ACCEPTED: Fordham Lincoln Center into Theater program!

NotMamaRose
Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:05:26 +0000

India, congrats on the Minnesota/Guthrie acceptance! The heads of the actor training program at my kid’s former high school (which is very respected … the people at Fordham kept telling her, over and over, how much they love her high school and the kids that go there) are VERY enthusiastic about Minnesota. One told me that he thinks the training offered at UMinnesota/Guthrie is the equal of that offered at Juilliard and that as years go by, people will recognize that.

Re: academic classes at Tisch. You spend three days a week in studio classes with the same people, though they mix you up year to year, so the kids you have in studio freshmen year will be different (at least some of them!) from the kids you will have in studio sophomore, junior and senior years. In my view, that is one big advantage that Tisch has over smaller programs, where there are, for instance, 12 or 20 MTs or actors and you have most of your classes every day with the same people for four years. In my D’s studio, there are about 60 freshmen and they are divided into smaller groups for classes. So though my D may have classes (studio) with the same 9 to 15 kids most days for one year, she will have the chance to get to know another group the next year. I would say that in Tisch drama, you have the benefit of working closely and intimately with a small ensemble over a good amount of time (a year) but then before it gets suffocating, you get to mix in with some new people and then become close to them. The best of both worlds, in my view.

No, the kids in your studio are not necessarily the same kids in your academic classes. You are mixed for your academic classes with other kids from Tisch, and that means you could be having a writing class with a filmmaker or dancer, etc. When you take classes from the CAS, you will meet kids there.

India, you are going to have some hard but wonderful choices to make! One thing that Minnesota/Guthrie, Tisch and Fordham all have in common is that all three programs believe strongly that a well educated actor/performer is the best prepared performer. All of those programs require you to take a decent number of liberal arts credits.

I know there are people who believe that the time a performer spends studying, say, art history or psychology or writing is just time wasted when you could be in studio, honing your craft, and I respect that view. I am sure that’s true for some. But certainly as someone who believes in the value of liberal arts for their humanizing and enlightening influence, I can say with conviction that I am truly happy that my D chose a place that believes liberal arts are worthwhile.