BU BFA Acting--Class of 2013 Acceptances

TimThom
Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:01:22 +0000

Absolutely, NJTheatreMOM. Boston University was a top choice of mine (along with Minnesota)…so I did feel bad that I was not accepted. Some of the elements I really enjoyed about it was the fact that third years study a semester or two abroad in England! Also, there is a professional theatre company on campus (fairly similar to Minnesota’s Guthrie) where students have the opportunity to act in and may have a chance to intern/apprentice there (over the summer?). Also, I got the impression that there was just a plethora of performance opportunities. You could be involved many so many different things there, yet at the same time, yet despite the thousand and one things, there is still a focus on the education and the craft. I think I would really enjoy that kind of environment…especially in a city like Boston (which I have never been to, but I hear great things). It can allow the public to see you before the senior showcase! How cool is that!!! To be reviewed in college before you graduate!!! The tyoe of learning was not surrounded around one specific type of technique, but it is rather eclectic (at least, that is what I think, and I do know that the British and American system of training are different). Some people prefer the eclectic colleges, taking the best of all worlds to create a process that works for them, you know?

CalArts is very similar. One thing that turned me on to CalArts was the fact that my high school director went there (she speaks about it with such great fondness and passion), but it is a place of many different mediums…what I mean is that there are plenty of opportunities to perform there as well…only, you are not limited to performing. Actors can try there hand at technical and artistic elements of a performance. There is also a great deal of inter-disciplinary collaboration, and this was one thing that they particularly stress. For instance, a light designer will ask to hear a musician’s composition, the musician will then call in a dancer for inspiration to compose a piece, the dancer will collaborate with an actor, who will collaborate with a set design student, etc., etc. I found that to be really, really cool. However, some people who go to school for acting, tend to look for a more traditional and focused type of environment. CalArts looks at acting in a practical light…it is the type of university that teaches you process, but exposes you to the different artistic mediums to help you hone your craft. If it is new and cutting edge, CalArts has it (this is where the Pixar people came from, and their technical innovations are one thing that I have not seen in another university). However, I do have a friend who is involved with the puppetry program, and he has told me that CalArts is surrounded by a bunch of very laid-back type B personalities. Now, that is something that conflicts with a very “This needs to get done NOW and it needs to be somewhat organized,” Type A personality like myself. Another thing is the cost of tuition, which is more expensive than Boston and ranks with NYU as far as expenses. They also do not hand out acholarships often to underclassmen (seniority rules).

NCSA is another college that I really have come to love. This university is set up in its own little intensive bubble. It is a tight knit, intensive, artistic college community that leaves the impression of being oh, so very focused on the craft. Another thing that I like about NCSA is a man, who is Dean of the theatre school, named Gerald Freedman. He was head of the theatre department of Julliard for a decade or so, taught at the esteemed Yale Reperatory Theatre, was the first American director asked to direct a show at the New Globe in England, has directed numerous professional Broadway shows (many Shakespearean). I aspire to work with this person. He works intensively with third and fourth years. I have come to really like the prospect of working with such a faculty, actually. He has hand-picked them. NCSA is VERY Russian based…a senior year class is based on Chekhov…Part of me really likes the focus and intensity of this place…it seems extremely Type A on the personality scale, and it is in North Carolina (which is a very beautiful state). My sister is currently working on her PhD. at Duke, so there is more of a practicality of going to North Carolina.

Hope this answers your question.