Does anyone know anything about this program at Northeastern? I know it is non audition. The tuition is high…
No dance courses are listed in the curriculum for the MT Minor at Northeastern, in fact, Northeastern does not seem to offer any dance courses at the school whatsoever (except for a course in Balinese dancing). It helps to have at least some dance training when pursuing a career in Musical Theatre.
My son attends Northeastern University though not as a theatre major. I do have a daughter that is a MT major at NYU so I do know a little something about that field of study in general and will attempt to answer in the event that no one with more direct experience does. Northeastern is not a school that comes up very often in the MT forum.
As I’m sure you have read, Northeastern offers a BA in Theatre with a performance track and you can also elect a Musical Theatre minor. Their website has a sample curriculum which does a good job laying out more or less what the program could look like as far as in class study goes. This document elaborates on that with course descriptions starting on page 686. http://www.northeastern.edu/registrar/ref-udc-dscr.pdf
The real magic about an undergraduate education at Northeastern is their co-op program. This is true for the theatre major or any undergraduate major at Northeastern. You have the opportunity to build your experience and resume through as many as 3 (you will need to graduate in five years), six month hands on co-op experiences (most are paid though how much in the case of theatre, I do not know) which could include many aspects of theater work including performing. Students graduate from Northeastern with both a degree and real world experience on their resumes. That is the school’s unique strength.
I would suggest you contact the theatre department directly and see if you can be connected with someone, maybe a student ambassador that can elaborate on the program and in particular, speak to what some of the students have done with their theatre co-ops. That is what I would be interested in were I considering the school as well as reviewing the curriculum and faculty resumes (both of which look solid to me by the way.) Northeastern is a fantastic and unique school with a wonderful urban campus right in the heart of Boston. The city of Boston is no slouch when it comes to theatre. I can certainly understand why you are asking about it and I think it is absolutely worth learning more about. All the best!
Good point @EmsDad. One would have to assume they would need to get that training outside of Northeastern which is easy to do in Boston but would be an additional expense to consider. That would be another thing I’d ask about directly if you talk to anyone at Northeastern. It’s possible they have an arrangement for classes at a nearby school like BoCo (whose students eat in the NEU cafeteria.) Not sure but good thing to ask about as it is very true that dance training is critical for MT.
@halflokum What a great response. A reminder that there is so much to look at when considering a school. The@EmsDad has been so helpful pointing out curriculum and howto find them too!
I would also recommend you look at Emerson’s MT if you aren’t already. NEU is great but Emerson may be a better MT fit.