Theatre/Drama Colleges Part 8

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>Let me start by saying that right now my EFC is 0. Yeah, we're poor.
These are the colleges I am planning on applying to.</p>

<p>CMU, 39,000 p/yr- Perfectly between NYC (my birthplace and of course the greatest theatre town on Earth) and my home in Kentucky, less than one day's drive either way. Amazing program with impressive Alumni. Housing is unmatched by any other college I have researched. Pittsburg seems nice. I also like being within one days drive of the shore. It's a tie between this and NYU as my top choice.
Con: Pricey</p>

<p>NYU, 37,000 p/yr- Great program, Great Location, Washington Square Park...hmmm, nothing illegal happens there ;), Great Opportunities, Relatives and friends nearby,worth being far from home.
Con: Pricey, far from home, ugly campus.</p>

<p>Rutgers, 20,000 p/yr- Pro: Same reasons as NYU.
Con: RU screw, and I hear they don't let you audition for other things while you are attending the school. Far from home.</p>

<p>Northen Kentucky University, according to studentreview.com 8,000 p/yr- Best Theatre program in Kentucky, close to home, close to Cincinatti, close to Actor's Theatre in Lousville, many scholarships offered.
Con: Not many opportunities in surrounding area.</p>

<p>Berea College, FREE!- Pro: Free tuition and free laptop to all attending, small liberal arts college, "Harvard of the South" opportunities for many fellowships, pretty good theatre program allthough no BFA offered.
Con: It is in a dry county and I'm a party-er. Small, small, small town and that would drive me crazy.</p>

<p>Southern Methodist University, 29,000 p/yr- Pro: Uncle was major contributer, hopefully that means I would be offered a lot of scholarship money. Great theatre program.
Con: I don't want to be in Texas, I have had enough of the southern states.</p>

<p>Florida State University, 23,000 p/yr- Not going to Pro/ Con this one, it's my mother's almer mater, will not apply unless an Alumni scholarship is offered or I am likely to get a lot of scholarship or FinAid money, I have been hearing mixed things about the theatre program.</p>

<p>University of Kentucky 15,000 p/yr- Pro: close to home, relatives in city, sister attending same school, buttload of scholarship money, offers a BFA with many productions.
Con: 82% acceptance rate, might not be challenged enough.</p>

<p>Penn State 23,000 p/yr (13,000 in-state)- Pro: Good Theatre school, midpoint between NYC and Kentucky, less than one day's drive to the shore. Possibilities for more FinAid.
Con: Don't know much about it (not really a con)</p>

<p>Otterbein, 25,000 p/yr- Pro: Close to home. Great Theatre program. doctorjohn seems nice, lol
Con: Don't know much about it (not really a con)</p>

<p>University of Evensville, 24,000 p/yr- Pro: close to home, great theatre school, good enough for Thesbo
Con: Don't know much about it (not really a con)</p>

<p>DePaul, 25,000 p/yr- Pro: I have heard nothing but great things about this school, Chicago is a happening place for theatre.
Con: hesitant to live somewhere I've never been</p>

<p>Brown, 35,000 p/yr- Pro: Ivy league, wow, scary prospect. Close to NY, close to the shore, great theatre program, in a state that is home to Family Guy ;)
Con: Ca-ching, pricey</p>

<p>Another thing I am looking for is a senior showcase in NY and LA. LA preferably as I want to be a film actor. I believe that a good actor must have a basis in theatre and learn to scale it down for film. I still am not sure if I want to consider a MT major. I have sung all of my life, I'm in an elite choral group in my school, and I play guitar and sing about an hour or two every day. I am worried that I may miss some intense dramatic traing and it be replaced by dance classes if I do a musical theatre major. For film acting, I guess going for MT seems unfocused to me. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated</p>

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<p>I think that because you are interested in being a theatre major, and because these programs are very selective, you need to cast a wide net. You have a great start on a nice number of schools. Be aware that your academic numbers should also be within the midranges of the schools of choice at a number of your schools, and even in the upper 25%. Academics can count heavily in getting money. Though I would not eliminate any schools in the beginning for monetary reasons, be aware of schools that do not give 100% of need. It is going to be tough to get money out of them. To balance those choices, have some that are generous in financial aid and have some nice merit money as well. As a rule out of state state schools are not generous with aid. Brown, though pricey, does give 100% of need if you are accepted. A suggestion I have is to look at the Unified list and research which of those colleges tend to give 100% of need. You could then audition for those at the Unifieds and have some idea of walk-ins to do if you find yourself with time. I am told that things are less hectic at the LA Unifieds than the Chicago and NYC ones, so that you can do more walkins at those schools. Also, many times for walk ins they do not charge an auditon fee which is very nice, and you don't have to apply to some schools until after you audition which also can save you money in app fees for schools that are a shot in the dark. You mention Thesbo , and it is great you know of her because her strategy was great in getting some nice financial awards and getting accepted at some fine programs. You may want to search for her posts detailing this strategy. She did have great academic stats, however, which I am sure made a big difference in some of the aid she did get.</p>

