<p>A student of mine from JMU is working at “Texas” this summer, and loving it!</p>
<p>Unifieds is not a festival like most of the state conferences which often also include one-act festivals, workshops, a college fair, etc… At Unifieds students contact attending college programs individually to set up separate auditions for each school. The HS teacher would not go with a student to Unifieds. I am sure many HS teachers have heard of Unifieds, but not surprised that many may have not.</p>
<p>Several of the kids do Texas every summer and then you have those (like my d) who need to escape the panhandle and recharge at home! 
WT was definitely a cost plus at the time and D has met some wonderful friends there and done some awesome shows! Would she choose it now? I really don’t know…but we do know that is where God has put her on this leg of her journey. She is already planning grad school. My S is also thinking Musical Theater and he is heading to MPulse this summer at UMich.</p>
<p>KatMT, I saw “Texas” recently and noticed you had a student in the production. They did a great job as always. Looking at the souvenir program, I noticed the ensemble was full of kids from college theatre and MT programs.</p>
<p>Some of the schools I remember seeing represented were: </p>
<p>WTAMU (for obvious reasons, this school had quite a few in the cast, including faculty)
JMU
Illinois Wesleyan
University of Houston MFA program (3 of the leads)
Alabama
Texas Tech
TCU
OCU
Greensboro College
And several others that I can’t recall off the top of my head.</p>
<p>We’ve seen “Texas” at least 5 times in the last 20 years. But now that we have a daughter pursuing college theatre programs next year, it’s the first time I’ve paid much attention to the cast bios. I was shocked and pleased to see that so many of the cast members were recent grads or upperclassmen at well known theatre programs.</p>
<p>arrdad – very cool! I wish I could get down to see it, but I am at the other end of the country in NH this summer… little far to travel!</p>
<p>Texas auditions at the Southeastern Theatre Conference (that is where my student auditioned)… so it is not surprising that they have cast members from all over. </p>
<p>I worked at Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals in the late 1990s… hot and humid… I think “Texas” is just hot… not so humid?</p>
<p>KatMT, yes, “Texas” is close to Amarillo which is pretty delightful compared to the rest of Texas in the summer. Dry and cooler than it is where I am for sure.</p>
<p>Can’t say much good about the winters there or the springs that have wind that blows what is left of the flowers to shreds after the pelting rains beat the crap out of them 
but they always have an Indian Summer (early fall) that is so crisp and nice. All we get where I am is just sulky old dried out yet still humid summer refusing to leave until Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>We have seen “Texas” a few times over the years and always enjoy it, and have always been impressed with the kids in it.</p>
<p>Snapdragonfly- There seems to be a strong association between moms-who-costume and teens who sing-dance-act! :)</p>
<p>Who can say if it’s a causation or corellation! lol!</p>
<p>In my case her acting was what caused me to costume - I was there at the first cast meeting/read through for her part in Fiddler and I don’t know why (desperation most likely) they came up to me and said “would you like to costume?” I don’t know how they even knew I sewed. I think they were just looking for someone who was a) willing and b) not dead. It was just coincidence that I happen to have been sewing since I was 8, designing doll clothes. My dad thought I should go into fashion design but that is boring. Costumes are where it’s at.</p>
<p>I just liked it and had a knack and have become their defacto main costumer. It’s a little bitty upstart community theater and it’s all volunteer so it’s not like I have much competition, hah. In fact I’m always begging for help. But, it is something I really love to do. I’m one of the moms who always raises her hand to help no matter what she’s doing.</p>
<p>All I can say is I’m glad she didn’t develop an interest in becoming something like a pig farmer.</p>
<p>snapdragonfly, you crack me up. :D</p>
<p>Have you carefully written out the pros and cons of a BFA versus a BA? Maybe that would help focus your list.</p>
<p>Motherofthemall: the good old pro’s and con’s list is always an excellent way to process information and help the decision process.</p>
<p>My problem is that the list looks something like this:</p>
<p>BFA - better than a BA because (insert long list of very convincing arguments by respected experts in the field)</p>
