Emerson BFA Theatre

lovetoact
Thu, 26 Jan 2017 14:05:40 +0000

I have some thoughts for you. SUNY Purchase has a BA. When we visited, we heard from students in the BFA and the BA program and learned about how they’re similar/different. The BA covers more topics more widely than the BFA, which is conservatory in nature. Although my kids want a BFA, this was the first college tour that we took a few years ago that made me feel as though the BA was able to stand alone on the strength of its own program, and not simply a fallback for kids who didn’t get in by audition. (I’m not bashing any other college’s BA program, please don’t yell at me everyone. I’m saying that this was my first personal experience like this).

Another great school that is very broad and fosters out-of-the-box innovation and creativity would be Wesleyan.

Muhlenberg is an extremely flexible program and while the actual acting major has some strong performance classes, your son could combine focused areas and broaden himself.

James Madison might be too performance-based for what he’s looking for, but it offers good liberal arts.

Vassar and Bard (and maybe Skidmore) are liberal arts colleges that have a good appreciation for the arts and provide an excellent education.

If you google any of these colleges and ‘curriculum’ (and ‘theater’ or ‘writing’ or whatever major you’d like to see), you can take a look at whether the types of classes will meet his passions.

Another option to boost liberal arts academics would be for your son to apply to the honors program (or honors college–different names in different schools) in a school that he attends. Check out what those programs are all about. Some have very interesting liberal arts seminars that are out of the box and being innovative helps with future contemporary writing gigs. (shameless plug–check out the honors program at SUNY Fredonia, which my son attends and loves–and also has a BA theater program, but he’s a freshman BFA so I don’t know that much about the BA).