The big city isn’t for every student, but if you’re seriously interested in a performing arts career there’s certainly merit to considering a school in or just outside of New York City. It’s the living, breathing cutting-edge laboratory of all things artistic. For some students, nothing else will do.
If that’s you, bring your A game. You’ll be up against some of the most talented kids in the country.
While students and admissions professionals I visited with this week certainly used words and phrases like “intense and intensive,” “we don’t hold your hand here,” and “exhausting,” there were plenty more positives. “Nurturing,” “collaborative,” “not just a number,” “doing what you love,” “close relationships with professors,” “incredible opportunities,” “amazing connections,” “really preparing you for a career,” and more were heard during the course of seven visits in three days.
It can be a daunting decision for student (and parents!) alike, that choice whether to spend four years and a lot of hard-earned $$$ to major in theater—or dance or music or fashion design—when the career prospects are not always rosy. Bottom line, say several admissions folks, “if you can’t imagine doing anything else,” then give it everything you have.
Some of the seven programs below have similarities and overlaps; all, except for Juilliard, are colleges and universities with multiple disciplines and renown in many other department areas. Still other educational institutions in the New York area offer performing arts programs—Barnard and Columbia, for example—but were not visited on this particular trip.
SUNY-Purchase
This school keeps popping up on lists of the top drama schools in the U.S.—including one just released by the Hollywood Reporter. Their programs are small and concentrated—they don’t do it all but what they do they do well. Students can pursue a BFA in acting—no musical theatre here—or a BFA in Theatre Design/Technology; BA’s are offered in Theatre & Performance and in Playwriting/Directing. About 20 students will be admitted into each acting program from a pool that usually reaches 1,000+ applicants. Three hundred will apply for 40 spots in the Design/Tech major. The BA Theatre/Performance program includes a broader curriculum that includes production directing and theory. Only BFA students participate in the Senior Consortium (showcase) that performs in New York and LA for professionals.
Sarah Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence is known for its extremely strong writing program—it’s not a theatre school and doesn’t offer BFAs in any concentration. Having said that, SL does have a robust and well-respected theatre department, and I was lucky enough to draw a theatre major as my tour guide recently. She gave me an inside look at her experience there and explained why she chose Sarah Lawrence even after being accepted at several conservatory-style programs. “I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into a studio-type system or have to study in a specific style,” the rising senior said. At Sarah Lawrence, the major has required courses but there is significant leeway to pursue a particular area of study if a student becomes excited about a specific thing (say, experimental playwriting) that he/she comes across while sampling SL’s depth of liberal arts offerings. Theatre and dance are popular concentrations at Sarah Lawrence and are taught by working professionals—Bronxville is less than a half-hour from Manhattan. SL’s BA Theatre program requires no audition (a slight drawback, thought my guide—some people auditioning and participating in productions are not quite up to snuff as opposed to a more rigorous audition program that screens out students who just want to sample the perf arts disciplines). But the program offers ample production opportunities; students write and direct plays. SL might be the place for a student who wants an established and respected theatre program but who also has a lot of other interests, and wants to be near the city while enjoying a campus that looks like somebody’s country estate.
Fordham
Fordham, a Catholic university, has an absolutely beautiful campus across the street from the Bronx Zoo. But if you’re a dance or theatre major, you won’t be there—your university life will take place at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, 8 acres in the heart of Manhattan’s cultural life. Fordham has one of the top dance programs in the country in conjunction with the Alvin Ailey school of dance—it’s actually called the Ailey School. From their website: “The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program offers the best of both worlds: professional dance training at the official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and an exceptional liberal arts education rooted in the Jesuit tradition of intellectual development and personal attention.” The admission rate is exceptionally low to the dance and theatre programs: under 6%. The Theatre program is a BA only (they call it a Performance major)—but it does require an audition. Only about 20 will be accepted (there are also tracks in playwriting, directing, and design/production). Fordham still wants its Performance and other theatre department majors to take the core university requirements, as is typical at Jesuit universities.
