<p>As this year's school selection process kicks off, I've considered the differences between D's friends' schools (which include virtually every top MT program in the country) as they relate to the criteria D used when choosing her top school (Northwestern), and have realized that something I now consider to be of critical importance wasn't on her list of criteria at all.</p>
<p>An abundance of student produced shows was of NO importance to D when she chose her school. She assumed student produced theatre was of inferior quality and possibly a waste of time. In fact, she didn't care if she had any performance opportunities at all in school, as long as she was getting lots of top-quality training. </p>
<p>The school she chose happened to have LOTS of student produced theatre and A Cappella. As we've watched D's participation in this student produced work during her first year at school, I've started thinking the lessons learned in that community will be at least as important as anything she learns from her world-class professors and coaches, and possibly far more valuable.</p>
<p>My husband (an engineer) recently commented that the student theatre community at her school is like working in a high-powered start-up company, where participants quickly learn ALL aspects of the business, while the professional theaters where D has worked and her school's mainstage shows are more like big corporations, where you learn to be a specialist. In the big corporation you are given terrific fish, but in the start-up you truly learn to fish.</p>
<p>I'm really loving the fact that she's in an environment where she is immersed in the best of both worlds, with top-notch mainstage productions as well as an endless supply of opportunities to co-create her own projects.</p>
<p>I know soozievt has said that NYU offers a similar richness of student-produced projects, but I'm curious to hear which other schools offer a lot of chances for MT students to create student produced work. </p>
<p>I'd love to hear about your experience of student produced work, either at your school or at schools you've visited.</p>
<p>I think this is a good topic and one that either some kids don’t think about (or maybe care about) when selecting schools for MT and in fact, these opportunities vary a lot between schools. </p>
<p>As I have written before, my daughter was involved in student produced theater the entire four years she was at NYU/Tisch in various capacities…musical director, performer, writer/composer, etc. It was a crucial part of her experiences in college. She also was involved in coed a capella which is student produced and was a performer and musical director for that award winning group too. All of these experiences, in my view, have contributed to her skill set but also continued networking and collaborating with her alumni peers on many projects in many capacities since graduating. At this very moment in fact, she is in LA shooting a music video today contracted by MTV of a song she collaborated on writing/composing and will co star in (a duet) that is comedic in nature with a former classmate who is a comedian and singer. I won’t bother to list all the projects she has been involved in since graduating that have involved creating and producing and directing and performing with fellow classmates (now alums) much like they did when they were in college, except now it is professional. </p>
<p>I know there are student run productions at UMichigan and that CMU has what’s called Playground (original works by students). These are two different things (producing established works but student run, and then creating original works by students). My D was involved in BOTH types of experiences while at NYU which has an abundance of such opportunities (as does Northwestern and Yale and several other schools). But some BFA in MT programs do not do much of this at all.</p>
<p>I love the “high-powered start up company” analogy and we are for sure looking for schools that value student produced work since we do too. Which BFA in MT programs would you consider not doing much of this at all?</p>
<p>@soozievt - congratulations to your multi-talented D on her MTV project! Her many amazing experiences since college are a perfect example of the benefits of a rich student produced theatre scene. </p>
<p>When D was at UMich auditioning for MPulse, we went to a show with her one night and noticed that a student-run production was at an adjacent theatre. Some of the UMich MTs who were with us implied they were discouraged from doing much student produced work while there. They obviously do some, as I know The Very Potter Musical launched at least one career for a non-MT Acting student and I assume Pasek and Paul wrote for student productions, though I don’t know the particulars. </p>
<p>I think part of what I hadn’t considered is the important lessons to be learned about how to be a great collaborator, which can be different than just doing what a director tells you, and also learning how to recognize successful projects in advance. </p>
<p>How many talented actors have had their careers ruined by being constantly associated with bad projects, and should an actor really be dependent on an agent to decide which projects are worth working on? It seems so much better for kids to hone their creative instincts by spending plenty of time with self-directed teams, which is ultimately what creating theatre is all about.</p>
<p>Student produced work is the mainstay of most drama and MT’s at UC Irvine since grad students get the bulk of roles in most mainstage shows. This initially was a turn-off to my daughter and probably most students. But it turns out the student productions are plentiful and very well done and the bonds they are building are incredibly strong. Another nice aspect is that they are experiencing works that are not the standard fare musical theater rep.</p>
<p>I think I’d assumed that student produced work was a consolation prize for those not cast in mainstage shows, but now I think that those who don’t do a lot of it are missing out on critical learning.</p>
<p>I also think it’s very different to be in a program that does one or two student produced works each year than to be in an environment where there is a huge pool of projects constantly churning, so you get to experience learning to chose between options, which projects to avoid, how to find and schedule performance and rehearsal space… as well as experiencing the need to compete for funding, talent AND audiences. </p>
