Creative people will find their own path to being creative, even if it has twists and turns. My younger D was very involved in singing and theatre growing up through high school. She took private voice lessons since she was 12. Had the leads in her high school musicals and the soprano solos in choir. She managed an acappella group. Up until sophomore year of high school, summers were spent doing Musical Theatre at an arts camp, again usually landing the lead. The summer after Freshman year she attended Rider University’s HS summer programs in Choir and MT. I thought she might end up following her big sister’s path and want to major in MT for college. But instead, she decided to pursue art in college, with the end goal of becoming an art teacher. This didn’t come out of the blue, since she also has always loved art and showed talent in it. But her reputation in school was in voice and MT, so when she told everyone she was headed to NYU, everyone always assumed she was going for theatre.
At NYU, she missed singing, so she decided to take private lessons. She also became very interested in stage make up and took several classes in special effects. As a freshman she did a special interest dorm in theatre arts and got to know a bunch of film makers. Pretty soon she was being recruited for student films, either to do make-up or to act. She must have been in at least 6 Tisch films either acting or doing voice-overs while studying at NYU.
She continued at NYU to get her MA in art ed and landed a job at a Brooklyn public school as a sculpture teacher. (The principal created the position for her after meeting her at a job fair and seeing that her resume listed as MT, set design, stage make up, voice, acting as interests in addition to art.) It turns out she wanted her school to go after a Disney Grant in Theatre and she thought my D would be a real asset.
So as it turns out my D who dropped MT in college, helped in the grant writing and interview process and is now working with Disney’s educational department on her school’s production of the Lion King. The grant is for the next 3 years and she is involved in many facets of the production. Disney provides mentorship and the students will be performing in a special showcase on Broadway in June. The creative team from her school includes an educational theatre major (NYU), a dance ed major (NYU) and music ed major (Fredonia). Not only will she be doing sets, costumes and make-up, but once the staff of her school heard her sing in Disney workshops, she was recruited to do a lot of voice and acting coaching.
I can’t begin to say how happy this makes her–teaching sculpture/ ceramics during the day–and musical theatre once again as her (PAID) EC!
Your D’s path is extremely interesting. When my D was student teaching in NYC, her school had one of those Disney grants to put on Aladdin. She worked with the kids on their singing as she had been a music concentration (voice) student at Plattsburgh. I am also pleased to hear that kids from Fredonia (where S17 attends) are working. I wish my D would get back into teaching but she is happily ensconced in educational tech, teaching teachers.
Has anyone read The Actor’s Life by Jenna Fischer? If not, run, click get it and share with your child! A must read…She talks a lot about not being too narrowly focused. Making art in whatever what and staying connected is vital. Building sets, writing, ushering can all lead to a gig. Also, her biggest realization…this business is all about LUCK… <3
H & I just enjoyed a rare, invigorating talk with our D, as we walked the beagles We were joking that someone should pitch a House Hunters-like show; when a kid is trying to decide among 3 programs: “Will Stasia pick Program A.- for its urban appeal, but less-than stringent academics; Program B,- for its large campus feel, but no time to enjoy those pursuits; or Program C.- which gave her a whopping scholarship & has a glorious campus, but is located 17 hours from the nearest airport?” *Not actual events…just making light of another “fun” part of this process…
We also talked about what I touched on earlier: My D is infinitely grateful to get to make a choice, and to know that she’s going to school for her passion in August. This IS tough. These kids ARE tough. If any of the seasoned MT parents hold told me 2 years ago that it would require TWO years of researching programs, writing essays, filming prescreens, reading plays, honing rep-I probably would have said “I’m out”, and made her pursue a Media & Journalism degree at UNC. I cannot emphasize enough-if this is really and truly your kids’ passion and mission-they will find a way. After last year, I don’t subscribe to the notion that everyone winds up where they’re meant to be; but I do believe that the souls that are willing to fight tooth and nail for this pursuit can make a living “creating.”
@owensfolks I used to laugh last year at that statement that they all end up where they are meant to be. I believe they do their best with the cards they are given. Those who really want it and can’t live without it will forge their path somehow. We were lucky our son had choices but I do believe he would have equally thrived even at his no’s. After almost completing his freshman year he is extremely happy but he tells all those coming behind him to only pursue this if they can’t see themselves doing anything else. A BFA program is a lot of work - he has 19 credit hours a semester and that doesn’t include time working on shows etc.
I wish all of this new class nothing but happiness and success. There are so many amazing programs out there and so many different paths to take.
Whether it’s Ivy League or MT programs or something else, the acceptance rates depend a lot on how many apply in the first place. And we know for MT that most students apply to MANY schools, so that inflates the number of applications across the board, which in turn causes the acceptance rate to shrink. I just read a story that the number of applicants to many of the University of California campuses (all majors) this year exceeded 100,000. That is going to cause those school’s acceptance rates to be lower than previous years simply because the denominator, the number of applicants, is going up. The numerator (acceptances) is unlikely to increase much if at all. So don’t ignore those rates, but be sure to view them in the light of the fact that the number of applicants across the schools includes a lot of intersecting sets of students.
@UMiamiMTDad, you are absolutely correct. Even as I posted, I knew it was an apples and oranges comparison. I just found it interesting. As for U of CA campuses - 100K+, really? All I can say is wow.
If students are applying to many more schools than they used to, causing the acceptance rates to go down, has that also caused the school’s yields to go down?
@uskoolfish: Talent will out…if diligently applied. You must be very proud.
@milmom2: “I believe they do their best with the cards they are given…There are so many amazing programs out there and so many different paths to take.” Amen.
How lucky are our kids to know their passion at this young age? God Bless all of them. They are intuitive and know themselves. This is rare for young people. I’m so proud to be a part of a group of parents that support their children so wholeheartedly! Keep up the good work! These kids will make it no matter what!
We live close to Nashville. Belmont is a top notch program for singer/songwriter and is a good MT program. My D did auditioned and was accepted but chose not to attend. I believe it is through their Music School and not Theatre Dept but not for sure (all these schools start to get mixed up). We went to see the performance of Fiddler on the Roof. The singing and dancing were amazing, especially the guys. They don’t have that many professors on staff so they bring in a lot of outside help. The director is very sincere and is foremost a Christian in all that she does. I think if it wasn’t in our back yard my daughter would have considered it more. The area is quite charming.
We were joking that someone should pitch a House Hunters-like show; when a kid is trying to decide among 3 programs: “Will Stasia pick Program A.- for its urban appeal, but less-than stringent academics; Program B,- for its large campus feel, but no time to enjoy those pursuits; or Program C.- which gave her a whopping scholarship & has a glorious campus, but is located 17 hours from the nearest airport?” *Not actual events…just making light of another “fun” part of this process…