August 11, 2010
NY Times
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/answers-to-your-questions-about-college-theater-programs/
Answers to Your Questions About College Theater Programs
This week, Mary Anna Dennard, the author of “
I Got In!: The Ultimate College Audition Guide for Acting and Musical Theater,” answered readers’ questions about auditioning, getting the right head shot and other topics. Below are answers to selected questions.
Q.
Do you think the type of musical theater performer that colleges are looking for has changed? Are colleges still looking for the ingenue type or more the leading lady and character type? It seems as if the musicals now on Broadway are leading to more modern, except the revivals, of course. — Laurie, Oregon
A.
Yes, I do think that as musical theater types (and also for plays) have evolved, colleges are looking for types that reflect today’s librettos. After all, most of these colleges have a senior showcase, where they are marketing their grads to agents and casting directors. They need to have types who will work. We are seeing more contemporary sensibilities in these young composers and writers of new works: “Bare,” “Spring Awakening,” “Rent,” “Bat Boy,” “American Idiot.”
For an example of a change in type, an actor who did not read as having a masculine neutral presence (to quote Aubrey Berg of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) might have been something to try to disguise five years ago. But now it is an absolutely marketable type. Chris Colfer of “Glee” and others have changed that. Girls with fierce belt voices are also in demand more than ever. Maybe it’s “American Idol”?
But there will always be a leading lady, leading man and character types. Ever since Shakespeare’s clowns and Molière’s servants who speak truth to power, our theatrical stories need that balance.
Q.
As a former theatrical talent agent in New York for five years, I have to strongly dissuade anyone from spending thousands of dollars on conservatory programs both for undergraduate or graduate. The programs rarely have good relationships with the business side of the theater world, and they do little to prepare students for the realities of making a profession out of acting/directing. The best experience you can get is not a B.F.A. or an M.F.A. but simply going to the best academic program you can get into, studying English or drama or history or what-have-you, doing as much acting as you can at your university or local theater, and then coming to New York to network, meet casting agents and do Off Broadway theater.
Conservatory programs, while they may increase skill level to some degree, rarely translate into a successful career. Instead, they leave students deeply in debt (which shortens the amount of time they have to work minimum wage jobs while auditioning) and without the skills or degree necessary to be successful in another field should they eventually leave the theater. — TalentAgent, New York
A.
I respectfully disagree. First of all, we are talking about getting an education while learning your craft. College is one of the most opportune places to do both. Second, not all conservatories are created equally. Carnegie Mellon, Cincinnati Conservatory, Texas State, DePaul, Pace University, Boston Conservatory, the American Conservatory Theater, Juilliard are all considered conservatories or conservatory-style programs in that their training is rigorous and intense with little or no coursework in general education and electives. However, each of these offers direct relationships with industry professionals. I was a casting director for film and television for 15 years, and I had relationships with and respect for these institutions.
Many of these programs offer substantial scholarships, and even full rides to those who qualify. A majority of the students I coach do get substantial financial aid. The enormous price tag you speak of might actually be the same cost as any typical four-year liberal arts degree. Texas State’s tuition for its musical theater B.F.A. students is $3,700 per semester! And that applies even for out-of-state students.
As far as preparing students for a profession, there are certainly no guarantees, and the families and students I coach understand the liabilities inherent in such a tenuous occupation. But the schools do make every effort to develop intelligent artists as well as introduce them into the professional world.
Rachel Hoffman, one of Broadway’s biggest casting directors, produces the University of Michigan senior showcase, and there are few people better connected to the industry than her. At Michigan the students get a healthy dose of liberal arts, academia and full college experience while training under an intense B.F.A. musical theater curriculum. Kaitlin Hopkins at Texas State and Amy Rogers at Pace have solid industry contacts with agents and casting directors and composers. They use those connections to help their students upon graduation, and even before with four years of master classes and workshops.
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, a Carnegie Mellon graduate, in “A Little Night Music.”
My former student Hunter Ryan Herdlicka graduated from Carnegie Mellon in May, signed with an agent at his senior showcase, booked his second audition and landed a Broadway role.
He is currently co-starring with Bernadette Peters in “A Little Night Music” in the role of Henrick.
This is a Cinderella story, to be sure, but he will tell you that he would never have been prepared to perform on a Broadway stage without the training he received at Carnegie Mellon.
Let me second what many others have commented, that a college degree is still useful and valuable for whatever field one pursues.
And may I ask, how many of our adult friends are currently working in the field where they got their undergrad degree?
