Angela
Welcome to The Professional Connection. This is the WTC’s new Guest Blogger Series. At least once a month, I’ll be posting a guest blogger’s words of wisdom. These are interviews that will help answer your questions about where you might want to live, what kind of work you might want to do, and best of all: how to go about doing it! These bloggers are professionals who have experienced breaking into markets, finding work, and making the right connections. These men and women are contacts for you to remember and to use if you should ever need them. So without further ado:
This is Angela! She was nice enough to offer not only her time but her expertise in graduate school acting programs. Angela is a fellow blogger and 3rd year student at Florida State University. Florida State has a national reputation for being one of the top graduate acting programs in the country! I asked Angela some questions that will help any students interested in attending graduate school in the future understand what they’re getting into. Hopefully this will help you make those big decisions. Here’s what she said:
1.What is your specific graduate program like?
I attend a three year MFA program.
In the first year, you have a voice class, a movement class, an acting class, and a text analysis class. The main goal of the first year is to get you back to basics and fully neutral. Standard American speech, neutral movement, impulsive acting work, and analysis based on facts and not feelings. You also do tech work on the 2nd-years shows, and understudy the Rep.
The second year has more advanced classes in voice, movement, and acting. Scansion, dialects, baroque dance, Commedia dell’Arte, Shakespeare, Greek Tragedy, etc. You also get cast in the 2nd-year season (four shows just for your class… everyone ends up in 2-4 of them… This year, every person in the 2nd-year class is in 3 shows). And you assist a professor or a department.
In the third year, you are an Associate Company Member of the Asolo Repertory Theatre. So that’s where I am right now. I’m performing in a tour at the moment. I’m in two shows and a festival in the season, and I’m understudying roles in two shows. We have one class, which is just about the business, and preparing for Showcase in NYC at the end of the year.
2. How did you know attending graduate school was the right thing to do?
I knew I wasn’t done learning about my craft. I got a good base in undergrad, but I wanted more. I initially auditioned for grad school when I was a senior in undergrad. I got some callbacks, but didn’t ultimately end up getting in. I am so grateful for that. In retrospect, although I knew that I needed more training, I didn’t really know what I wanted. I didn’t know who I was as an artist yet. And I would’ve made the mistake of going to any school that had accepted me. I dodged a bullet.
After college, I moved to Chicago and worked there for a couple of years. I got plenty of callbacks (always a good sign), and cast in a few things. They were good experiences, but I wanted to be working on more sophisticated productions. And I knew that I needed more training to be competitive. I sought out classes (I studied First Folio at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, for example), but I realized that what I really wanted was Conservatory-style immersion. So I auditioned for graduate school. And, lucky for me, I got into a great one.
3. What was your audition process like?
I did URTAs. I made it past the screening round, and I got several callbacks. In other words, I got really, really lucky. A lot of information on that can be found in my post Advice for Grad School Hopefuls http://www.angelaacts.com/2008/12/advice-for-grad-school-hopefuls.html
4. What would you suggest to anyone wishing to audition for a top graduate program?
Do your research. Know what kind of program you need. Finding a program that’s a good fit for you is more important than going to the “best” program, or just going to grad school anywhere. If it’s not a good fit, you’re going to be miserable (and three years is a long time to be miserable). I have a classmate who has openly admitted since week one of grad school that this is the wrong program for him. He came here because my school has a great reputation, and he’s stuck it out and worked hard… but he’s not happy. He’ll leave here with an MFA and a lot of bitterness. I DID come to the right school. I found the perfect program for me, and I couldn’t be happier.
As for your auditioning, just be prepared, in whatever way you need to be. Be solid on your pieces. Have back-up pieces. Be confident. Be positive. And believe that everything happens for a reason (and if you don’t get in at first, try, try again).
5. What sort of contacts and benefits are involved after graduating from a successful program?
My program (and most programs worth their salt) has a Showcase at the end of the 3rd-year to show us off (ours is in NYC). When last year’s 3rd-year class had their Showcase, every single person in their class got at least one bite from an agent, company, or manager.
My program is also partnered with a reputable Equity theatre (the Asolo Rep). As a result, I was given the opportunity to audition for a Tony-winning director last year. Just to give you an idea of the connections we have the ability to make… We have two Tony-winning directors working at my theatre this season. I met a Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright yesterday (Nilo Cruz), and I’ll be working with another this season (Lynn Nottage, who is coming down to work with us on her play Las Meninas). I’m going to a talkback with a Russian theatre troupe today. A couple that I’ve had dinner with is currently producing two shows on Broadway and one on the West End.
6. Why is graduate school not right for some people?
Great question! Grad school seems to be best for people who want a life-long career in acting. I’d say it’s for artists more than for people who hunger to be famous. It teaches you to develop healthy habits for your voice and body. It trains you to feed your artistic soul. In many ways, it humbles you.
Grad school is for people who are hungry to learn. Going to grad school is about becoming the most proficient and capable artist that you can be. An MFA is, ultimately, a piece of paper. You don’t go on a roller-coaster to get to the end of the roller-coaster; likewise, don’t go to grad school to get your degree. Go, instead, for the experience of the crazy ride.
In order to go to grad school, I highly recommend that you are in an emotionally and psychologically grounded place in your life. It’s strenuous and stressful, and it’s hard to make it through if you’re not healthy and stable when you start.
7. Can you share any info on where you hope to be in 2 years? 5 years?
I’m working on moving to London after I graduate to see if I can have a career as an actor over there. (I want to see if my American dialect is valuable there, as I suspect it might be.) If I haven’t found a good groove there in a year or two, then I’ll move back to the USA. Ultimately, my goal is to be an actor, and to make art that I’m proud of. I can do that anywhere. People need theatre everywhere, not just in New York, LA, London, etc. I’d love to try to work in regional theatres, and maybe move around every year. But I’d be just as happy to find a place I love and stay there. I don’t know where the future will take me, but I’m excited to find out.
All good things,
~A~
_________
If you are interested in following Angela’s personal blog about her graduate school experiences, see the Theatre Blogs section in the sidebar. She is also a guest blogger on backstage.com. You can find the link to that blog, on her blog.
If you would like to contact Angela with any personal questions you have, please use this email: angelaacts(at)gmail.com
Leave a comment about what interested you most!
Best,
Sascha
