<p>Hello Everyone!</p>
<p>I was recently accepted to LIU's BFA Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre Concentration after doing a walk in for them at Unifieds. I was able to find the curriculum and some other information on their website, but i was wondering if anyone on CC had anything to add; things they saw when they visited, heard from students, etc.</p>
<p>Any information would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Well lucky you! I haven’t been on here since I was auditioning for colleges and I just happened to come upon this post AND I’m an MT major at LIU Post. Whatever questions you have, just shoot!</p>
<p>Okay then.
How do you feel about the dance training you’re receiving and how many times do you dance per week?
Do you take private voice lessons each week? For how long?
Can you explain the Jury system? Is it a cut program?
What is Suzuki?</p>
<p>Any help you can offer would be great. I plan on visiting, but it probably won’t be for a month or so.</p>
<p>Oh, and are you happy with your choice?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>Okay. Being candid about the dance training. I think it’s the only part of our program that’s still a little in the works in a way. I’m only saying this because, curriculum wise, you are only required to take 6 credits of dance, which I guess is a little less compared to other programs. HOWEVER, as a musical theatre major, you can audit whatever dance classes you want, which is pretty awesome too. One of my classmates has a really big dance background, so she has been taking advantage of the training here and if you want, I can connect you to her on facebook if you have more specific questions. To be honest, I’ve worked with one of the dance faculty at Post when he choreographed this Fall’s musical, and it was fine, but I’m not a strong dancer in the first place, and I havn’t taken a dance class yet, so I don’t think I would be able to answer your questions as well as she could.
Yes, I do take private voice lessons, once a week for a half hour. And our voice professor, Michelle Mallardi, who has played Belle on Broadway, is really amazing and I can say from working with her for a year that if you really put in the effort towards her class that she can really transform your voice. She really knows her stuff and is very kean on isolating and solving vocal issues and giving her students the tools and technique that they need to work on their own, which is really invaluable.
The jury is basically your voice final. You sing in front of all of the other MT majors as well as Michelle, who grades you on the performance, and some other faculty, at the end of the semester.
The program isn’t exactly a cut program. It works like this, right now, you have been accepted on a probationary status. At the end of the first year, the faculty decides whether you will be able to progress as a BFA, a BA, or if your probation will be extended for another year. If you really **** up, like you’re not showing up to classes and fail everything, you will be encouraged to leave. As a BA, you can still take BFA classes, but with the permission of the faculty first. Declaring a BA can be a choice, like if you want to double major in something else. However, for the most part, if the faculty decares you a BA, it is basically them telling you ‘you’re totally welcome to stay, but we just don’t think this training program is working for you’.
Suzuki is a method of actor training developed by Tadashi Suzuki in Japan. It is a very physical method that is meant to develop the actor’s instrument, and strengthen the actor’s focus, as well as the connection between mind and body. It is based in the idea of having the struggle of the character, as well as the struggle of the actor, live on stage together in order to create more truthful performance. It is an extremely rigid training that requires a huge amount of will and determination. But I will tell you that this is the reason, as an actor, for you to go to Post. The Suzuki professor, Maria Porter, trained under Tadashi Suzuki himself, and has actually worked in the SITI company in NYC (basically the premier Suzuki acting company in America) along with Anne Bogart (who you made of heard of as the mind behind the Viewpoints method). She is an amazing teacher and she really transforms her students. I have only taken Beginning Suzuki, which is more of the foundations of the technique, but still I have already learned so much that I have really surprised myself. The Suzuki training really pushes you beyond your perceived limitations. And I really love it because it is a training that simply does not let the actor get by by settling on something, which I thing is hugely important for any artist.