<p>This is the stuff of most real-life theatre careers!</p>
<p>I think you also have to look at the size of the program when looking at the numbers. A program with lots of students can produce more shows than a program with a smaller number of students.</p>
<p>At NYU/Tisch, after my D trained in the CAP21 studio, she trained in the Experimental Theatre Wing studio (ETW) which really emphasizes creating theater, not just performing it. My D wrote her first musical while in that studio, which has gone onto some exciting heights since graduating. But that was not the only creation she was involved with. There were many more during her four years she spent at NYU. As well, she was involved in student produced and directed works that were not original too. And there are students at NYU/Tisch who are studying directing and so there are directing projects (she’s been in those too) and there is the Graduate Program in Musical Theater Writing (she’s been involved in those workshops of new musicals too). And in a capella, she was involved in original arrangements and recording CDs and all that stuff. </p>
<p>The act of creating is big for my daughter, and not just performing. She doesn’t want to rely on being cast and waiting in between jobs of that sort. She aims to create work so she can perform. And she does that a lot such as the musical she wrote (she performed as one of the leads, including in an Equity production of it in NYC) and she is a singer/songwriter and performs her original songs in concerts in various venues in NYC including a weekly residency at one venue currently. Another theater in NYC has named her this year’s composer in residence and she’ll create a new work for them too. She has a commission to write a new musical for a major theater company on the west coast. She has recently been contracted to write songs and star in them for episodes in a new channel for a corporation for YouTube. The video she is making in LA today is also an original creation she collaborated on with a former classmate contracted by MTV. She also performs weekly in NYC ever since graduation 2.5 years ago with fellow alums in a musical sketch comedy group. A lot of the skills that go into writing/composing and performing in that group came from her training in ETW but also working on NYU Reality Show while a student at NYU (the performers write all the original material). Her work musically directing Into the Woods, a student run production at NYU, rolls into that she is now the musical director in a paying job in NYC for a teen MT Academy, teaching vocal classes and musically directing their musical this spring and also rolled over into being the musical director of Tisch’s musical last spring (professional job, no longer a student). Her own original musical is going to be a mainstage production at a BFA program next year. When she was a sophomore at NYU, she was hired to musically direct a premiere of a new oratorio by a Tony nominated playwright/composer/director and again, that experience has carried over into jobs where she has musically directed youth choral groups since graduating as well as high school age musicals (both new works and established works). Writing arrangements for her a capella group in college has carried over into writing arrangements for her back up singers in her own solo concerts in NYC and for her own album that came out recently. </p>
<p>So many of these experiences in college carried over into doing these things professionally after graduation. It wasn’t just what was learned in the classroom at NYU. I gave just some examples but these are not nearly all of them so far that I have observed with my own kid. But she is a firm believer in creating theater and not only performing it. She truly creates a lot of the work she performs today, rather than waiting for all the work to come to her.</p>
<p>@austinmtmom - I agree that the size of a program impacts the number and quality of student produced shows. It’s like the difference between working in a big city, with many theatre companies constantly producing shows versus working in a small town with only a single theatre hiring actors. D wanted a larger school for different reasons (less susceptible to a few strong personalities and a wider network after graduation), so the rich student-produced theatre scene was an unanticipated perk for her. </p>
<p>@soozievt - I always find hearing your D’s experiences inspirational. She has made such great use of her many talents! </p>
<p>As I’ve gotten to know some parents of recent NU graduates I keep hearing similar stories about all of the amazing collaborative work they are doing in all corners of the globe. It’s almost enough to make a skeptical mom believe that D will actually earn a living at this after graduation! ;-D</p>
<p>Does anyone have firsthand experience that sheds light on halflokum’s question from post #3;</p>
<p>Momcares - Exactly! Student produced work was not on her radar at all until she got involved. Now, for all of the reasons you mentioned, it’s becoming a critical piece of the package. Initiative is so important in this area and the need to find opportunities and make the most of them cannot be underestimated. Between these productions, workshops, dance classes, improvisation, and a plethora of student led opportunities she is learning so much! There is always an audition coming up for something and the ability to pick and choose is a skill in itself. In addition to pretty high level academics, she’s busy. Grad students were another potential hurdle. In reality, they have become more like peer mentors and it will be interesting to see these relationships develop.</p>
<p>I think someone mentioned in another thread that CCM does a student-produced freshman showcase at the end of the year, but I’m not sure how much student produced work is done there otherwise.</p>
<p>MomCares - great thread. Student-run theatre has been great for my son at UMich - experience, yes- but also opportunity. The group there is Basement Arts - Google it to learn details if so inclined. Basically, at the beginning of each term, any student can pitch a show idea to the BA board (all students). 4-5 are picked each term, & students get to cast, produce, direct, perform…etc., under a very short timeline. Yes, Team Starkid started with Basement Arts.
