<p>This is an excellent point and I, along with Soozie, have posted about the experience our Ds have had since graduating. My D was in an acting studio, having made the decision after doing lots and lots of MT prior to college. She, like Soozie’s D, was involved in creating her own work, with classmates and friends who were professional actors, while still in college. Her work with the theatre company they created toured one summer in the UK, and was the reason she had more than one offer of work prior to graduation. She has been incredibly fortunate and has not been unemployed at all for the past, almost, seven years, and all of her employment has been theatre related. She is a playwright as well as an actor and has even booked work that is MT-related.</p>
<p>The actors I know who are the most successful are not simply on-stage performers. They are also musicians, singers, designers, composers, playwrights, directors, artistic producers. It always surprises me how many kids who want to pursue theatre, especially MT, who can’t read music, or play an instrument or two. I know that this discussion is largely MT focussed but it’s wise to keep in mind that as many kids as are being pumped out from MT programs every year, and the incredible competition in the business, many of the kids who are studying straight theatre are also excellent MT performers and are also a part of that competition. It’s yet another reason why developing the ability to create your own work is important.</p>
<p>One last comment about growth through doing. One of my D’s criteria all those years ago when compiling her list of schools was that there was a good variety to the types of productions available, including student run productions.</p>
<p>“I know that this discussion is largely MT focussed but it’s wise to keep in mind that as many kids as are being pumped out from MT programs every year, and the incredible competition in the business, many of the kids who are studying straight theatre are also excellent MT performers and are also a part of that competition.”</p>
<p>This is huge. People forget that an enormous number of MFA actors can sing. Competition does not just come from other BFA programs. Not even close.</p>
<p>@alwaysmom - more good points! Thanks for continuing to hang in here with us ever-changing cast of “newbies”. The value of “student-run” work never really crossed our minds - until one college visit during S’s junior year. Our naive assumption, was “who would want to bother with student-run stuff? Of course the best learning would come from working with “seasoned” faculty and visiting professionals. Right?” But our student guide happened to mention the week-long “festival” each year that was made up solely of student-run work, and talked about how exciting it was for “actors” to be “directors”, and “writers” to be “dancers”, etc. My thought was, “oh yeah, sounds like goof-off time to me”. But the more he described and the more I started thinking, I came to an about face. Where exactly, do “new” ideas come from, if not this exact place? Where did Godspell come from? Or Hair? Or (put name of ground-breaking musical, play, song, choreography here)? After that ONE junior year visit, that we squeezed in by chance after an audition for something else, our thinking about what MT “training” SHOULD be was turned on its head. It’s not about a “polished” skill set (those prize ponies that work for fish @ MomCares mentioned). It’s about having the “guts” to make mistakes - that may turn out to be the farthest thing from mistakes - and learning how the whole “creative” machine - the sum greater than each of its parts - comes together.</p>
<p>And the sharing of all on this forum is SO much better than what my fuzzy little head could come with on its own.</p>
<p>My son went to the school known for its one week festival of student produced work, and that was probably the most important part of his education. “Playground” was a messy, chaotic but amazingly exciting week of some 40 short performances created by the students. Some shows worked wonderfully, others, meh. But the students all learned a lot. My son got together with six of his friends freshman year to create a show which they wrote, directed, acted in, composed music for, built shadow puppets for and performed. Now, a couple of years out of school, the same seven kids are doing the same thing. They might have become a bit more sophisticated, but it all grew out of that messy collaboration. A few already played instruments, the rest taught themselves because they thought it would add to what they were trying to do. They have had runs of their shows off-Broadway and in Chicago, are currently touring the country as a band, are writing a children’s novel, have commissions to write other plays and have made some wonderful connections. As parents, we are beginning to believe he might actually be able to make a sustainable living doing this. I know of a couple of other young theater companies that also grew out of Playground. I think anybody going into theater has to be flexible. Many of the guest artists who came to their school emphasized creating your own work, and that has been my son’s company’s mantra ever since. </p>
And our D is a huge groupie, as are her dad and I after she gave us their CD for XMas. :)</p>
<p>From D’s school’s 50+ student shows per year, lots of innovative performers (including Stephen Colbert) and theatre companies have been born. I agree that some of the most powerful learning comes from free-form student experimentation.</p>
<p>So do people feel that some schools are better at giving students opportunities to learn how to be creative and take risks and not just be an “actor”? Obviously CMU has the Playground. Or do you think that the truly creative student can create regardless of the program? If the former, which schools do you think are better at it?</p>
