<p>Hello
I realize this topic is almost a year old, but perhaps someone will see it </p>
<p>I have an audition with NYU on Thursday and I was wondering if I should bring up Studios in my interview portion. I have done a lot of research on them and I feel it might show my dedication to the program if I bring them up in some way.
Does anyone agree/disagree with this?</p>
<p>Do you have any studio suggestions for people who really want a good education on actual acting when there? I want to experience what all of these studios have to offer but I also want to get the acting technique in there too.</p>
<p>Also how naked are we talking when it comes to Playwrights? haha :P</p>
<p>My DD is now a sophomore at Playwrights. It has been a fantastic education as she has been exposed to all styles of dramatic teaching, not just Meisner, or Adler, etc., I think it has been a core experience. She is now deciding and auditioning for summer programs and next year wishing to explore more. She has found the advising great, in the audition she found it very much a conversation, and I believe that you should show your knowledge of the studios and interest in the program at your audition. Naked as you are comfortable, some way more, some way less.</p>
<p>AverageTim,
My son was accepted into Playwrights Horizons for next year, which we know as a theatre company but not an acting school. He is interested in a conservatory approach to acting and is excited, but has other options, and Tisch doesn’t seem organized or motivated to describe these studios in any depth. What can you tell me about the teaching program(s) at PH, the instructors abilities/engagement, or anything else you think we should know?
Thanks</p>
<p>You may wish to contact SDonCC, a member on this forum whose daughter is studying in Playwrights Horizons. I have known many who have gone to that studio at Tisch and it is considered a wonderful studio with a very fine reputation. Their curriculum and various tracks and options are right on their website if you haven’t seen it.</p>
<p>You also may wish to contact the studio directly (or visit) and ask for the contact names of various students and faculty to whom your son can direct his questions, rather than going through Tisch itself.</p>
<p>You can see the curriculum here: [Playwrights</a> Horizons Theater School - Curriculum](<a href=“phtschool.org”>phtschool.org). Click on each year on the left to see more specifics on the classes and the progression.</p>
<p>My D is finishing her first year at Playwrights and loves it! She loves her teachers, and they know her well. The students are broken down into groups of about 15 students that they are in the same classes with all year, and at least for my daughter’s group, they have formed a tightly bonded community.</p>
<p>Playwrights talks about creating “collaborative theater artists” and that’s why they have the students learn about different facets of theater. But, all the classes interconnect and reinforce each other, because they are all about how to make a narrative come alive visually in a 3-D space and in relation to an audience. The design class, at least for the first year, isn’t about actual set creation; it’s to learn about the dynamics of how the environment helps create how the actor performs and how the audience responds. The students have to go out on all kinds of assignments around the city to draw things and experience spaces and recreate the experience in class. Or use three objects and a table to portray the different acts of a person’s life as presented in an obituary (to cite the example we saw on Parents’ Day; the results were fascinating!). I believe that Michael Krass (the wonderful teacher) says, “how does what you see make you feel?” </p>
<p>While I don’t know about every thing my daughter does in the studio, from what I’ve seen, it is a really creative process for the students. They are not just learning acting techniques, they are learning how to think and work as performing artists, and to create theater themselves. </p>
<p>As a parent, I"m really thrilled that my daughter gets to employ so many facets of her intellect and creative abilities in this studio!</p>
<p>(but there is specific technique being taught, too, don’t worry!)</p>
<p>As well, after two years of study in Playwrights Horizons, your son would have the option to either continue in that studio or study in one of Tisch’s other acting studios (some require an audition and/or interview).</p>
<p>Mara Wilson, who was in Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, is a 2009 graduate of Tisch / Playwrights! So, at least one person with some pretty impressive acting chops thought she could learn a thing or two there…</p>
<p>I think one of the benefits of Tisch is all the variety of training that it can provide. Alot of students fret over their primary studio placement, but the fact is, they will learn alot wherever they are placed, and then they have the option to try another form of training in the final two years. </p>
<p>People sometimes think that Tisch is “too big,” but in my opinion, they take advantage of the access to a wide array of professionals based in the city to offer many programs and to provide a greater number of students with an opportunity to train. The studio breakdown ensures that the experience will be personalized and offered in small class sizes.</p>
<p>There are also two-credit acting electives within Tisch Drama open to students of all studios (eg., combat, improv, clowning, I think are a few of those, or if not those specific, then ones similar.)</p>
<p>alwaysamom,
Yes, I see that Mara was in Playwrights. For some reason, I thought she did ETW, or at least for advanced studio. My D was in ETW for advanced studio and is friends with Mara and so that may be why I thought so. They were in the same year too. </p>
<p>SDonCC,
Yes, you speak of one of the beauties of going to Tisch. Many talk of its size, but for one thing, the class sizes tend not to go over about 16 students, like the smaller programs may have. But you are not just mixing with the same 16 students and handful of faculty for four years as you might as a smaller program. Rather, you have a very big network of students from your own studio and other studios and work with a variety of faculty over the course of four years. Thus upon graduation, that network plays a significant role in work after graduation. My D is very very connected to the work of other Tisch grads and faculty in various capacities. Fellow grads become directors, writers, and so on and my D hires them and they hire her and so on. The network my D has built up in NYC after four years at Tisch is enormous. Projects and opportunities sometimes fall on her lap as people contact her to do this or that…in fact, two such opportunities landed this week due to Tisch networking.</p>
<p>yes, the mixing it up is a good point. Next year, the color groups at Playwrights get all mixed up again, so they will get to know and work with a greater variety of people and see new dynamics unfold, but I am sure that my D will stay close to those from this year as well. She already has friends through studio, dorm and Tisch classes who are interested in pursuing different aspects of theater. I envision all these kids keeping each other going, if not financially and artistically through theater work, at least emotionally and socially once they make their way in the theater world!</p>
<p>My son, a Playwrights grad and his fellow Playwrights cohorts, know theater inside and out. I swear, I believe they can do ANYTHING! It will be too late to help your decision, but if you have a chance, check out Nuclear Love Affair (Built4Collapse). Cheap tickets, guaranteed to be creative, tight, interesting.</p>