<p>BA - better than a BFA because (insert long list of very convincing arguments by respected experts in the field)</p>
<p>Is there a smilie on this board for CORNFUSED?</p>
<p>As The Binder is slowly taking shape, and as specific information on each school’s degrees and the differences in the courses and programs are being collected, I am starting to think that ultimately it’s going to depend on the school. If she stays regional, for example, and goes to SFA (Stephen F. Austin University) she’d probably do the BFA because: both the BA and the BFA have the same basic core educational curriculum, as far as math, english, science, etc. From what I can tell, after the sophomore year they go into BFA and instead of declaring a minor (which is what the BA requires) the extra hours are in theater concentration, with an emphasis on either acting and directing, tech, or SM. (they are going to have to figure out a way to let d do both acting and costuming tech, but I think it could work somehow).</p>
<p>So she’d be getting a pretty good general education, I think, as opposed to some BFA’s that are almost like a conservatory plan.</p>
<p>PLUS, the BFA’s go to Europe for the ENTIRE either junior or senior year and intern in London and then either Spain or Estonia. Two semesters in Europe? Now THAT is what I consider exciting, mind expanding, outlook broadening, REAL hands on education. I am looking for something similar at the other schools we are considering and maybe I’m not looking in the right places but it seems like study abroad is a bit more hit and miss - they do have it but it’s not such a deeply integrated part of the program. All the BFA’s spend a year interning and if they don’t go to Europe they can go to one of the other partnering internship programs which include among several really excellent regional theaters, Guthrie.</p>
<p>Plus they do the two weeks in Dublin every summer.</p>
<p>So, you know, it’s hard to turn down a year in Europe versus…not…at that school.</p>
<p>We haven’t really had a chance to absorb all the info on most of the other schools yet so I don’t have an example of a school where the BA would be better for her than the BFA, but I imagine there will be one.</p>
<p>When we get all that then I guess we can do the pro/con list of the specific programs; not so much the general BA vs BFA because it seems that in the case of the schools which she is mostly likely to attend, there’s a good deal of variance between them.</p>
<p>Also for her there is still the looming question of costume…honestly it might happen that she would audition for MT someplace and if she were lucky enough to get in she might turn it down anyway (they already told me at TSU it would not make them mad 
for her to do that) if it meant she would have very minimal costuming experience. Still gonna audition though because most of the time it’s necessary for scholarships - though I suppose there are costume/tech scholarships but she only has just a few things in her portfolio, she has only had the opportunity to do designs for fewer shows than you have fingers on one hand. Though her stuff is apparently, judging from the contest results, extremely competitive…I think her best plan is to shoot at all that flies and claim all that falls. (as my mom used to say when she was in Economic Development…which I think is harder to find jobs in than even theater…)</p>
<p>Keep in mind when it comes to Study Abroad, at most colleges, you are not limited to the specific abroad programs that the college runs or sponsors, but you can do abroad programs through other schools that your college has approved. Many students do that. I have a daughter who studied abroad and the program was run by another university, not hers, and those who attended the abroad program came from lots of different colleges.</p>
<p>Creating a pros and cons list based upon the specific school requirements and opportunities, rather than a generic BA vs. BFA list is a great way to go. As you have discovered all programs are different … not all BFAs are alike… Not all BAs are alike. It all comes down to finding schools that provide the educational opportunities and experiences that meet your needs. </p>
<p>I teach in a BA MT program, and we ask students to share some of the other schools to which they are applying (to get a sense of our “competitor” schools). I notice many of the same names popping up on lists… Generally they are other BAs with strong training and performance opportunities and BFAs where students take a larger academic core than at more conservatory styled BFA programs. </p>
<p>Once students have their acceptances and financial packages in hand the pros and cons lists for the schools will help in final decision making.</p>