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<p>I just looked up Brown's theatre program and it looks like they only offer Acting I, I'm not sure, but if that's the case that worries me, it makes me think that they are trying to raise Theatre History teachers instead of actors.</p>

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<p>Knoxcounty,
I just looked and Brown actually has six levels of acting though they're not all called "acting" per se. They are ...</p>

<p>TA3: INTRODUCTION TO ACTING AND DIRECTING
TA23: ACTING
TA116: STYLE AND PERFORMANCE
TA119: CHARACTER, MASK AND ACTION
TA121: SOLO PERFORMANCE
TA140: ADVANCED PERFORMANCE</p>

<p>They also have an MT workshop class as well as stage combat. It looks like they're slack on voice & speech and movement though most BAs are since they're not intended to give professional training. It does look like you can get plenty of movement work by taking modern dance, etc., though. They also seem to be very highly-regarded by the heads of the MFA schools.</p>

<p>As for Musical Theatre, if you are a real triple threat, it's a great major and you'll get all the same acting classes as a BFA Actor in most programs. You'll usually have even less opportunity to take things outside your major, though. Hey ... The more versatile you are, the better. It's tough to make a living in this biz and any paying gig's a good one unless you just don't like MT.</p>

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<p>What is the RU Screw?</p>

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<p>Emom,
My understanding of the RU Screw is that it is the myriad manifestations of a huge and often uncoordinated bureaucracy of a massive university which happens to be spread out over several campuses. The most common manifestation involves the bus system between campuses which is not always dependable and/or lacks sufficient space. This can make it difficult to get to class on time which, as I'm sure you know, can be disastrous in the life of a theatre student. Here's a link to their Live</a> Journal group if you want to ask the students, themselves.</p>

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<p>Ah … My chance to blather on about Evansville a bit since they’re as much an unknown to Knox as they were to me this time last year! They were actually one of the first schools I asked about on some now long-lost thread. Here’s what I’ve learned since …</p>

<p>The typical breakdown of a freshman class is 16 BFA Performance majors (10 boys and 6 girls); 10 B.S. Generalists who can emphasize performance, tech, or theatre studies; 10 BFA Design/Tech majors; and 3 Theatre Management majors. They also have what is supposed to be a highly selective Theatre Education major though I’m not sure how many they admit. Here’s a link to the breakdown</a> of the majors which is for some reason not part of the department’s website. One thing to note is that you don’t necessarily graduate in what you were initially accepted in. There’s a shift at the end of the freshman year with some switching from the BFAs to the BS Generalist tracks and vice versa. I’m not sure what the difference in requirements is, though there’s no dishonor in it and a lot of the people who switch from the BFA do it so they’ll have more flexibility to declare a minor or do an associated study in something else. The main difference freshman year is that the BFAs and BS Generalists are in different acting classes though they intermingle later and, from my observation, there’s no shortage of talent in either track. The BFA actors are also required to take some singing and dance classes that the BS students are not. The actor training itself is Stanislavski-based though eclectic methods are employed. At first, I was a little concerned from looking at the breakdown of the BFA that there might not be enough voice and movement work, but that is ongoing in the acting classes themselves is supplemented with the singing and dance. </p>

<p>There is no cut system or formal jury system, but they do have what are called “departmentals” each semester where theatre classes are cancelled for two days and you perform before the entire faculty and receive their notes. These are conducted as if they are professional auditions/interviews. You also turn in a self evaluation at the end of each term and you get a written evaluation from the faculty. Like I said, there is no cut system, but like in any good department, people who are not working out are sometimes asked to leave. </p>

<p>The department puts on five mainstage shows a year with one being a musical along with a blackbox production known as the “classroom project.” The entire department auditions for these and freshmen can and do get cast. If you don’t get cast in those, there are a lot of other directing projects, etc., so the performance opportunities are plentiful. There’s also been some talk of getting an improv troupe started though they don’t have one yet. </p>

<p>The department’s main emphasis is getting people into the top MFA programs, so there is no senior showcase. Instead, they make a big effort to get seniors connected to the grad schools and even bring some of them to campus to conduct auditions. They have former students placed in all the best ones – ACT, Yale, UCSD, and Tisch among others. Personally, this is fine with me since I’m pretty sure I’m going to want an MFA, anyway, so I can possibly teach at the college level when I get old. However, they also have people who did not go to grad school working in regional theatres all over the country.</p>

