At a recent information session and during a Q & A session afterward, I got a chance to ask DePaul Theatre School admissions officer Melissa Tropp some pretty detailed questions about the school’s theatre programs.
Widely considered one of the country’s top acting programs, DePaul offers a rigorous and competitive conservatory experience that focuses more on acting technique than on musical theatre (though musical theatre is a component of the overall curriculum). The Theatre School also has 14 other areas of study including lighting, scene, sound and costume design, theatre studies, dramaturgy, playwriting, theatre and stage management.
All are BFA programs that encompass very specific and structured course loads. About 80 percent of all classes will be theatre courses. Study abroad is available during summers only, as are internships. Auditioning for theatre opportunities outside DePaul is discouraged. “If you’re 20 minutes late for rehearsal because you were at a commercial audition, you’re going to be in big trouble,” says Tropp. About 340 students comprise the Theatre School at DePaul, of which half are performing arts students, a quarter theatre studies students, and a quarter design tech students.
The classes for all these disciplines are held in DePaul’s brand new $72 million facility at the corner of Racine and Fullerton, 16,000+ square feet of state-of-the-art space.
Here’s the deal on the competition to get in: About 900 students will audition each year for 32 slots: “Not 33; not 31,”says Tropp. They try to keep it even male/female, but it sometimes tips one way or the other. The audition process is one of the most rigorous around: Students come in with their prepared monologues, perform them, but then there are call-backs. For those called back, the entire process takes about five hours. There are exercises with an instructor, collaborations with other students who are auditioning, and cold readings.
Auditions take place at DePaul in November, but they also take the show on the road, auditioning students in L.A. and New York, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta. Everyone is subjected to the same five-hour ritual and all perform before the same three theatre faculty.
What are they looking for? “I can’t give you a specific set of criteria,” says Tropp, “but they have to be a good fit for the program. We know it when we see it.” The lengthy audition process is meant to “peel back that audition face” and get to see “who you are as a person.”
Students who are accepted and enroll will experience a variety of acting technique during their four years. Faculty specialize in three areas: Acting, Movement, Voice and Speech, and employ a variety of teaching methods from Meisner to Spoli, and everything in between. Freshmen will not be in productions, but beginning in sophomore year, they dive in. DePaul’s program has “mandatory casting” and the school is on the quarter system, so students will be in a production at least three times a year.
All seniors are eligible for the senior showcase, which takes place in Chicago, L.A., and New York, and also features a good deal of networking with professionals, including DePaul alums who are working professionals in those cities.
If there’s one distinguishing characteristic of DePaul’s program, says Tropp, “Chicago is a huge part of our identity.”