Some shows are good, some just ok, some are fantastic. I go often (this weekend is Talk Radio). Shows are free to the public. As for MT’s - they sometimes cross over and do these shows. Last term, the first show was a musical packed with MT’s - it was an original, student-created production. (OK- full disclosure - my son wrote it). So, the opportunity is there for students who want to create their own work, instead of waiting for someone else to cast them.</p>
<p>@bazaarshopper - Thanks so much for the added info, and congratulations to your S on his new musical! Is your S an MT?</p>
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<p>That was my impression – that it is a bit rarer for MTs to do these shows. I’m glad to hear it does happen, though, so maybe it isn’t as actively discouraged as I’d heard it might be.</p>
<p>Similar to Basement Arts at UMich, mentioned by @bazaarshopper in post #12, Northwestern has many Student Theatre Companies, with student-run Boards which consider and produce student proposals every year.</p>
<p>Here is a listing of some of the Northwestern Student Theatre Companies, and some of the shows they’re doing this year.</p>
<p>… WaMu Show (original student-written musical, produced on the mainstage )</p>
<p>Struble Projects (student produced with school funding/ support)
……. Assassins
……. Wedding Singer (Freshman Musical)</p>
<p>Dolphin Show (student produced);
… 42nd Street</p>
<p>Sit & Spin (student produced);
… Pippin
… Scorched
… A Perfect Wedding
… Current Nobody</p>
<p>Arts Alliance (student produced);
… The Drowsy Chaperone
… The History Boys
… The Visit
… SHOWDOWN! The Northwestern Epic Stunt Spectacular</p>
<p>Lovers & Madmen (student produced);
… The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)
… I Love You Because
… Cymbeline
… The Arabian Nights
… The Marriage of Figaro
… Spring Awakening: Eine Kindertragödie
… Ten Day Shakespeare</p>
<p>Purple Crayon Players (student produced);
… Amber Waves
… Bocón!
… To Kill A Mockingbird
… On Beyond the Places You’ll Go, A Celebration of Seuss</p>
<p>WAVE (student produced);
… Early Fall “Incest Show”: Dream Play
… Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)
… Wonder of the World
… Cabaret
… Untitled Zombie Show</p>
<p>Jewish Theatre Ensemble (student produced);
… Exit the King by Eugene Ionesco
… Coming Soon in the Winter Louis
… Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
… The Labor of Life by Hanoch Levin</p>
<p>I was going to echo Soozievt’s comment about creating work at NYU – Playwrights Horizons is another studio which offers a track called “Creating Original Work.” If not placed there initially, students can transfer in junior year. My D was also just in a show (as was Bville’s son!) called “the Displacement Project,” a department-run show of movement as performance, where the cast worked with the teachers to create original work based on collaboration and improvisation. </p>
<p>One of the things that I’ve commented on frequently here is about how my D is really being taught to explore her own artistic instincts at Tisch. I can’t say if this happens across the board at the studios, but certainly students who want to create work can find the opportunities to do so, and I think the school really is concerned about developing students as the next generation of artists, not only performers.</p>
<p>MomCares - you’ve missed many student produced shows at Northwestern! </p>
<p>I’ve always said that there is plenty of time and opportunity to perform in the more standard and traditional shows (summer stock, touring companies, etc.) and that college is a perfect time to explore all sorts of new, experimental type shows. Once you graduate these off-off-off Broadway shows won’t pay your bills and may or may not give you any real exposure and, more often than not, fall apart before production so college is perfect for this kind of creative and collaborative adventure. </p>
<p>As a matter of fact this term my daughter was hoping to not be cast for a Mainstage production because she really wanted to do this one student show which she thought was so creative and exciting. While my daughter has very little interest in producing, writing, or directing professionally she does enjoy being a part of the creative and organizational process and student productions allow her to dabble like that. As soozie has alluded to - these are the contacts that will be of great benefit in the future.</p>
<p>Student produced shows are the best part of college productions IMHO.</p>
<p>I should add that my D is in acting, not MT, too. I forgot this was an MT forum. But, she is taking a vocal performance class in her studio, and Playwrights offers an MT track in advanced training (not sure what it involves though). And, I know there are plenty of MT-capable kids in the various studios… Theo Stockman, for example, who was in Broadway in Hair and American Idiot (and Lea Michele’s BF for a while…) was in ETW at Tisch… </p>
<p>(just amending my post to make it clear that my comments are acceptable for the MT forum!)</p>
<p>Student-run productions can give students a great creative outlet. My D (at American) loves experimental/physical theatre and has been given the chance to produce and direct some really great shows that never would have seen the light of day on the Mainstage. Her dream is to start her own company and be artistic director, so student-run theatre gives her valuable experience.</p>
<p>I thought I’d chime in here. My son graduated in May, so I don’t often post, but I take a peek at these forums now and then.
My son and six of his classmates at CMU first produced their own show at Playground as freshmen. They kept it up over the years, and have now formed their own company in NYC. They have performed professionally in Boston, NYC and elsewhere, to great reviews. They won the top award at the New York Fringe Festival two years in a row. They are now working on putting together a longer running show in Manhattan for next fall. They are making an album and have found paying work performing and doing workshops at schools, doing concerts, etc. Somebody paid them to write a show for someone’s birthday. They’re making a music video, and are working on an animation. They have hired an entertainment lawyer and created a business plan. They have so many projects going it’s hard for me to keep up. All this came from student produced work. Some students may graduate and immediately book a TV series or major movie, but for most recent graduates, being able to create their own works, even while auditioning for more traditional roles, can held keep them fed and creatively engaged.</p>