geekgirlgo

hi, i was recently accepted onto the george mason forensics team. For those of who who don't know what forensics is it's basically speech and debate and a lot of the events are very heavily based on acting ability. Because of this i know that being on my high school forensics team has been the best training for acting that i have ever had. The team at mason is one of the best in the country and i am so honored to be given this opportunity. My problem is that all my life i have wanted to be an actress and i really can't see myself doing anything else. GMU does have a BFA program which is what i want, however i don't know much about it and i don't know if it is any good or not. in addition i am not sure if the school would allow me to be a theatre major and be on the forensics team because i have heard that a lot of times being on the team means no time for being in shows which might be required if i did a theatre major. I want to know if it would be worth going there to be on the team if i want to be and actress. I was also thinking of maybe getting a BA and then going to grad school for acting and maybe getting a job as a forensics coach on the side to help pay for it (a lot of the people who graduate from mason having been on the team are able to find jobs as coaches.) I went to camp for forensics at gmu this past summer and i loved it there. I really felt like i belonged at this school and i know i would love every minute of it if i were to go, but i don't want to have to give up the job of my dreams just to have the college experience of my dreams.

Times3

GGG, I have a former student (from h.s.) who went to George Mason and ended up as an acting major. He thrived there and has been a working actor in D.C. since he graduated in 2007. I saw him in a few productions and end-of-year theater festivals there and was impressed with the supportiveness and overall high quality of the faculty. I spoke with him about the acting program last year and he said that you can get a lot out of it, but you have to really be assertive and seek opportunities. If you like GMU and are highly motivated, I would definitely give the acting program strong consideration. I don't know about the logistics of doing both forensics and a BFA, though--you would need to check with somebody there. Good luck!

TheRealKEVP

Speech is a very important aspect of acting. To be a good actor you definitely need good speech skills.

But there are many other skills besides speech that an actor needs. When I hold auditions, I notice that there are some folks who come in with incredible speech and incredible confidence, but still can't give a believable portrayal of the character, they especially don't seem to be able to show a character's vulnerable side. I sometimes wonder if these are the speech and forensics folks.

Yes, work on your speech skills. But also work on all the other skills that an actor needs.

KEVP