Kent Gash, the new director of the New Studio on Broadway at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, told me:
At N.Y.U., in graduate acting and in the undergraduate Department of Drama, our students are engaged in the specifics of the craft of acting and performance and are also taught and directed by working industry professionals who are also doing the very work in our field that we are teaching the students to do! We are talking about education and learning a lifelong craft as an artist, and making a substantive contribution to the field, not about working as a ‘performer’ in your youth, when you might be most commercially viable. This can be achieved often with little craft, but the lifelong sustainable career as an artist in film, theater and television in musical and non-musical work can indeed still be given a strong foundation in the best actor training programs in the country! How about a little respect for education?
So I will sum it up this way:
1. Getting a college degree is valuable.
2. Learning your craft is essential.
3. A performing arts undergraduate degree is worthwhile no matter what career one ultimately decides upon.
Q.
Curious about your thoughts on the top musical theater directing programs for non-performance majors. Lots of acting choices out there, but I am more interested in directing musical theater. Where will I have the most opportunities to actually work while learning? — DJR, New York
A.
First of all, don’t pigeonhole yourself as a “musical theater director.” Musical theater is simply a style, one of many styles. Great directors can cross over from straight plays to musical theater effortlessly. After all, you need to work!
Carnegie Mellon would have to be at the top of my list for undergrad directing. But actually there are very few undergrad degrees in directing. Most directing opportunities are found in B.A./B.F.A. theater studies, or theater education degrees at the undergrad level.
There are many great grad directing programs where you can have ample opportunity to direct student productions, and even at some undergrad programs.
To gain opportunities for professional work experience, I would recommend an internship at some of the reputable regional theaters or summer Shakespeare festivals around the country. Even to get work as a second or a first assistant director, that would be a great training ground for you.
Example: I have a former student who is a rising sophomore at Carnegie in the directing program. His first summer, he was an assistant director at a summer Shakespeare festival, and this summer he was the first assistant director on the world premiere of the musical “It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman,” starring Matt Cavenaugh! That’s some great “learning while working experience” and crosses over from Shakespeare to musical theater.
Q.
I’m thinking about pursuing a master’s degree in musical theater, but it’s difficult to find schools that have such a specific program. What are some good schools for this? — Rachel, Minneapolis
A.
There are just a handful of grad programs in musical theater. Some are masters of fine arts and some are masters of music. I will combine the M.F.A.’s with the M.M.’s and include San Diego State, Boston Conservatory, Steinhardt at N.Y.U., Oklahoma City University, Arizona State and Central Florida and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
If your undergrad degree is a B.A., getting an advanced degree could be a valuable enrichment for you. Typically those with a B.F.A. undergrad would not be pursing an M.F.A. in the same field.
Q.
I am a high school theater teacher. What can I do to help kids audition well? — suzi, Pella, Iowa
A.
Buy my book!
Seriously, every high school theater teacher needs this book to guide those students who want to pursue a degree in an audition based B.A. or B.F.A. program. The section with tips from top college auditors gives great advice from those who will actually be auditioning the students. So you can get guidance straight from the horse’s mouth.
I will sum it up in these three phrases: Be brave. Be joyous. Be yourself.
The college auditors want to see the student’s personality. Keep the audition material simple and age appropriate. A wonderful resource for audition material is Karen Kohlhaas’s book “
How to Choose a Monologue for Any Audition.”
Q.
Juilliard, Carnegie Mellon, N.Y.U., Boston University — how do their programs differ? These are colleges that I am looking at in my quest for a college to attend. It is overwhelming. I love dramatic acting and musical theater. I am told that I have to make a decision. Do I? — JNJ, Boston
A.
Juilliard and Carnegie Mellon are conservatories, and N.Y.U. and B.U. are not. That’s the first big difference. There are many other differences in philosophies and curriculum, campus life, intellectual environment, etc.
I suggest you attend the National Association for College Admission Counseling Performing Arts College Fair, meet with the reps of these schools and ask specific questions. Go to
nacacnet.org for a fair near you. The fair is free to the public and an excellent source for accurate information on these training programs. More than 80 colleges and universities attend.
You absolutely do not have to choose between acting and musical theater. You need to get the training that will give you the most competitive skill set when you begin professional auditions. Don’t limit your opportunity for employment. You need to be an actor first. Studying voice and dance will only enrich your talents and make you more hireable.
Labels: acting, Anna, College, Dennard, Mary, musical, theatre
