I have two kids who are both interested in a career in the performing arts. One is already in college, but decided she wanted a music degree (BM) so that she could improve her vocal skills and become an all-round musician, rather than go the MT college route. While Broadway is her dream, she is also interested in performing classical music, acting (theatre and screen), directing, arts management, and coaching. She is at a city university and has had some success in auditioning for roles and gaining on-stage experience while still in college. My son also wants to perform, but is less interested in a music degree. Right now, he is considering musical theatre, but only major city colleges–his thinking is that he can try out for roles while still in college. He has recently brought up the notion that he could–like many successful Broadway and stage actors before him–skip the college route altogether. He suggests he could focus on auditioning while he still has that “young” look, while still taking reputable acting classes, dance classes and vocal coaching (he has been taking classical and musical theatre voice for years and also has great piano, guitar, and composition skills). I guess he is just chomping the bit to get out there and start serious auditioning (he has had some success with small but professional theatre companies in our city). He feels that taking himself out of the playing field for four years may be a mistake. Any thoughts?
Sounds like a gap year would be a good route for your son. I don’t have an opinion about which way would be better in the long run, but taking a year to test the waters couldn’t hurt.
I’m not sure how or if this would work, since D’s agent came to her, but maybe he could try to get appointments/auditions with some good agencies in markets where he hopes to work and see if anyone will represent him now. Whether or not they say yes, they might recommend additional training they think he needs to become more marketable.
@claire74, I had the same discussion with my oldest son about going to NYC and hitting the bricks or going to school. He was even encouraged by a Broadway vet to just go start auditioning because he had the talent. He attended Junior College right after High School and got almost all of his academic requirements done while he stayed at home. He did get some local professional work and he went to some larger regional open calls (where he didn’t even make it out of the 1st round.) He then buckled down, continued to get great local voice lessons, took a lot of ballet and focused on getting into his target BFA program, which he did.
His Senior Showcase is this April in NYC. I reflected with him what he got out of school as opposed to trying to “make it there” on his own. Here were his (edited) responses:
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At College he received outstanding vocal training. (His local voice teacher is phenomenal. She is a Chicago musical theatre veteran and she transformed his voice.) But the group vocal lessons and the private lessons he received at college every week for the past four years took him from the best high school vocalist you’ve ever heard to an elite, professional vocalist. He has been called back to all his professional auditions for the past three years and has been able to get his Equity card while in school.
At College he learned Ballet. He had good Ballet instruction at home. But the hours of weekly instruction in dance (particularly ballet) transformed his body, his balance, and his frame. Nearly every professional call he has been to starts with a dance call, and that has primarily been a ballet screening. His first year he would immediately get cut. Now he has consistently gotten compliments and gets moved on.
At College he got specific Acting Training. He now has a specific philosophy and approach. At his school they teach the Cohen Method (which is very forward and action focused.) He says he has learned to be “emotionally available” at a moments notice, and that he “knows” himself. He feels he can be honest, connect, and have life on stage consistently.
At College he has made professional connections. His school has a track record of Alumni getting professional work on Broadway and on Tours. He has friends he has lived with and performed with who are on Broadway right now as well as on Broadway tours. The Alumni group is very supportive personally and professionally. This was the #1 reason he picked the school that he did.
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He did not feel he would be in the place he is in now without his college training. However, he hasn’t graduated just yet. We’ll see what he says a year from now.
Good luck on your decisions…
I like that my daughter chose college because I feel her school has introduced her to so many things other than acting, that she may not have even thought about experiencing otherwise.
She probably would not have sought out opportunities to make sets or costumes, but those are mandatory courses in her program and she has found out that she absolutely loves building sets (who knew). Classmates encouraged her to join them in being involved in a community theatre group that works with mentally challenged individuals and come to find out, she absolutely loves this too! (Well, I kind of knew she would).
Yes, kids out there in the “real world” can experience many of the same things as college students, but for my daughter, I don’t think she would have sought them out (or even thought about them on her own). College has made it so easy for her to master new skills that will be so helpful once she enters the “real world”.
I also think there is a maturity factor. This is a very tough business and 18 year olds are very tender still. In addition to all of the benefits mentioned above college gives them the time to learn how to be a more independent adult.
If you go to college you have a marketable degree. A BFA degree even if not used for the theater per se is still a marketable commodity.
Going to NYC without an equity card (or even EMC points) is a very, very tough road. I’ve been reading a board lately where non-equities are bemoaning the fact that none of them are getting SEEN this week or last, let alone cast, often after waiting for several hours, outside, in the snow. So leveraging college relationships to get some EMC points and make connections seems like a very good move to me. Not that no one ever makes it without, or that people with BFAs don’t have a tough time, too.
Thanks, everyone. This gives me some ammunition for keeping my son in school! I do like the idea of a gap year though, especially since he has a late birthday and is almost a year younger than kids in his high-school class. Does anyone have views on Acting major, vs Musical Theatre? He is an exceptionally strong singer (at least among his peers at school) and we were wondering if it might make sense to focus on acting, while continuing vocal lessons with his excellent teachers. He would lose out on the intensity of a college dance program but might benefit from the stronger emphasis on acting.
@claire74 if your son wants to audition while in college, Pace in NYC would certainly be a great school for him. They support kids going out for auditions, within reason and if the job would be a good fit for the student. As for the acting BFA lots of time you still can get the dance classes, in some school like Ithaca the dance could even be better for for Acting majors because the MT majors are all in the same dance level, and as an Acting major you join a class that is true to your ability. You still can take voice classes as an acting major too. Check the individual schools to see what they offer.
Ithaca and CMU are two schools that I know of (there may be more) where the Acting and MT majors are together for acting classes. At Ithaca (and perhaps CMU as well?) all the acting and MT majors have to audition for ALL the shows, both straight plays, and the musicals. When Ithaca put on Spring Awakening a few years ago, there were 7 Acting majors and 10 MT majors in it. In fact, the professors and directors do not distinguish between the two majors, and sometimes do not know if the student is Acting or MT. If your S is a great singer, why not do MT where he can get great acting training? He can apply for a mixture of programs, but make sure you look at the number of Acting professors on the MT faculty…some schools only have one professor (not enough, in my opinion), while others have 10 or even more.
The same is true for Otterbein (and other schools, I’m sure). The faculty there absolutely know who’s in what major, but the acting and MT kids all take acting class together and audition for all shows regardless of major.