Chapman’s COPA (College of Performing Arts) just wrapped up its spring play, Machinal, and hosting of its Spring Plays projects, which included an appearance by renowned playwright Terrence McNally. As the school year winds down and Chapman prepares to welcome approximately 50 new Theater majors next year, it’s important to note that some pretty significant changes are afoot for the way COPA (and the Dodge Film School) structure the majors in the Theater and Screen Acting programs going forward.
I sat down with Theater Department Chair Nina Lenoir for a chat about how the BFA programs are changing as Chapman continues to rise in the rankings for both its Theater and Film schools. Chapman has traditionally admitted about 50 theater majors per year (from about 450 applicants), then held auditions at the end of freshman year for its BFA programs in both Theater and in Screen Acting. How many of the 50 freshmen who auditioned for each program and how many were admitted was not something that got officially announced, but generally, says Lenoir, people end up where they belong. However, ultimately, some end up disappointed.
To that end, Chapman, beginning 2014-15, will conducts its BFA auditions from among its high school senior applicant pool. Students will be chosen for those programs before they get to Chapman, which is the way most conservatory/BFA programs do it (DePaul and Emerson, for example, have recently done away with the older “cut-style” programs that would admit BFA theater majors as freshmen then cut a portion of them from the program after either freshman or sophomore year).
“Some kids were going into it (the BFA audition process) for the wrong reasons, pressure from their peers or uncertainty about where they belonged” says Lenoir. “Some end up disappointed, but in the end they just weren’t the right fit. Often it has nothing to do with talent.” In the future, Chapman will conduct a much more rigorous audition process for high school seniors.
Auditions will take place only on Chapman’s campus (no Unified’s) for a half-day, so that the same group of faculty can consistently evaluate all applicants (something that isn’t always possible when you take the show on the road).
Applicants will be pre-screened, so that not everyone automatically receives an invitation to audition. There will not be call-backs at auditions, once you’re invited, you’ll stay for the entire process, which will involve a more involved interview, some acting exercises, and cold readings with other students. Lenoir says each program, Theater as well as Screen Acting, will ultimately accept anywhere from 12 to 16 students in each program (so a total of 24 to 32).
What are they looking for? “.It takes a lot of discipline and self-evaluation,” says Lenoir. “Someone who can really go inside themselves to get to the core creation of a character.” Also qualities of professionalism (so prepare the monologues correctly—if it says two, prepare at least two; show up early; be dressed appropriately).
Those who make it into the Screen Acting program experience possibly the most rigorous of all Chapman’s BFA’s (that includes those in Dodge). The co-curriculum within Dodge includes a 78-credit requirement to graduate, and exposes the acting students to classes within the various realms of Dodge’s production and writing classes.
Chapman will continue to offer its major in Theater Studies, which includes a variety of acting classes to choose from, as well as the flexibility to explore other areas of theater study, both technical and more academic.
Finally, COPA and the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music will share the new $65 million performance space currently under construction that will open in the fall of 2015.
What’s up at Dodge?
Dodge College, Chapman’s film school, will open its new Digital Arts facility in the fall, across the street from the main Dodge building on Palm Street. The Studio for Animation, F/X and the Digital Arts will include an animation room and studio, an art studio, labs and classrooms.
Dodge is continuing to rise in the rankings of film schools, notching seventh last year in the Hollywood Reporter’s list (numbers 5 and 6 were graduate schools). The acceptance rate for film production students (capped at about 75 per year) last year was 13 percent and looks likely to go still lower next year (still not rivaling USC’s 2 percent but getting tough).