Northwestern vs. IU Bloomington

typecastme22
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:11:55 +0000

I don’t know anything about IU but I can definitely speak about NU.

NU has about 80ish shows every year. You audition each quarter for all of the student-run and main-stage shows that there are. Because there are so many shows, there are a lot of opportunities for people to be cast. That isn’t to say that everyone gets cast but there are plenty of opportunities and most people will get to be in their fair share of shows during their four years.

Training at NU is structured so you don’t start acting classes until your sophomore year. Your freshman year you take 2 academic theatre type courses (a more generalized history course and a seminar course), a tech theatre class, and a class that is basically training the actor’s voice. All theatre majors are required to take these classes, even if you don’t plan on going onto the performance track. You are then assigned an acting class that you stick with for the next three years. I believe each acting class is around 15 people and I am pretty sure you get a lot of individualized attention.

As far as MT certificate goes, they take the same classes as regular theatre majors except they have a MT techniques class that they take and are required to take a certain number of dance classes and there are some other things like piano skills that I am not quite sure of the specifics. But MT kids don’t receive any special treatment within the program, unless you consider techniques special treatment.

As far as showcase goes, there is an acting and MT showcase in NYC (which I saw yesterday and was PHENOMENAL). You have to audition for these and they select around 10 for acting and 10 for MT (a few of them overlap). Then there is a Chicago showcase, where everyone in the program is allowed to participate. So either way, if you choose, you can participate in Chicago showcase but you need to audition for NYC.

I hope this helps a little. If you have any other questions just let me know.