“She learned about the world, learned more about ho she is and who she wants to be, and that knowledge helps her as a performer. I would encourage all parents and their children to consider the entire experience, and not just the training program itself, when making decisions. You get one shot at college life, and you should not throw away your shot.”
Beyond the technical classes, I think college is so important to an aspiring performer for the life experiences it affords him/her. Those experiences inform a performer both intellectually and intuitively to be able to play roles that require anything more than just smiling, and cavorting around the stage. I think it is a solid foundation of experiences (and keen perception) that enables a performer to portray convincingly even a character that may be totally alien to the performer.
^ True re experiences forming a body of work for an actor to draw on, but let’s not pretend that college is the only meaningful setting for that. Lots of experiences and lessons to learn from working, auditioning and living life.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as huge advocate of college and the whole experience thing. But having two jobs to support yourself while practicing and scurrying to auditions can provide some useful material to center one’s acting around.
@rickle1 - to say nothing of giving you some skills to survive the lean times! I always loved that Harrison Ford was a carpenter before he made it big: creative outlet + decent money + flexible schedule = great job for an actor. I tried to get my MT girl interested in learning plumbing or electrical, but she wasn’t interested.
@rickle1: Of course college is not the ONLY source for life experiences. I was speaking to your suggestion that “taking high level lessons for 4 yrs and not going to college” would prepare auditioners just as well as going to college. I don’t think that’s necessarily true.
^ not “suggesting it”. However, it’s an option that can’t be tossed out without comparing alternatives. I see the conservatory type programs as essentially very structured versions of this. They’re not getting the well rounded college experience (by choice). They’re working their craft 24/7. That’s the type of program D is most interested in.
Rickle1 I would encourage you and your D to look at a variety of programs, conservatory and non-conservatory, smaller and larger schools. In the end she may still want the conservatory environment but she’ll have a basis for comparison.
Just based on your description of him, I’d recommend looking at Emerson if he’s interested at all in a city college. Admission is getting more competitive but I know they do still accept ballpark about 30-40 kids. And while we are not like a holy grail top top school, we do okay for ourselves I’d say haha. We are definitely a strong acting/singing program, but the dance is a little on the slow side with progression, so I’d say if he’s a mover this could be a good place for him. If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to ask I’d love to chat!
Tulane is Audition at end of sophomore year
Hofstra is Audition at end of freshman year
I think the idea is that you are starting your path toward MT, by the time Audition occurs you and your professors know that you’re ready to pursue the BFA
Rowan University, BA Theater, MT concentration
Arcadia University, BFA Acting, MT concentration
Wagner College, BA Theater Performance, program known for MT (Staten Island, NY)
Manhattan School of Music, Molloy/CAP21, LIU, Western CT State
Lots of others not located in the general NY area…
Tulane has suspended its performance BFA. I noticed that the admissions website said that there is a BFA in performance (and tech) and the department website didn’t mention the performance BFA but did mention the tech BFA. I emailed the department to ask and got this response:
“The Admissions page is wrong & I will contact them. We suspended the BFA in Performance a number of years ago and have no plans to change that in the future.
Marty Sachs”
So, @stagedoormama and @sbc another thread says that Tulane has an MT major in their music school. So I give up. And am frustrated, honestly, that when I contacted Marty Sachs from the theater department that the above was his response, and not to refer me to the music department if they have a performance major, and if they can’t work together to help prospective parents/students, that makes it appear as though they don’t have their act together as a school. I’ll take this one off of my list anyway.
Something that doesn’t seem to get mentioned much when considering schools, is how accessible are opportunities for students to write/create/produce/direct their own (or someone else’s) work. My S just graduated MT from Wright State. When we were building “our” (Ha!) list, H and I were very concerned about “academic challenge” (or lack thereof). Of course, our S was brilliant - multiple APs, top 10 in class, National Merit Finalist, blah, blah, blah… Turns out the academics meant next to nothing to our S. And even the BFA training/performance opportunities he SO wanted as a HS senior came to mean little - yes, WSU has terrific faculty, talented skilled students, wonderful stage productions, … What kept my kid (and many of his program mates) up at all hours of the night and working every available minute on weekends were the productions the students wrote and produced themselves. S may have left college with little more book larnin’ than he acquired in HS, but IMHO he graduated with the equivalent of a masters in what it takes to fully mount a production from start to finish and be fully responsible for scheduling, casting, directing, marketing, tech, and clean-up (wrote two original MT parodies, cast/directed/produced La Chuisa’s Hello Again, and performed in other classmates’ productions). As an entering freshman, S was accepted to WSU honors college but could not make even one class fit into the BFA schedule during his four years. What he was able to to do instead, was spend two years on an honors project - delving into a year of historical research, and then writing book, music, lyrics for an original full-length musical (18 actor/singers) that he cast, directed, and mounted on campus as a concert reading. Sometimes the best education is the one you create yourself. Having a supportive, caring place to make that happen is beyond price.
@mom4bwayboy - oh I love that post! My son’s director of his theatre troupe graduated from WS and does so many artistic projects with them (10 min plays written/directed by them etc)! This type of environment would be very appealing to my son who also likes the creative side not just the stage side!
My daughter is a soph in Wagner’s TP program and absolutely loves it. She had the opportunity to act in a student written, directed play a few weeks back in NYC at Theatre 54. It was a fantastic experience for her to work on an original play - not to mention it was fantastic!
@LBSMOM, what is your impressions of Wagner, both positive and negative. We are Staten Island Locals and Wagner is on my DS’s list but not near the top - probably because it is so local LOL
I always loved that Harrison Ford was a carpenter before he made it big: creative outlet + decent money + flexible schedule = great job for an actor. I tried to get my MT girl interested in learning plumbing or electrical, but she wasn’t interested. 