; but a "happy, I'm accomplishing so much and learning so much" kind of exhausted. He was thrilled and excited about his callbacks; though torn between hoping to be cast and hoping he isn't cast because he REALLY needs to find a job.</p>

<p>holly06, my daughter forwarded the email from the department to me. From what I'm hearing, there was a lot of faculty discussion about whether the prior policy, which provided for casting restriction with a B- or below, was educationally sound and fair. My understanding is that some of the thoughts kicked around were that a) shows are supposed to be part of the educational process, b) a C is supposed to be an "average" level grade and a B- is above average so is it fair to penalize a student with a B-, c) recognition that the curriculum is a very tough one and even a student who is talented and working very hard could get a B- in a core course like Meisner Acting Studio and d) that the B- standard created a conflict between a teacher's conclusion that the B- was the appropriate grade but that being placed on casting restriction was inappropriate based on the student's work ethic and effort which could result in a tendency to round a B- up to a B which the faculty was concerned could undermine the fidelity of the grading system i.e. there was a desire to give a B- where a B- is deserved without resulting in an undeserved casting restriction.</p>

<p>From what I understand, the decision was reached through a lot of faculty discussion and consensus building.</p>

<p>MNK-Thanks for the info. You are the "go to" info man! It is very comforting and speaks to the integrity of the UArts faculty that such thought and discussion would be given to this topic. I would ask for nothing more than a fair and thoughtful duscussion.</p>

<p>My D. continues to learn and grow at UArts. She was however quite surprised to learn that we have 6 inches of snow in southeast Louisiana... never before seen in this balmy tropic in December.</p>

<p>Does anyone know when casting lists are posted?</p>

<p>Casting lists for the next semester are posted usually a week or 2 after the current semester's grades are in.</p>

<p>I just left my D after seeing Little Women at UArts...wonderful by the way! She said that they will be posting the cast list on the 19th. Apparently they are not leaving till it's done!</p>

<p>MichaelNkat sorry I missed your D in Tintypes, heard she was amazing as usual. I haven't seen any shows till today with my crazy schedule. The only other show I saw was Into The Woods last year and it was nice to recognize some of the students today and really see the progress. My D is having an amazing time and did get a call back so we have our fingers crossed even though we know it's a long shot for a freshman.</p>

<p>kimoki, thanks for your kind thoughts. The academic calendar does state that grades must be turned in to the registrar by 12 pm on December 19. I have also heard from a "reliable source" that all of the directors have turned in their lists of who they want. It is certainly conceivable that the cast lists could be up by late in the day on the 19th or certainly by early the following week. The nice thing is that with all the shows that will be run next semester, there will be plenty of spots to be filled.</p>

<p>Congratulations on your D's callback, Kimoki. I hope she gets a part. She has an amazing voice! My D showed us her ballet final on video on my D's facebook page. She was very impressive. So, good luck to her. My D was very disappointed initially, but is fine now. She's very philosophical about it as this is her future and not every audition will result in a callback. I was very proud of the way she recovered so quickly. She's really maturing. Anyway, please let us know if your D gets a part or even ensemble.</p>

<p>I completely agree with holly06's thoughts regarding the new policy and the discussion/thoughts behind it. It gave me great comfort, as a parent, that the faculty would engage in such thoughtful discussion regarding our childrens' education and future.</p>