Here is a video of our students doing Suzuki, so you can get more of an idea what it is like.</p>
<iframe width=“560” height=“315” src=“YouTube” frameborder=“0” allowfullscreen=“”></iframe>
<p>And if that embed link doesn’t work, here’s a link to the youtube video:
[Suzuki</a> Training Preview - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>And as you can imagine, being such a rigorous physical training, doing Suzuki has actually helped me become a better dancer. I’ve learned how to pick up choreography faster and how to be more aware of what the specific parts of my body are doing, WITHOUT USING A MIRROR! Which I mean, come on, think about it, that’s a really awesome skill to have.</p>
<p>And am I happy with my choice? Absolutely. This school was the perfect fit for me. I have grown so much in my first two years here that sometimes thinking about the person and the artist that I as back then really surprises me. I’ve worked with amazing faculty, two who have worked on Broadway, one who is a second generation Suzuki teacher, a dialogue coach who has worked with Academy Award nominees, a theatre history teacher who has worked for the Public Theatre, a acting teacher of the Chekhov method that is actually certified by the Michael Chekhov Association, I could seriously keep going. I’ve gotten amazing oppurtunities to work with professional directors that work in NYC, as well as getting to have perform in NYC twice, once on Theatre Row. But, to me, what’ really important about this theatre training program is that you are not treated like a number, and you are not trained to be molded into this run-of-the-mill cookie cutter actor. You are trained as an actor first to use what you have in order to create what is completely your own and unique. This school really makes artists. There were some schools that I auditioned for that simply weren’t doing that. They were making slick performers, or triple threats that could make a good chorus member, but not real actors, not real artists. I know this is a very long response for your questions, but I honestly wouldn’t be saying this if I wasn’t as passionate as I am about this school. At the end of the day, you need to go where’s best for you, but I would reccomend Post to anyone who was really serious about Theatre. In my opinion, our department just doesn’t have the reputation it deserves.</p>
<p>And for even more of a look at our school, here’s our whole season, all on video, on the web:</p>
<p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/30582600---Re-Membering[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/30582600---Re-Membering</a> Antigone- This is a devised movement piece directed by Maria Porter based on the Greek play, Antigone. If you are interested in seeing more of the Suzuki method, here it is. It’s not as great as seeing it in person but it’ still pretty darn awesome. And this production also won FIVE NATIONAL AWARDS from the Kennedy Center:Outstanding Performance and Production Ensembles, Outstanding Production of a Devised Work, Outstanding Production of a Classic Play, Oustanding Director of a Classic, and Distinguished Director/Lead Deviser of A Devised/Work</p>
<p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/32349072---Side[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/32349072---Side</a> Show The Musical- This was our first production of the new musical theatre program, there are a lot of acting majors in it as well. Just so you can connect a face to all of this, I play The Boss.</p>
<p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/36613569---http://vimeo.com/37004110---This[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/36613569---http://vimeo.com/37004110---This</a> is a stage reading from our New Play Festival, in which we take works from up and coming playwrights and stage read them on campus and in NYC. The play is called Billy Witch by Gregory Moss. The performance was split into two videos. I play Camp Counselor James.</p>
<p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/36239197---This[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/36239197---This</a> was also in the New Play Festival this year, it’s called Impulse, and it is a senior thesis that has A LOT of Suzuki in it, for more of a taste of what Suzuki is like.</p>
<p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/38323849---Our[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/38323849---Our</a> last mainstage of the year, The Commedia Project, was a devised piece based on Commedia dell’ Arte. It was directed by the movement associate of WAR HORSE on Broadway.</p>
<p>And yep, that’s my big spiel. If you got anymore questions for me, feel free. Happy college hunting! :D</p>
<p>for the show links, don’t click on them, just copy and paste everything before the dashes, don’t know why that happened.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! You have no idea how helpful that was! Now I’m really excited to come visit campus and get a feel for the program :D</p>
<p>No problem, happy I could help! :)</p>
<p>My daughter did a walk-in at NY Unifieds because the student walking around recruiting was great. She is from Columbia and really pretty! There was also a young man outside the door who was wonderful and very knowledgeable! My daughter came back to audition after one of her auditions got rearranged. We had to wait quite a while for people to finish so we were able to get into a conversation with the student recruiters. My daughter had a great experience with them but she really wanted a mid to large size school with full campus life. :)</p>
<p>How many MT students does LIU admit?</p>
<p>According to the website “The 129-credit program is highly selective, admitting 16 to 22 students each year.”</p>
<p>^That sounds about right, the First-Year class this year consists of 15 MT majors, 12 Acting majors, and 2 Grad Students.</p>
<p>How many people normally get cut because of jurys each year?</p>
