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i would like to know what the best theatre school out there are, i want to be a theatrical costume designer. i'm looking at nyu, but does anyone know of any other good colleges? i live in california so i would like to stay here but anywhere would be good. thank you!

By Wct (Wct) on Friday, January 02, 2004 - 03:23 am: Edit

Carnegie Mellon University has one of, if not the best, costume design BFA programs in the USA. Check it out at http://www.cmu.edu/cfa/drama/design/index.html

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Friday, January 02, 2004 - 08:59 am: Edit

While you ask for the best theater programs, make sure you are looking to make sure there is a program in costume design cause not all theater programs offer that. I know a girl from our high school who is studying that at Smith College. She designed costumes for some plays at our high school.
Susan

By Cbmac (Cbmac) on Friday, January 02, 2004 - 09:38 am: Edit

Yale.

By Samirab (Samirab) on Friday, January 02, 2004 - 09:42 am: Edit

Hello--
I'm a third year student at a performing arts conservatory, studing scene design. Are you looking for a school with a good costume design department, or are you looking for a conservatory environment? (ie. BA or BFA?)
Here is a list of a range of schools that might be good to look at,

CalArts
USC
Cornish college of the arts
UMich
Boston U
U. of Cincinnatti
CMU
SUNY Purchase
North Carolina school of the Arts

These are all places that have good technical production/design and production departments for undergrads.

UMich is a BA program, I'm pretty sure, but seems tightly run.
Purchase's design/tech programme is inside of Purchase Conservatory, which is a school inside of the university. Cincinnatti has a design/tech programme run from within the college-conservatory of Music (CCM)
NC School of the Arts is a freestanding arts school-- there is no larger uni. which it is attatched to. the design & production programme is one of the five schools that make up the university.

So obviously, there are a great number of differences between these schools. But they all require portfolio reviews for admission, so that's a great chance to meet the faculty and chat about the programmes.

The BA/BFA thing is really the biggest initial question though, and will help you cull out options. A BFA in theatrical design is a super-specilized degree. You'll spend the vast majority of your time in arts classes if you choose a BFA track, and it drives some people crazy. I love it though.

I'd love to be of any assistance to you, i remember that the process was very confusing for me,
Sia'a

By Amelie20 (Amelie20) on Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 02:37 am: Edit

thanks for all your help.

i'm thinking i'm going to go the bfa route. where are you studying, sia'a?

By Cbmac (Cbmac) on Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 08:20 am: Edit

I should have been more specific. I meant Yale for drama, not necessarily for "theater".

By Brentlomas (Brentlomas) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 09:45 pm: Edit

You can't forget CSU Fullerton. Even though they're just a CSU, I know they have an awesome theatre program.

Oh, Samirab? Did you go straight to a conservatory instead of university or is this your after-college study? I'm confused. I didn't tihnk it was good to only go to a conservatory rather than an accreddited university. I know that PCPA is good, but you won't earn a degree for there, so what's the point?

By Samirab (Samirab) on Monday, January 05, 2004 - 03:04 pm: Edit

Hey,
I'm a ncsa student-- undergrad

Brentlomas-
I did go straight to school of the arts-- all of the programmes which I listed are accredited uni's, so we actually do earn a degree-- in my case, a BFA (B. of fine arts)

All the programmes I listed are 4 year schools, although many of them also offer a 2 or 3 year grad MFA degrees.

Since it is a degree programme, we are required to take general education (liberal arts) classes in addition to our arts classes. So there are english and history classes, I think that to graduate, we need something like 40 gen ed. credits, and 180 arts credits-- or thereabouts.

Actually-- this is part of what makes art school so tough. I have gen ed classes from 8am to 11am, arts classes from 11am to 6pm mon/wed/friday, and from 11am to 11pm tue/thurs, and then have to work on arts classwork, projects, etc. and then do gen ed assignments. It's crazed.

hope this helped--
sia'a

By Hotty670 (Hotty670) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 08:04 pm: Edit

Hey, i wanna study theatre and i'm looking at NYU's Tisch school of the Arts(my #1 choice), Columbia and by a long shot Juilliard. I want to be in NY b/c of its closeness to Broadway and b/c most auditions are held here. Anybody attend any one of theses schools who could give me some advice?

By Robynbusch (Robynbusch) on Tuesday, February 03, 2004 - 02:33 am: Edit

the University of Evansville in Indiana is one of the best kept secrets in the country. This small liberal arts school hosts one of the most impressive and competitive departments of its kind. The school not only prides itself on producing highly employable students, but also intelligent individuals in life. Students at UE go on to graduate school at NYU, FSU, etc. UE also boasts a number of working professionals that serve as an excellent alumni network upon graduation. From Broadway to television, UE's small size is no indication of its quality.