notarebel

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.

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 http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/admiss/mono.htm
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!

Kellster

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:

Brown
Vassar
Emory
UNC Chapel Hill
College of Charleston

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.

thesbohemian

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.

artsmom

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)

Not sure about the theatre programs but know they are good colleges:
grinnel
lawrence

Thanks!

thesbohemian

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 Performing Arts Major’s College Guide (easily found at any big chain bookstore) 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 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!

wct

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.

greenorphan

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

wct

greenorphan-

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?

thesbohemian

Ah! It's HERE (post #66)!!! Mwahahaa! 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?

chrism

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?

wct

I am under the impression that most BFA programs make you start as a freshman. There may be some exceptions but I think most programs are that way.

I know a student who transfered to USC who didn't want to lose the two years put in at another college and so he ended up going the BA route instead of the BFA.

greenorphan

if i go into a BA program in music...would i then be able to go for my MFA in mt? im not sure if the two mesh or not...kinda clueless...
:/

alwaysamom

chrism, are you talking about a program like AMDA or AADA? If so, then I can tell you that those credits would not transfer and the student would have to start again as a freshman. The reason being, that they are not accredited colleges.

greenorphan, there's really no way to give you a definitive answer to your question. Keep in mind that there are very few graduate MT programs in the country. Most MFA programs are straight drama. Graduate programs in this field are much smaller than undergrad, for instance, at NYU, the graduate drama program takes 16 applicants a year, undergrad 300. As a result, they are obviously much more selective than even the undergrad programs, which are already rivalling Ivies for acceptance rates. I'm curious why you'd go for a degree in music if you're interested in MT.

janenw

Does anyone know if you can audition for both programs at UM? I believe you can audtion separately for dance and MT at UM - but can you for a straight acting BFA as well?

And I would assume this might involve 2 applications - 2 audition dates - etc.

I'll post this over on the MT thread too.

Thanks for any help - you helpful people.....(and thesbo- I think you could also major in computer science if you wanted to..how the heck do you get all those links in there....no- don't answer - I wouldn't understand it anyway....just let me think of it as 'magic')

janenw

jamimom

Janenw, you can apply to a variety of different programs at Michigan including BFA Acting and MT. You can also just apply to their liberal arts program. The only issue is that the auditions are not coordinated as they are at some schools; for example, Ithaca, CMU, Syracuse, Emerson, OCU will look at your MT audition and may place you into their acting program based on that audition. At Michigan, you need to audition separately for the programs which can mean 2 audition dates, two trips.