<p>Hi Times3…Yes it’s mayhem in our household as we attempt to prepare for BUSTI. I may have already told you that our college tour happens after Boston. Though subject to change, we plan to visit Suffolk in Boston, University of Rhode Island, Hartt, Adelphi, Long Island/CWPost, and, though I’d like to avoid them, Marymount Manhattan and Pace. There is an outside chance we may drift into New Jersey, but that is becoming unlikely. My D is steadily working on 2 monologues with the help of a coach, so I hope she’ll ready to present them at the end of the theatre institute (fingers crossed). She’s both nervous (though she tries not to show it) and excited. But, then again, so am I. It should be a life changing experience for her.</p>
<p>Also, Times 3, my D has connected with several kids, including 2 guys, who are going to BUSTI on Tumblr. I’m not sure how your S can contact them, but ask my D’s advice.</p>
<p>Hey OD, I sent you a message, and also wanted to send congrats to your daughter for being proactive about her monologues…S has made a little progress on piecing together things he likes but has definitely not started working on them in any focused way. On the plus side, he’s doing physical therapy twice a week and in the weight room four days/wk working on rehabbing his ankle and getting back into shape after his fracture and surgery this winter. So at least he’ll have stopped limping by July! And it seems like we receive daily emails from school about summer reading, the Common App, lining up recommendations, etc.–I’m not optimistic that he’ll be spending much time in Boston working on that stuff–in fact, I hope not!</p>
<p>Hi - this is my first post. Just wanted to say my S is going to BUSTI this summer, too. Another girl from his high school is going also. Glad to hear that kids are coming from all over! We are just 20mins. north of Boston.</p>
<p>S is doing his high school finals now, as well as rehearsing for Legally Blonde. I don’t think he’s even thinking of monologues, altho he’s bringing a lot of plays with him. Hopefully he’ll have time at BUSTI to work on them, and won’ t be behind on the monologues!</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking for awhile, since I know the college app. process for theatre is totally different. Lots of good (altho scary!) info on here.</p>
<p>Marbleheader, is your son a rising senior? Just curious. We are really counting on this summer as my S’s main preparation for college auditions in the coming year. Have heard wonderful things about the program. As an aside, it’s always a slight jolt to hear that you all are still in school up north…you have my sympathies! We’ve been out for a couple of weeks–hence the creeping awareness that it’s time to start the college process. I agree with you–this seems scary, at least compared to “normal” applications, which are daunting enough!</p>
<p>Yes - he’ll be a senior next year. We have been to a few schools, but we are also waiting until BUSTI is over to see more, because he is not %100 sure if he is going the theatre route. Besides, we don’t go back to school until after Labor Day, so we have plenty of time. </p>
<p>We took a tour last August of the BU theatre program and he loved it! That’s where we heard about BUSTI. The fact that he can audition at the end of the five weeks is super. </p>
<p>Hope your college tour trip goes well!</p>
<p>Checking in after our mini-odyssey: my S and I drove out to Evansville, up to Chicago, over to Syracuse, and then to Boston, where he’s now ensconced (apparently quite happily) at BUSTI. He had a GREAT interview & tour at Evansville–at first sight, the town and campus were underwhelming, but as we toured it, the school itself was increasingly appealing, and the theater department–both program and people–were absolutely wonderful. We were both especially interested in their BS degree option. He also had an interview at DePaul, which was less interesting as they were sort of dismissive of the current facility and, of course, the new one is very much under construction. We loved Chicago and Lincoln Park in particular–if it came down just to location, I think my son would put Chicago in first place! And its a great program, obviously. Syracuse was very, very big, and I found it overwhelming but S did not, and we stayed in a very cool (modern and LEED platinum certified) hotel. Probably will go back for a real tour, perhaps at audition time. Boston Univ. is much, much nicer than I remember from having lived in the city years ago, and the BUSTI program promises to live up to its great reputation. It looked like a smart, diverse, interesting group of kids. The scripts they sent in advance were so interesting, and i love that my son was already engaged in the work before he arrived. Will definitely convey a better report in August when it’s over! Hope everyone else’s summers are going well, especially fellow parents of rising seniors.</p>
<p>What year would be a good one to go to a summer program like BUSTI?</p>
<p>Hammer, my daughter, who is a rising senior, is at BUSTI with Times3’s son. Early comments from my D suggest that there are a significant number of both rising sophomores and juniors. No exact numbers, though. So far a lot of !!!s have come up in my D’s texts, so excitement reigns (crossing fingers for more of the same).</p>
<p>^^I agree–as both a parent and an arts teacher, I’m very much in favor of attending summer arts programs early on as a way of finding out if this is a path you want to pursue. You’ll see how you like the immersion experience, you’ll be with other kids who share your interests, and you’ll work with teachers who can give you valuable advice and a point of view that may differ from what you hear during the school year. There’s a lot of helpful info on CC about the various summer programs. My son chose this summer to do BUSTI because he wanted the longer time frame and intense college-like experience in preparation for senior year auditions. He did shorter programs (American Shakespeare Center and Univ. of Minnesota) before his freshman and junior years. There are plenty of great options out there. Feel free to PM me if you’d like details about the ones I’ve mentioned. And I’ll also echo OddDad’s observation – they’ve only been there for a day, but my son has been very positive about BUSTI so far!</p>
