<p>Columbia College Chicago has everything your daughter is looking for, except the “reputation”. But the faculty are all theatre professionals, and many of the faculty have reputations of their own. I certainly put the names of my instructors on my resume, so I can emphasize “I studied under Terry McCabe and Sheldon Patinkin” (the latter of which I believe is now retired) instead of “I studied at Columbia College Chicago.”</p>
<p>Some of my information may be out of date.</p>
<p>I went to CCC because I really wanted to direct. I also contacted Emerson and DePaul at the time, and they both said “absolutely not, we do not allow undergraduates to direct”. I about fell out of my chair when CCC said, “Oh, absolutely, in our undergraduate directing program you will have many opportunities to direct plays. You will direct a one-act and then three full length plays!” I knew that was the program for me!</p>
<p>I was even more surprised when they said that the whole school had an open admissions policy, and did not have any additional requirements for admission to any particular program, such as directing. (I think however they now have some BFA programs that do have certain admissions standards).</p>
<p>I did know a fellow student who was combining theatre directing with playwriting.</p>
<p>The approach is very hands-on, which worked perfectly for me, but there was one fellow student who actually complained to me “I didn’t know it would be like this, I didn’t know we would have to direct plays! I thought we would just sit in a classroom and someone would tell us how to direct plays!”</p>
<p>KEVP</p>