<p>I understand that they have a musical theater program that is being revamped. Does anyone know anything about the school or the program? There are no threads in the Musical Theater Major.</p>
<p>Dig down into their school website. Some pretty good info there, including a notice about the new department head.</p>
<p>My daughter went to summer Drama camp at Texas State last month, and really enjoyed it. They put on some one-act plays at the end of camp, which were pretty impressive for only two weeks of preparation. </p>
<p>They also did a group performance called the “Katrina Project”, which briefly showcased some of the singers at the camp. They could have put together a pretty nice MT class based on what I saw that day.</p>
<p>We are going to try to visit again in November when Texas State does “Bat Boy”.</p>
<p>I just listened to an interview with Kaitlin Hopkins, the new head of the department and it sounds like she is building a phenomenal program. Her bio is from the TSU website. </p>
<p>"Hopkins’ acting career spans over two decades and includes credits in films like Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Nanny Diaries, How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. Ontelevision she has appeared on Law and Order, Spin City, Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, JAG, Rescue Me and many others. She spent three years as Dr. Kelsey Harrison on the long running soap Another World.</p>
<p>Hopkins is also an accomplished theater actress both on Broadway (Noises Off, Anything Goes, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and Off-Broadway (Bat Boy-The Musical (drama desk nomination), Nicky Silver’s Beautiful Child, bare:a pop opera, The Great American Trailer Park Musical). She has numerous regional theater credits in addition to spending a year on the road with the international tour of the John Adam opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, and more recently touring with Disney’s On The Record."</p>
<p>They also brought on Robin Lewis to teach MT dance. My D has had the pleasure of working with Robin and he is a wonderful teacher (not to mention an amazing dancer!!) I think this is going to be a truly great program. D was not considering TSU (too close to home) but now has it on her list and plans to audition for the program.</p>
<p>Don’t know anything about their MT department, but a recent, very talented graduate from OCU is attending graduate school there for vocal performance. Haven’t heard from her (she just started there so probably does not have anything to report) but she chose TSU over several well-reputed music departments.</p>
<p>Thanks to all. I have never visited the school but as parent of a daughter wanting to major in MT next year I am trying to look at all the options. She attended the CMU summer program and loved the school and the professors. I would hope that some of that educational process would be brought to the program.</p>
<p>My D attended the TSU camp last summer and also loved it. It is going to be a small program with an individualized curriculum for each student according to what I have been told. There will be master classes and a senior showcase. Kaitlin Hopkins has an incredible network in the MT world, as does Robin Lewis!</p>
<p>Maybe Kaitlin will get her mom to come and give a master class. Now THERE’s an actor! ;)</p>
<p>There is also her husband, Jim, who is an actor.</p>
<p>Jim is going with her, Susan, and will teach at TSU. :)</p>
<p>And her mom IS going to come and do some master classes :)</p>
<p>who is her mom?</p>
<p>AlwaysAMom, I knew that he was going there too! He came and performed in a play up the road from me in our small town where my D has also performed. While he was here, Kaitlin came up as a surprise guest for one of the cabarets put on at the same theater.</p>
<p>musicmom, Kaitlin’s mom is Shirley Knight.</p>
<p>mm - Her mother is Shirley Knight.</p>
<p>cross posted with alwaysamom :)</p>