<p>I thought the check-in for BUSTI went smoothly. Our son was a little worried because when he saw the students listed in each acting/directing group (emailed to incoming busti students) there were twice as many girls as boys. But he texted his sister late last night to say all the kids were great, and they spent a lot of time just hanging out and getting to know one another. He is so looking forward to being with other kids who are serious about acting, but he also loves to have fun. Hopefully, BUSTI will cover both of those things!</p>
<p>Times3 - that sounds like quite a trip! We will be doing one in August to see Adelphi, Purchase, and Rutgers. Then maybe another in September to see UNCSA. A few others are close (in New England) so they will be day trips.</p>
<p>Another thing about BUSTI, I hope S hears other kids’ thoughts on schools. He still wants a university setting as compared to a small conservatory, but I think he will be more interested in what the kids are looking at for schools.</p>
<p>Does the University of Minnesota summer theater program include movement classes? </p>
<p>I noticed that many BFA college auditions require a movement class as part of the audition process and movement is not something my high school son has done in the past. We are looking for a summer program that includes this as part of the program. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Hey shacherry, I don’t remember that there were specific classes at UMinn for movement, but it certainly was folded into what they did, especially in the classes run by the BA program. At least last summer when my S was there, the Minnesota summer program (SESTI) was divided between BA and BFA type classes, so they got both kinds of experience. In the BA classes, they got to devise their own performance pieces based on movement and music, among other things. He went in the summer before junior year, which was good timing for my son, as it helped him consider the differences in emphasis and gave him a start on thinking about his path. Also, base on his report, a significant majority of the kids (I think there were 25?) came from performing arts schools. This wasn’t a problem, but he did get an eye-opening view of how much experience is out there. </p>
<p>At BUSTI, they have movement classes daily, and I would be glad to send you more details or answer questions (at least based on my own knowledge) about either program if you want to PM me. Another suggestion is the summer program at American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va–they have classes in movement, voice, stage combat, etc., perform Shakespeare plays on the Blackfriars stage, see tons of productions and work directly with ASC company members–it’s a really amazing program.</p>
<p>^^By the way, I have no direct experience with the Carnegie Mellon precollege program, but several other parents here do, and I know they have movement classes. It’s longer than the others (UMinn was 11 days, ASC 3 weeks, BUSTI is 5 weeks, and I think CMU is 6). It’s supposed to be superb for kids who want to work on preparing their college audition monologues. Hope that adds something useful for you!</p>
<p>My D did CMU a few years ago, but I have no recollection if they had movement or not; I know they had dance, but that is different than movement. I think the website would say the courses offered. I believe that CMU has an age minimum. Most were rising seniors, and for that program, i think that’s better than being younger, for two reasons, one – that the program does work on monologues and auditioning so it is helpful for college auditions and two – when the students have free time, they are completely unsupervised, so they can go all around the city on their own. For a rising senior, this was great. I’m sure my D would have been fine even if she had been a year younger, but I preferred her being just that much older to have this level of independence in a city…The students are required to be in class and sign in at evening curfew, but other times they can be on their own. </p>
<p>Attending a precollege program is a good reality check, too, particularly if one is considering MT. The level of talent is amazing, even at a program like CMU which does not require auditions.</p>
<p>When i checked the Uminn summer program site they gave a sample of the typical day and unlike other prorams like uarts in philly, rutgers, bu and usc it did not have movement on the list rather then a broad morning workshop. I am hoping this thing they call workshop includes movement. I am going to give them a call.</p>
<p>I have to amend my post. My D did the MT summer program at CMU, so she had dance classes. Perhaps the straight acting had movement. The MT program obviously includes acting classes though and they work on monologues for auditioning, and have to perform their monologues before a panel at the end of the summer.</p>
<p>SD, the CMU website does specify movement–that’s why I mentioned it:
“Movement: Students in the Movement class will be exposed to a variety of disciplines in physical theater such as Suzuki, Michael Chekhov and Grotowski.”
Of course, they may not do the same thing every year. Dance is listed separately. </p>
<p>Somebody (maybe you, SD?) mentioned that the summer courses aren’t generally taught by CMU faculty? I’m not sure about that part. </p>
<p>One of my favorite things about all of the summer programs my son has done: the kids are incredibly active all the time! Whether they’re doing dance, “movement,” physical theater, or stage combat, they are constantly moving, sweating, and physically engaged. Awesome. :)</p>
<p>When my D attended, I believe that the faculty was not the CMU faculty, but teachers brought in for the summer. Perhaps some were on the faculty; I don’t know for sure.</p>
<p>here’s the link to a sample CMU schedule. As I thought, movement is offered to the acting students; dance to the MT students.</p>
<p>[Drama</a> Course Schedule - Pre College - Carnegie Mellon](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/enrollment/pre-college/drama-course-schedule.html]Drama”>http://www.cmu.edu/enrollment/pre-college/drama-course-schedule.html)</p>