early_college

Thanks Claire! Can you answer a couple questions for me?

1. What is the typical age of the students at the camp

2. What was your typical routine each day.

3. Any scholarships available for the camp?

4. Compared to other programs you have been to, better or worse?

5. Anything else I should know?

Thanks I really did not find much info on it on the website. I found a lot more info on UMinn's site, lol.

chrissyblu

Thanks, Doctorjohn.... I wasn't sure... I know they had two different movement instructors, each trained in a different method.

claire_the_bear

Thanks Claire! Can you answer a couple questions for me?

1. What is the typical age of the students at the camp
Rising juniors and seniors, and I think there were one or two rising sophomores.

2. What was your typical routine each day.
Every day we would have around four or five BFA-style classes. In the morning we had Movement & Improv or Stage Combat, then Acting for the Camera, then Voice alternating with Play Analysis, then Acting 1/Scene Study. In the evening the counselors in the residence halls had things for us to do, and we would hang out and talk. We also had a Q&A session/lesson with Brent Wagner, who is the head of UMich's Musical Theatre department, and saw other MPulse students' recitals etc. On the weekends we went to UMich's central campus in Ann Arbor (which is where all the action is), went to a lake nearby, and had some classes and rehearsals. We had final showcase at the end, but one of the things I liked about the program was that the focus was more on learning instead of preparing for the final show.

3. Any scholarships available for the camp?
Yes, I received a scholarship

4. Compared to other programs you have been to, better or worse?
The best I've been to =).

5. Anything else I should know?
Because of UMich's standing in the theatre world I was intimidated going in. But as soon as I got there I couldn't believe how nurturing and positive they are while still being honest with you.

If there's anything else you need to know ask away. =)

drama

UCLA´s 6 week summer intensive was amazing. i had the best summer of my life there; you meet great people, you are in a great city at a wonderful time of the year, and most importantly, you acting abilities will improve so much! they have fantastic teachers who focus on your individual abilities, and you grow so much as an actor and as a person by going there.

early_college

Thanks Claire! I did not see anywhere on the website, that talked about scholarships. Did you get it after you auditioned? Thanks again and it looks good. I'm thinking about which program is better for me.

Drama- Thanks!

claire_the_bear

Yeah they sent me an acceptance packet with like an invoice on it, and that's where I found out. They never officially informed me or anything, it was a little surprising!

early_college

Thanks! I liked the fact that at UMinn you can apply for the scholarship before you have been accepted. I will have to ask Mich now.

OneToughMommy

I just looked at the NHSI program and it looks great (though expensive!). I notice that they have an audition elective in the afternoon. I guess my question as to all these summer programs is how helpful they are in helping a rising senior prepare for the college auditions?

soozievt

^^^Not all summer programs are directly involved in audition prep for college auditions. If you really care about that or that is one of your objectives, then you need to examine the curriculum and program closely. For example, I believe that Carnegie Mellon's Pre-College program does work on audition prep.

In my opinion, that would not be a criteria that I'd use for selecting a summer theater program. I'd see it as more training, experience, and an opportunity to be immersed in a theater intensive. Audition prep can happen in other ways, such as all fall of senior year with a coach/teacher. My own child, who recently graduated from a BFA program, went to a summer theater program out of state for 8 full summers (Stagedoor Manor) and they did not do audition prep for college. However, her experiences there were invaluable in terms of the training, the level of the productions, the sharing with others with a similar passion, the experience of an intensive program (BFAs are also intensive), and played a very significant role in her development in this field. As far as college auditions go, she worked with a voice teacher and a monologue coach back home to prep for college auditions and did well in her admissions results.

PS, Northwestern's NHSI (Cherubs) is excellent and I have had many students attend and love it and they are now in excellent college theater programs but I don't recall them focusing on audition prep at NHSI.

SDonCC

Carnegie Mellon's stated focus is audition prep, but really the summer program was intensive training all around. It didn't seem like they really focused on the monologues until the last two weeks. At the end of the program, the students audition before a panel, which includes the teachers in the program. Unlike some of the other programs, though, they do not stage a production, although there were performance opportunities. The idea of the program is to give students a feel for what a college conservatory program would be like.

theater mom

My D went to CMU precollege for tech theater. The precollege program provided the experience of studying theater on a college level. She got a sense of the larger issues—for example, how do you relate lighting to telling a story. The audition prep is not just practice in talking about yourself. It is a chance to explore exactly what you want to learn in the theater. There was no show so I suppose it was automatically less fun than, say, Northwestern Cherubs. However, it was a very useful six weeks.

early_college

Soov- If I did the UMinn program and the ASC program, would that be enough? I am wishing to apply to mostly BA's, except for NYU, Chapman, Ithaca, etc.

I want to do the NYU Tisch summer program next year as you know. I also want to get more journalism training. I have always thought of being a talent agent also, would doing a BFA or BA help me with that? Or should I take some buisness classes too? How does one get into that kind of thing. It's just an idea, incase the journalism and acting doesn't work out.

nansan

My S went to NYU's pre-college program this past summer. He was accepted at several other summer pre-college programs mentioned in this thread but he wanted to see what it was like to live in NYC and be at NYU. He was in the Strasberg program (which you have probably learned will no longer be one of NYU's studio programs). He loved his experience at NYU and at Strasberg. It was very rigorous - studio during the day and additional events in the evenings (rehearsals, attending plays, etc.). It is a highly organized program and the program kids are with each other 24-7. He felt that the entire experience (training at the studio, attending the seminar class, attending Broadway plays, the camraderie with fellow acting students, and getting to know NYC) was fantastic. The NYU program was much more expensive than some of the other pre-college drama programs that he was accepted to, but one important factor is that it offers 6 NYU credits - so when you go to apply to college, you will be able to submit your NYU transcript along with your high school transcript and already have 6 college credits (plus any AP credits you may qualify for). This helped to make up for the cost differential between NYU and other programs.

early_college

Thanks, I am thinking about appyling to NYU- Dublin's high school program in 2011. I think I just want to stick to a shorter program for this summer.

early_college

The MPluse info is now more money: UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance - Youth Programs - MPulse Theatre & Drama Academy

I'm going to talk to my dad about it.