<p>Does anyone have and general or specific information about Shenandoah's conservatory program?</p>
<p>The method they use?
Their main focus?
Student body size, interaction?</p>
<p>Any information about the program whatsoever?</p>
<p>Thank you for any help in advance.</p>
<p>Emma - my daughter is a sophomore in this program so I am speaking from the mom point of view. I deeply love the experiences this school has given my daughter. She is in their acting program and it is a very intense, conservatory style program. They take very few gen eds, although she is able to take electives that go beyond theatre. She is also able to take dance classes with MT kids and private voice lessons. There is plenty of interaction between the theatre kids and the general school, some choose to hang more than others. The students are extremely supportive of each other and provide a safe environment to learn and grow. I have been to a few school productions, freshman are allowed to audition from day 1 and they are wonderful. There are also a lot of opportunities due to the number of student directed projects each semester.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!!</p>
<p>My son auditioned at Shenandoah and had previously had a long conversation with J.J. Ruscella, who is the new head of the acting department. He did his training at Rutgers which is Meisner-oriented, but he mentioned to my son that he did not intend the department to be Meisner-only. </p>
<p>Casting-wise, even freshman can be cast (theoretically).</p>
<p>We know a graduating Vocal Performance major who has been very happy at Shenandoah, having transferred there from a larger school in Virginia.</p>
<p>My son said that at the pre-audition information session, they talked a lot about their approach to training. I wasn’t there so I can’t speak to that, but since I’m a musician and not an actor, I probably wouldn’t have understood anyway!</p>
<p>It is true…my daughter got a role from her first semester in the school up until this semester. And this semester she is in the Shakespeare show as well as student directing projects. There are a lot of opportunities for the kids to perform.</p>