<p>I think one of the main things that attracted me to UE was the theatre students themselves. What I was told, found through reading blogs, and from my own observation on my visit is that they tend to be very well-rounded, stable, down-to-earth people with very few of the neurotic divas reputed to inhabit some other places. Everybody is all about the craft and very supportive and cutthroat stuff is not tolerated. A lot of the students have athletic backgrounds and I’d surmise from my own audition interview that Mr. Lutz (Department Chair) prefers to admit bright, well-rounded kids who are good academic students into the program. I saw no shortage whatsoever of very bright lights in the department though the school as a whole is, I think, third tier with an average SAT of 1131. On the upside of that, the Princeton Review for some reason gives them a 92 Admissions Selectivity Rating. The school as a whole also offers full-tuition to National Merit Finalists so there should be some very bright people spread throughout who couldn't afford the more "name" academic schools. The theatre facilities were very nice though not on the same level as SMU’s. Any nicer than that and I’d be afraid to touch anything! The University as a whole also has a British</a> campus as well as several other international sister institutions and most students spend a semester abroad sophomore year. It can be kind of weird because half a class won’t see the other during sophomore year and I won’t see half my sophomores until spring semester next year.</p>

<p>On the downside … Like in most theatre departments, there are work calls with a certain number of shop hours required. During tech weeks at UE, however, paint calls go from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and light calls are from 1:00 through 3:00 a.m. on weeknights and you have to do some of them or you won’t get your hours in. There is also not a lot of diversity on campus if that’s important to you. It’s mostly white, middle class, Midwestern kids with only around 4% visible minorities. There is a fairly strong international presence on campus due to their exchange programs, though. The dorms aren’t the nicest I’ve seen either, though at least I’ll be in the honors dorm where there’ll be air conditioning. The rest don’t have it but they all have ... communal bathrooms. There are oncampus apartments available to upperclassmen, though. It's also officially a dry campus and there was some tension last year between the students and campus security over what was perceived to be overly-aggressive enforcement. My read was that you can party as much as you want as long as you don't get too loud about it. Fraternities are also very prevalent on campus and most of the parties take place in their off-campus houses. </p>

<p>Yay for another uber long post by me!</p>

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<p>knoxcounty-</p>

<p>My S was in MT in HS but decided when it was time to go to college that he wanted to concentrate on acting. He will be starting his Junior year at CMU, (BFA acting). He is also interested in film. He feels he made the right choice not to go MT. He will be getting a voice class (singing) this coming fall semester and he is doing two musicals this summer. He has been able to take ballet, (for actors) and modern dance, (elective). So as you can see he hasn't had to give up too much by not going the MT route. You can always take voice lessons if you want to keep your voice up, or as you mentioned you play guitar, so keeping your voice in good condition doesn't sound like it would be an issue for you.</p>

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<p>knoxcounty-</p>

<p>One more thing. Apply to Arts Recognition and Talent Search, (ARTS) through NFAA. It would be a great opportunity for you. If you don't know about it look at this website. If you need more info PM me.
<a href="http://www.nfaa.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nfaa.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good for you for taking control of your life and turning it around, (I've read some of your other posts). I wish great success for you this coming year!</p>

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<p>Thanks so much for your replies, they are really appreciated. I am considering doing the whole NFAA deal, right now I am try to pick two fitting monologues and am not finding anything I like in my age range. Right now, I am considering monologues from Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano, Much Ado about Nothing as Benedict, Taming of the Shrew as Petrutio, The School for Scandel as Joseph Surface, and Hamlet as Claudius. I am having a tough time finding monologues from modern plays that fit me.</p>

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<p>knoxcounty – welcome to the jungle! i got accepted to some mt programs but am doing like wct’s son and will just major in acting at tisch. if you can sing and already know how to place, project, take care of your voice and can at least read music a little, you will be fine. most acting schools include singing and dance so you will get better at both that way. if you didn’t start young, you probably wont ever be a featured dancer anyway so that’s no sweat. most mt guys can’t dance anyway. ;) soooo … since mt isn't your passion anyway, specific mt training won’t be important to you though thesbo is right in that the more versatile can become, the more likely you will be able to get work and i will add that you should always be open to all genres except porn. :)</p>