<p>Naming names always causes controversy but if you are really interested in experimentation I would suggest looking for acting focused programs and larger schools. Yes, there will be exceptions.</p>
<p>Aside from CMU and Syracuse (if things haven’t changed), Otterbein has always had some student experimentation/creation within its program through choreography projects, student director/playwright opportunities, etc. They have enhanced this with their recently added weekend of Festival. It was successful last year and again this year. From feedback I hear, it will still be evolving as the students are quite pleased with the opportunities and results! It is a great variable to be offered by one of the smaller programs.</p>
<p>Roosevelt CCPA has an annual student-written one-act showcase, which we just attended a month ago, very out there stuff. There’s also a lot of informal cross-fertilization going on…my son is working on lyrics for a couple of people who are writing musicals (in his non-existent spare time). It’s not as exciting as PennMom S’s thing, which I’m hoping to see in April when it comes here on tour, but same basic DIY idea. </p>
<p>My D is a Tisch grad. She always felt that student produced opportunities were encouraged and well-supported. She graduated as I mentioned several years ago so I would check to see what is currently the situation. I would be surprised if that aspect of the Tisch experience has changed in the intervening years. I should also point out that a good portion of what she did in this regard while there, was done outside of school as well. There really is no place in North America that will allow for this better than NYC.</p>
<p>James Madison University has a lot of student created work… There are generally 6 - 8 student created productions each semester including published plays and musicals, student written work, and devised work. All student creators work with a faculty advisor, go through a rigorous proposal process, and work with a budget. In addition to the mainstage performances, the student generated work is a significant part of the program. Many alums start companies and continue to produce their own work post graduation. </p>
<p>Northwestern has tons of student opportunities. “The Northwestern Student Theatre Coalition (StuCo) is a collective of nine student theatre groups and two dance groups, each with its own executive board and performance series. Each group has its own specific focus and offers a variety of productions and special events, assuming the roles of producers, directors, designers, business team members, and stage managers in addition to performers.” </p>
<p>I second @connections. My D talked to a few students in the program and one of them told her they produce over 80 shows a year. They have many, MANY student shows through StuCo as well as through their student groups. If you search their organizations you will see the sheer volume of student organizations they have, ranging from cultural theatre groups to groups geared at specific age audiences. </p>
<p>Of course, does my D take advantage of all those student opportunities at Northwestern?? Sigh. I keep nudging her to ‘create her own work’ Not happening yet. She does love it there, and is having a very positive experience (she’s a Sophomore). </p>
<p>My UC Irvine daughter does a lot of this. There are endless opportunities and there is quite literally no reason not to always be involved in some sort of show on campus if that’s your choice. She just directed one which was also a really interesting experience that she wouldn’t have gotten in a traditional MT BFA. Most of the programs mentioned are BA’s though (not that it matters). Another good one is USC. </p>
<p>Lots of student opportunities at Rider and Pace. Both my sons have been in readings of musicals written by classmates. At Pace, huge and admirable emphasis on new work by students, rising star composers, and established composers. Pace freshman showcase features entire lineup of songs written by students in the MT writing classes. Additionally, both Rider and Pace have systems for students to put up their own shows (via theatre fraternity, student production companies, etc.) Pleased that both boys have taken advantage of opportunities to experiment with new work, but there is no way / not enough time to do it all. And that’s a good thing. </p>
<p>As several folks have mentioned, Northwestern U (near Chicago) has a rich history of student-created theatre. In addition to the many StuCo productions, D has participated in the Waa-Mu show (billed as the largest student-written production in the country since the early 1900s IIRC) every year, first in the class which writes the show and soon as a performer. She’s been in the Dolphin show (largest student-produced musical in US since late 1800s), and has also been part of several new student-written shows, including one just selected to be part of a major festival in NYC this summer. Many well-known plays (eg Never The Sinner), theatre companies (eg Lookingglass Theatre), writers (eg John Logan), comedians (Colbert, Seth Meyers) and performers (Zach Braff, Brian d’Arcy James, Meg Steedle, etc) have grown out of this creative community, not to mention lots of respected producers, directors and designers.</p>
<p>I think it is probably true that some BA programs afford more flexibility for students who find an interest in creating their own work due to fewer hours of prescribed classes, though I haven’t studied that in detail. It may also be true that larger programs offer more potential collaborators. Honestly until D had chosen her program it hadn’t occurred to me what an important component of an actor’s education self-directed creative projects can be.</p>
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