<p>Honestly, not many. I mean, the program isn’t a cut program. Although you are reviewed, progression as a BFA really depends on your classwork. The faculty doesn’t look to cut a certain amount of students each year. If you are doing strong work, and you are progressing in accordance to what their goals are for you, then you will be accepted as a BFA and allowed to proceed to the next year of training. So you really don’t have a ‘jury’ that you have to present, the faculty basically sets a date at the end of the school year, sits down, and decides who stays, who goes, who is BFA material and who is BA material. But it isn’t anything extremely cut throat or competitive. If you’re a good student and have really been working hard, they’re going to want you to stay.</p>
<p>Thank You!</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing information! My son auditioned (walk-in) in NYC for MT BFA and was selected for the Acting BFA. Is it possible to crossover into MT after the first year? Do you know if the acting program allows students to take all the voice and dance classes?</p>
<p>Could you give us a brief list of your typical courses you take in a week? Also what other schools did you audtion for and what ultimetly made u choose LIU?</p>
<p>Lproudmom, Hmmmmm…That’s the first time I heard about that happening. I do know of an Acting first-year who switched over to MT this year. But I think he initially auditioned as an Acting major though. Either way, you can still take dance classes and voice classes as an Acting major. I don’t know if you can audit dance classes as an Acting major, but I would guess that if you did really well in one dance class that it might be able to help you get permission to audit more. However, if you know you’ll have time to fit in the actual credits to take dance classes than you wouldn’t have to worry about auditing anyway.</p>
<p>MelMel29-Here is a link to the curriculum of the program: [Typical</a> Sequence of Courses - Long Island University](<a href=“http://www.liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Schools/SVPA/Dept/TFDAM/Undergraduate-Programs/BFA-TA-MT/CourseSeq.aspx]Typical”>BFA Theatre Arts (Musical Theatre) | Long Island University)</p>
<p>There are also a lot of awesome electives that you can take within all of the disciplines of theatre that aren’t part of the required curriculum. Like right now I am taking Stage Combat, and it’s really cool. Another fellow MT is taking a design concepts class. And I have another MT major in my class who did an independent study in dramaturgy last semester. </p>
<p>If you’re looking for a gen ed/theatre course ratio, you’re first year is about 3 theatre and 2 gen eds for semester. and then the years after that are only like 1 gen ed a semester. Until you get to your senior year, there aren’t that many courses required to be taken that year, so you can use those semesters to take care of leftover cores. Or if you are in the honors program, like I am, you would be working on your Senior Thesis.</p>
<p>I also auditioned for SUNY Fredonia, Shenandoah Conservatory, Ithaca, and Montclair State. I looked into LIU Post because an acting teacher of mine was an alum of the program, and has been steadily working at an Equity regional theatre for years, in fact, he was a teacher for the theatre’s acting school, which is how I met him. I wasn’t having the best luck with my auditions, so I decided to give it a shot. What really made me decide to go was my interview, it was the first time, through out my whole audition process that I felt that I was being recognized as an individual and really being addressed about my educational needs. A lot of the programs I auditioned for were more concerned with making cookie-cutter triple threats than actually creating real actors, which I knew was not the way I wanted to be trained. The last school that I auditioned for, Montclair State, was honestly a joke, and I knew I didn’t fit there. I made the decision the moment I left MSU that I was going to Post. And now, having been here for almost two years, I would rather go to Post than any of the other schools that I have auditioned. The one school that might have made me second guess myself if I got in was Ithaca, and that was only because they took the craft as seriously as Post did. And even then, I wouldn’t have gone, because Post offers Suzuki training while Ithaca does not, and that’s something that I found that I really needed and worked for me. So in the end, going Post has been, by far, the best decision that I’ve made in my life. Yes-I know-a little overdramatic, but it was exactly where I was meant to be. Which really, is the only thing you can ever do when you are applying to college, especially for theatre, look for what fits best for you, and that’s different for everybody.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your feedback it was really helpful. I have been admitted to the BFA musical theatre and i really felt i got along well in the interview. it is an awesome location (close to the city but far enough away too feel like college) ill be visiting soon, im probably going to ask the admissions office if i can follow one of the mt majors around for a day. I don’t know why it is not more popular than it is. I appreciated you being so honest in your review. My dance is the one thing i have only been taking for a few years so its nice to know i can take additional classes to bring myself up. Are freshman allowed to audition for shows? Also have you taken any study abroad programs or are u planning too? Can you share any stories of current alumni who got roles on tour or on Broadway, etc after they graduated? Also how do u use the proximity to new York to your advantage? Seeing shows, contacts, etc. Can you take the subway to new york from the college?</p>
<p>Also does the department offer scholarships for its theatre kids? i know liu is in the expensive range</p>