Juilliard
Juilliard may be the premiere performance training ground in the country for dance, acting and music. It certainly has its share of illustrious alumni and a reputation for unparalleled excellence. Its high-rise campus at Lincoln Center feels at once calming, with its soothing light and spare color scheme, and intimidating. The first thing the student guide tells our group is “no video or photography” on the tour. You also learn about the various music majors offered; see the performance and training spaces—including the spectacular Glorya Kaufman Dance Studio overlooking Broadway; hear about the incredible music archives; find out you actually have to take some non-performing arts classes (“mostly English classes”) and somehow get the notion that Juilliard is supremely intense re-enforced even though you’re pretty sure the tour guide wasn’t supposed to tell you that. On his desire to live off-campus: “When I’m having one of those Juilliard days, when I say to myself ‘Why again am I doing this?’—and you’re spending 13 hours in this building—you can walk outside and New York City is your classroom; that’s where life is beckoning and you renew your inspiration.” One thing you don’t learn is about the audition process: “That’s online.” Online, you find out that you need four monologues (two to perform and two in reserve); that there are callbacks; that you need to be prepared to stay “into the evening” and that a lucky few will be called back again for a third, and final, audition and an interview in New York (mandatory). That’s for acting, but dance and music are similar. Many music auditions require pre-screening via video before you even get called for the live audition. For acting, 18 will be admitted each year; for dance 24.
The New School
Just west of Union Square, the New School has planted its flags in buildings on and around Fifth Avenue and is busy educating undergrads and continuing education students in its decidedly individualistic and quirky way. My tour guide wanted to be sure I didn’t leave our time together with the impression that the New School is an arts/performing arts school. It’s a liberal arts education and although there is no core curriculum “we want students to take what they’re interested in learning about”—there are requirements; and there are math and science classes. The New School has as its partner Parsons—officially Parsons The School for Design—as one of its more high profile programs. The one thing to emphasize about portfolio submissions for would-be Parsons students: “It must be diverse.” The portfolio should show a wide variety of your arts interests and skills, not just strictly in fashion design. The New School does have performing arts programs: The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music; a BA in acting or directing/playwriting; and an by-audition dance track. In addition, they offer a BAFA program which combines a BA with a BFA in five years. These combine BFA degrees from Parsons or the Jazz/Contemporary Music programs with BA programs in the Lang School (the New School’s liberal arts school). Popular majors are literary studies and writing; also popular is study abroad—so for students who want all those things plus an education in fashion design or music, the BAFA program offers a unique opportunity. There’s also a new fashion journalism program. The New School’s acting program is literally only a year old and is still evolving, and worth further exploration for the student who wants a New York environment and is excited about small classes and progressive learning.
Pace University
Pace’s performing arts program is big, varied, way tough to get into, and extremely pre-professional. Set in Lower Manhattan in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge and across the street from City Hall, Pace is as urban as any New York city school you’ll find (even NYU and The New School border some leafy residential side streets). This place is so steeped in the performing arts even the business school’s dean, Neal Braun, is a former NBC TV prez and CEO of Viacom. Thanks to Braun, there’s a business major in arts and entertainment. But the real story is Pace’s comprehensive programs in the performing arts: there are 8 theatre majors—3 BA’s and 5 BFA’s (among them acting, musical theatre, acting for film-tv-voiceover-commercials; a commercial dance program that’s geared toward preparing dancers to get actual jobs; design; stage management; directing, and more). More than a thousand will apply for 24 acting spots; 24 in musical theatre; and 32 in dance. “Our students are very focused on what they want to do,” says Wayne Petro, recruitment coordinator and incoming adviser. “Our curriculum is very unique and it’s very industry focused.” To that end, students are allowed to work professionally provided they don’t miss class (at Juilliard and DePaul, for example, students actually sign contracts that they won’t work professionally while in the program—exceptions are made senior year). Pace’s audition process includes a video pre-screening then students are invited to audition.
NYU
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts can be considered the “godzilla” of all perf arts programs, says director of admissions Chris Andersson. Why? They admit 400 theatre majors per year. They can because they have a program large enough to train and educate students for careers in the arts—NYU overall has an enrollment of 22,500 students. What this means is that “we don’t have to ‘cast’ a class,” says Andersson. They simply admit the most talented students. The program becomes smaller when students are assigned (at the school’s discretion) to one of eight “studios” —Atlantic, Adler, Meisner, etc. Students in that specific style for two years then are integrated into upper-level classes together. The program’s “intense and intensive,” says Andersson. The studio system induces students to explore. “It’s work and and it draws all kinds of stuff out of you and sometimes it’s not all pleasant,” reminds Andersson in regards to process. Students have to be admitted to NYU and meet its rigorous admissions standards before being considered for Tisch (with some flexibility).