<p>nobody here will be able to help you much with monologues because we don’t know you and haven’t seen you work. i'm not a linkmaster like thesbo and don't feel like going back and finding it right now but doctorjohn and i had a conversation about monologues on either part 4 or 5 of this thread. it was back in august or september i think. here is a list of plays depaul suggests for contemporary monologues that can help you get started <a href="http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/admiss/mono.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/admiss/mono.htm&lt;/a>
the best thing you can do for yourself if you have time this summer is go to your public library and read as many contemporary plays as you can find but you can get your drama teacher to suggest around ten for you to pick from if you don't want to do that. i thumbed through a book at barnes & noble the other day called "the perfect monologue" that will show you how to lift monologues from dialog if you haven’t already been shown how to do it. when you do them that way, do make sure you run it by a teacher or somebody that knows the play whose opinion you trust before you use it if you don’t already have experience with it. break a leg!</p>

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<p>I got an email back from the theater department chair at Emory and she says they have two past acting students in the Yale MFA Acting program, one in the DFA Dramaturgy program and another entering the MFA Directing program in the fall. They also have students in the MFA programs at ACT, Brandeis, NYU, University of Texas and the Old Globe. Emory was not recommended in the Performing Arts Majors College Guide, but almost all of their theater faculty started working at Emory after that book came out. I think they have made my list! I took the SAT on Saturday and felt really good about it (hope, hope, hope) so right now my list is:</p>

<p>Brown
Vassar
Emory
UNC Chapel Hill
College of Charleston</p>

<p>This will obviously change if I messed up the SAT without knowing it or mess up the subject tests this fall. If that happens, I will probably audition for BFA schools like Boston U, Evansville, SMU, Penn State and some others depending on how I feel about things after my summer program at NC Arts.</p>

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<p>R.I.P. Anne Bancroft. We've lost one of the greats. Old school AADA grad with two Tony's, an Oscar, and an Emmy.</p>

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<p>It seems as though there isn't much information on good liberal arts colleges with great theatre programs for those kids who want an alternative to a bfa. Also, as a safety net if for some reason no bfa programs accept them. My daughter is a junior and hasn't made up her mind whether to go for the bfa or the ba, and i've been trying to put together a list for her. So far these are schools i thought might be good:
Bard
Sarah lawrence
Kenyon
Denison
Skidmore
Northeastern (MA)</p>

<p>Not sure about the theatre programs but know they are good colleges:
grinnel
lawrence</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Artsmom,
I think there is probably less discussion of the LACs and universities with good BA Drama programs because most have one and there are just sooooooo many. Doctorjohn has recommended The Directory of Theatre Training Programs, 9th ed. as a way of looking at schools beyond just the recruiting stuff on their websites. You might also want to look at The</a> Performing Arts Major’s College Guide<a href="easily%20found%20at%20any%20big%20chain%20bookstore">/url</a> though it is an old book and, as Kellster just found with Emory, its information may well be out of date. While I’m personally going to pursue a BFA, I gave my best guess on a method for evaluating BA programs on Part 7 of this thread at [url=talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=157&page=13&pp=20]Post #s 253 and 254. Let’s see … Of the schools you’ve mentioned, The Performing Arts Major’s Guide lists Sarah Lawrence, Kenyon, Skidmore, and Lawrence as “Other Noteworthy Undergraduate Programs.” I didn't realize Bard had a theatre program, but I just checked and yes indeed they do! I don't know anything about it, but the creative writers at my old school really love Bard. Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>I have a student who will be starting Northeastern in the fall. She posts on CC as singinizzy. She may be able to answer some questions about the program at Northeastern.</p>

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<p>I am 20 years old, and am currently attending a community college in Berkshire County, MA. (Home of Williamstown Theatre Festival and Barrington Stage CO.) I am looking to transfer to either a BA or BFA program in Musical Theatre. I want a competitive program, but I don't have much professional training, yet. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for schools to apply that take transfers to MT programs. I am willing to start as a freshman. Also, ideally I would like to transfer in the winter of this coming year...any idea if there are programs that take people mid year??
Thanks in advace-
Greeny</p>

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<p>greenorphan-</p>

<p>You may want to look at the colleges for musical theater thread.
Thesbohemian might be able to post some threads for you to look at........right Thesbohemian? :)</p>

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<p>Ah! It's HERE (post #66)!!! Mwahahaa! :D I don't know about specific MT programs, but I see you've already asked on the MT thread. You should get some good info there. Really, I'd say you might be better off going for a BA drama program with electives in singing and dance and then going for an MFA that includes some MT unless you feel like you absulutely have to get specific MT training now. Assuming you have enough credit to start off as a junior, which is better to have ... a BFA in four years or an MFA in five?</p>

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<p>Does anyone know anyone who started out by doing a 2 year program in acting school in NYC (or anywhere) and then transferred to a BFA program? What's the probability that if a student did this route, they would have to start the BFA as a freshman?</p>