Looking to connect with current students or recent alums and parents that have experience with the UMinn BA for someone interested in acting. The list of courses and descriptions all sound good. Good instructors? Connections with local professional theatres? Enough opportunities to perform not to feel always in the shadow of the BFA cohort? Any insight or advice greatly appreciated.
Hi @TravelMom402. I live in Minneapolis, and I’m an avid theater-goer here in town and I have THE BEST thoughts and feelings of about the UMN BA Acting program. My daughter is getting her BFA in another state right now, but when she was here in town working as an actor she worked with lots of folks from UMN’s BA and BFA programs. They are both top-notch programs with excellent training, excellent instructors, and excellent connections with local professional theaters. Minneapolis has a thriving theater scene - we typically see 1-3 plays per week, and we can’t even come close to seeing all the great theater that is happening here every week. Some of the best theater I’ve seen anywhere is happening here in Minnesota by UMN BA graduates. I personally know many graduates of the UMN BA program who are making a living as actors in the Twin Cities, and others have moved out to LA and NYC and are doing great. The BFA and BA programs each have a different focus and a different culture. The folks I know who’ve graduated from the BFA program tend move on to more classical acting jobs - Shakespeare, etc. The folks I know who’ve graduated from the BA program tend to move into creating their own theater companies, creating new works, devising plays, experimental theater, etc. This a definitely a generalization, but that tends to be the trend from my perspective.
@Janine1 - Thank you so much! This is a great endorsement. The arts scene in Minneapolis, and especially the theatre companies based there, is one of the attractions. We were just having a hard time learning much about the faculty and alum success from the BA program at UMinn. Appreciate you taking the time to respond.
@TravelMom402 Check out these two theater companies:
Four Humors Theater http://fourhumorstheater.com/info.php?id=aboutus
Grand Island Theatre https://www.grandislandtheatre.com/members
Four Humors is theater company founded by graduates of the BA program over 10 years ago, and they are leaders in the Twin Cities theater scene now. Grand Island is a theater company founded by very recent BA graduates. Their MN Fringe Festival show last year was a huge hit, and you can see what they’re all up to now in these links.
I know this is late but at my school we had many actors come and talk about their careers and one of them received their BA from Minnesota and she’s been working non-stop!
Thanks @Texasdreamer Where did you study?