Temple University Musical Theatre Emphasis

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Hey everybody,
I wanted to let you all know about a brand new MT program that you might want to look into. Last year, I auditioned for around 12 MT/Acting programs on campus and at Chicago Unifieds (which is btw A BLAST…get excited). I was accepted into Point Park and Roosevelt for MT and wait listed at another program. My last audition for was for Temple University’s Musical Theatre concentration. I had always been interested in going to Temple after meeting someone at Interlochen Arts Camp (where I also subsequently went to high school for two years) who was a current theatre student and told me about how the faculty at Temple were looking to start an intensive musical theatre program. I was really looking for an audition based program and early in my senior year Temple wasn’t really offering that. However, at the beginning of 2008 Temple announced that they had received a bequest from Joy Abbott, widow of George Abbott who wrote the book for tons of Bway musicals including The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees etc to start a new MT program. So I auditioned at the end of March and was accepted. I chose to attend Temple because I liked the idea of being in a small program with lots of individual attention but that already existed within a large, well known theatre department/university (this is Temple’s 41st main stage theatre season).
So far the program at Temple has been awesome. There are only 16 musical theatre majors and we are a combination of new freshman and sophomore transfers. We have transfers from such MT programs as Pace and Uarts. Our MT director is holding auditions to accept another 18ish freshman and sophs for next fall. Here is the audition info…[ACADEMICS</a> : THEATER : SCT : TEMPLE UNIVERSITY](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/sct/theater/academics/ACADEMICSTHEATERSCTTEMPLEUNIVERSITY_001.htm]ACADEMICS”>http://www.temple.edu/sct/theater/academics/ACADEMICSTHEATERSCTTEMPLEUNIVERSITY_001.htm)</p>

<p>Something else that you may want to know about Temple’s theatre program is that this year one of our main stage plays from last year did an OFF BROADWAY TRANSFER! The piece is called In Conflict and is about the war in Iraq from the prospective of soldiers who have recently returned from the war. It’s amazing. A producer saw the production on campus at Temple last year and decided to fund the money to bring the entire show (cast included) to NYC for a semester! The play also just received a GREAT review from the NYTimes. </p>

<p>If you have any questions about Temple do not hesitate to message me! I am currently the part time assistant to our MT director so I am actually in charge of scheduling the on campus auditions. If you would like to schedule an audition please email me at <a href=“mailto:richard.magee0001@temple.edu”>richard.magee0001@temple.edu</a></p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Just as a "bump" to this thread, I wanted to announce that the January 31st audition for Temple University has filled (a little over capacity actually...). However, we still have slots open for our February 14th (morning and afternoon). We will also be adding a March date but that has not been finalized yet. Anyone interested please contact me at <a href="mailto:richard.magee0001@temple.edu">richard.magee0001@temple.edu</a></p>

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<p>I just wrote this huge long post all about Temple MT, but it got deleted somehow! :(</p>

<p>If anyone has any questions about Temple, RJ (hey there RJ!) and I (Katie) would be happy to answer them. When I have more time (I'm notoriously always busy), I'll try to rewrite all the amazing things I had to say. Otherwise, feel free to ask us anything. My email is <a href="mailto:kathryn.reilley@temple.edu">kathryn.reilley@temple.edu</a></p>

<p>Seriously, ask us anything. Please!</p>

<p>Oh, and a quick Temple Theater update: One of Temple's shows, "Who Will Carry the Word," is going to the Philly Fringe Festival! I'm in the cast, and this is a professional credit and all the cast members are expected to get paid! Awesome opportunity, in my opinion!</p>

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<p>Kaitrin and iacboi, how about creating a Temple University thread under the Musical Theatre Schools, so folks in the future can read what you are sharing with us. That way this thread won't get buried overtime by more recent ones.</p>

<p>Please do keep posting your experiences at Temple!</p>

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<p>how would I go about adding Temple to the musical theatre schools list?
Thank you for your help!</p>

