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What colleges are known for their theater schools or performing arts schools? thanks

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, November 04, 2003 - 04:19 pm: Edit

NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, USC, Northwestern, American Academy for Theater Arts (NY), Boston U, UCLA, UC San Diego, Syracuse, SUNY Purchase.

If you're looking for a smaller liberal arts school that has a great, very active theater program, try Whitman College in Washington or Kenyon College in Ohio.

By Musictoad (Musictoad) on Tuesday, November 04, 2003 - 07:46 pm: Edit

Webster University (St. Louis, MO)

By Thecritic22 (Thecritic22) on Tuesday, November 04, 2003 - 09:47 pm: Edit

I hear NYU is going downhill, though

By Actingstudent (Actingstudent) on Friday, November 07, 2003 - 02:55 am: Edit

If we are talking about theater training at the BFA level, how about Juilliard, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the California Institute of the Arts? . . . . If we are including international schools, you may wish to append RADA and Central to that list.

NYU has a great graduate program, but their undergraduate program is not so hot.

By Lynn (Lynn) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 03:28 pm: Edit

What do you want from your theatre program? Some of the schools mentioned, Yale and UC San Diego for example, have strong graduate theatre programs, but the undergrad programs are not as good. Someone mentioned Whitman, which we visited. They have an active theatre dept., but the training is not what you would get at USC, Cal Arts, or UCLA, to name a few.

My daughter will be a theatre arts major and wants to stay in California because she wants to audition and is more interested in film acting than stage acting. Her first choice is Pepperdine, followed by USC and Cal Arts. For her, UCLA would be overwhelming. It takes longer to work your way up the seniority ladder in a large program. There are also some CA state schools with strong theatre departments--San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State L.A.

Of course, there are excellent schools on the East Coast and Northwestern in Chicago also enjoys a national reputation. Try to pinpoint what you are looking for and what you hope to get out of such a program, and you will be able to narrow down the field of good schools.

By User123 (User123) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 05:21 pm: Edit

Any idea how tough Julliard is to get accepted into?

By User123 (User123) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 05:36 pm: Edit

Also, does anyone know of any good theater schools near to Nashville? thanks!

By Kewkiekid (Kewkiekid) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 09:02 pm: Edit

3 kids from my school are applying to Juliard this year, 1 was accepted already.

i live for theatre

By Ricanitalian69 (Ricanitalian69) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 10:40 am: Edit

Check out the following website... Pace University theater program (formally known as Schimmel theatre for the Arts) is now known as the Tony Randall Theater...

http://appserv.pace.edu/execute/page.cfm?doc_id=6225

Good luck with your search!

By Wct (Wct) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 02:30 pm: Edit

Check out the Musical Theater thread. There are a lot of colleges listed that are for acting as well as MT programs. My son is a freshman this year at Carnegie Mellon University studying acting and absolutely loves it. He wanted a well rounded intense conservatory BFA program with a strong curriculum to prepare him to be a working actor. He found it at CMU.

It is a good idea to look at the four year sequential curriculum offered at the schools you are interested in. It isn't just the place it is what they are going to teach you that counts.

Check out the Gutherie Theater Program at the University of Minnesota. It is a relatively new program but it has a fine reputation. Rutgers University and SUNY Purchase seem to have good programs also. Boston University is worth looking into.

I know several actors at NYU this year and they are not very happy. Pay very close attention to the curriculum and that you study with one studio of Tish's choice for 3 years. Ask a lot of questions as to what your schedule will look like in the 4th year. Is this an academic catch up year? Ask how many actors will be in the studio that you will be placed in and where that studio is in realation to NYU. As an actor do you want to spend 3 years studying only one acting style? There is much to think about.

We are from the West Coast and my son wanted to attend college outside of California. He knows a few actors at Cal Arts who are freshman this year. My son was accepted there but the school was not a good fit for him. Every college fits everyone differently so make sure you visit the colleges you are interested in before you move in!

My son auditioned for 10 colleges during the audition process last Spring. He had one non audition college, (Cal State Fullerton) as a backup. He was accepted into 5 programs and waitlisted on a 6th.

Good luck to you all this year!!!