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<p>Despite misconceptions, the list of MT college programs at the top of the MT Forum is NOT a list of ALL MT programs, nor a list of BEST MT programs, nor a list of RECOMMENDED MT programs. Rather, there IS a list of ALL MT college programs called The Big List which is linked to in one of the permanent threads at the top of this forum. This is the link:
Colleges</a> For Musical Theater Major Discussion FAQ
Temple is listed on the Big List of MT college programs.</p>

<p>The MT college program sub forums at the top of the MT Forum are just some programs that CC set up separate forums for to organize existing threads on the MT Forum. If a program has had several discussions on CC, a sub forum was created to keep those threads together in one place. However, CC doesn't create sub forums for every program. Over time, if there are enough threads and discussion about a program, then CC may set up a sub forum to keep all those threads in one organized place. At this time, there are not a lot of threads on Temple's MT program but we are glad you are discussing it and people can find the thread by using the SEARCH function to find any discussions about this program. I do not believe at this time that CC would set up an entire sub forum for a college program unless there were enough threads on one school that needed to be moved to keep them together. As you can see from the Big List, there are many MT programs that don't have an entire forum of discussion threads. When a sub forum is warranted, CC will set it up.</p>

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<p>thank you so much for the clarification!</p>

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<p>Maybe the Drake University sub forum, which has no posts at all, could be bumped to make a spot for a Temple sub forum?</p>

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<p>that would be nice!</p>

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<p>I just wanted to let everyone know that due to the high number of musical theatre applicants for our program this year, we have decided to add an audition date on March 15th on campus. Please contact Peter Reynolds, Director of Musical Theatre at Temple University, <a href="mailto:peterr@temple.edu">peterr@temple.edu</a>, to schedule an audition if you are interested.</p>

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<p>I am a junior in High School and getting all my audition material together and stuff and I was wondering how good of a program temple has. so if anybody could reply me back that would great!</p>

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<p>Hey there! It’s Katie again.</p>

<p>I’m pretty much done my freshman year in Temple’s MT program. This was the programs first year, and there were obviously some rough patches. All in all, the program in amazing.</p>

<p>Now I’ve only taken a couple theater classes so far (it’s a BA program, and I want to get my General Education classes out of the way). From my experiences, the programs strength is acting. The acting teachers here are AMAZING. I auditioned for something like 10 schools, and I can guarantee that the acting training here is right on par with any top tier acting school. Actually, my “Speech for the Actor” teacher taught at CMU for a number of years before coming to Temple. Speech (which incorporates a lot of acting, too) has probably been my favorite class. There’s nothing like hearing one of your teachers say “I was sitting in the booth yesterday ready to scream at Jamie Foxx for not pronouncing his end T’s and D’s!”</p>

<p>The dance is also strong. I haven’t had a dance class, but I took a few Sunday afternoon classes offered by our resident jazz teacher, Tim Craskey. He’s a former professional dancer and is a wonderful teacher. Actually, he’s going to be choreographing Temple’s fall production of “Sweet Charity,” which he danced in when it was recently on Broadway! Our ballet teacher is a former prima ballerina, and I hear that she’s great as well! Jazz and Ballet I & II are the only dance classes the MT kids have experience with so far, since it’s the program’s first year and no one has been able to take all the classes yet! MT kids are also required to take a semester of tap and a semester of “Musical Theatre Dance Techniques.” Additionally, the MT kids have received permission to take dance classes over at the dance school with the dance majors to supplement our dance training.</p>

<p>Singing comes last. I have very little experience outside of my weekly voice lessons. We have classes such as “Musical Theater Voice and Acting,” but I haven’t any of those yet so I can’t really comment. Our voice lessons are taken care of by the school of music, which is located across the street from the theater school. Things across the street can be… slow. Right now the MT concentration has two main voice teachers. Myself and one other freshman ended up with some other voice teacher, for some odd reason. That’s supposed to change next year. Peter (Dir. of Musical Theater) is going to talk to the music people and see if the MT students can possibly rotate voice teachers. That way, everyone can have a chance to learn what each different teacher has to offer. I think Peter also said something about hiring another voice teacher who also teaches at UArts? Maybe? It’s all a bit confusing since the voice lessons are handled by another school. I have a feeling it will all get straightened out as the program evolves.</p>

<p>The Theater major at Temple requires you to do all sorts of stuff. It basically seems to give you a very intense training in almost every single theatrical career possible, in addition to whatever you choose to concentrate in. If I broke my back or suddenly lost my ability to speak and sing, I could be a theater critic, a light board op, a set designer, or a props master. That’s just the experience I’ve gained during my first year. At first I really didn’t like having to spend time doing anything else besides performing. Then I learned that a good light board op can make 25 dollars per hour. 'Nuff said.</p>

<p>Also, every semester we have to do a “contract.” That means we have to spend at least 40 hours working on a production in some capacity (acting, lights, stage crew, costumes, set building, etc). We also must work in 4 different areas before we graduate, which means if you happen to get cast in a production every single semester, you will have to do 3 extra contracts. Essentially, students basically run this theater.</p>

<p>Oh, and apparently we’re doing the first non-commercial release of RENT next spring (2010)!</p>

<p>Hopefully I’ve done a good job at showing you what makes Temple a good program. It’s not perfect, but I personally think it’s a very strong program with great potential.</p>

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<p>Temple MT just scored the single most talented young man I know!</p>

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<p>Thanks, Katie for such a comprehensive review of the program!</p>

<p>I’d like to point out that although the vocal side of the MT training is in a weird place-organizationally, many students are extremely happy with their current voice teachers in the music school. Forrest Mcclendon is considered to be one of the top voice teachers in Philadelphia and also has a studio in NYC (he is also an MT professor at UARTS). Many of his Temple MT students comment that their lessons with him have MADE the program for them and remark about how incredible it has been to be able to study with him. </p>

<p>There are some AMAZING teachers to be found at Temple and if you are willing to give them your best effort…they can help you beyond belief!</p>

<p>And YES, Temple is FOR SURE presenting the first non-commercial production of RENT in Philly in Spring 2010. Very exciting!</p>

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<p>I am very impressed with the Temple program and had a lovely conversation with Peter Reynolds - but for accuracy, note that both Adelphi University (Jonathan Larson’s alma mater) and The University of Michigan did full, non-commercial productions of Rent in Fall 2008. However, this does not take away from how cool it is that Temple gets to do it next! :)</p>

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<p>CoachC,
Yes, you are correct…but I did say that Temple will be presenting the first “non-commercial production” of RENT in PHILADELPHIA.
The school is aware that other universities have performed the musical in the past year or so…however, this is the first time it will be staged in Philly in a non-commercial setting.
And yes, very exciting no matter what!</p>

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<p>Hi, I know that this is for the MT program, but would you happen to know how good the regular theater program is?</p>

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<p>The regular theater program is excellent. Actually, Musical Theater at Temple is actually a concentration within the Theater major. All our acting stuff is taken with regular theater majors. Reread my early post about how I loooove the acting and theater faculty, and you’ll get a sense for how it is at Temple!</p>

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<p>I just wanted to let everyone know that a Temple Musical Theatre youtube channel has been created. The only videos that have been posted, as of now, are from the new student showcase back in December. Most of the videos are just clips from the full performances. More videos are on there way!</p>

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<p>Below is the link to the updated 2010 audition dates for the Temple University Musical Theatre Concentration!</p>

<p>[ACADEMICS</a> : THEATER : SCT : TEMPLE UNIVERSITY](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/sct/theater/academics/ACADEMICSTHEATERSCTTEMPLEUNIVERSITY_001.htm]ACADEMICS”>http://www.temple.edu/sct/theater/academics/ACADEMICSTHEATERSCTTEMPLEUNIVERSITY_001.htm)</p>