Admission to Acting Emphasis/Upper-Division Acting Classes
Should a student wish to enter the Acting emphasis in the School of Drama, the student may audition in the second semester of their freshman year. It is understood that the student will have successfully completed DRAMA 1513 and 1523 (with a grade of “C” or better) before admission to the Acting emphasis. Auditions consist of the performance of two contrasting monologues.
During the second semester of the sophomore year, students who wish to continue studies in upper- division acting classes must be juried in order to do so. Students must prepare two contrasting monologues: musical theatre students may present a song if this best displays their acting ability. All auditions are to be three minutes in length. It is understood that before proceeding to upper- division acting classes, the student will have successfully completed the acting sequence through DRAMA 2523 (with a grade of a “C” or better).
Criteria for evaluation of auditions are the same as that for performance assignments in acting classes, criteria with which the students are familiar from repeated critiques of scene and monologue work in those classes: clarity, emotional connection to the “Other”, active pursuit of objective, varied levels of tactics, vocal and physical control and flexibility, understanding of the text, and evidence of analysis of text. The student must exhibit an advanced level of expertise in these skills to proceed to upper division acting classes. Also involved in the area’s decision are the student’s levels of responsibility, motivation, potential, and attitude, as exhibited through class work and production work, all of which should be at a level of maturity which indicate that the student is progressing toward professional behavior as a theatre practitioner. In a pre-professional training program, these are legitimate criteria for maintaining a standard of excellence, a standard for which the School of Drama is nationally known. Evaluation and determination of placement are determined by a majority vote of the performance faculty.
A student may achieve grades of “A” or “B” in early acting classes and still not be passed on to upper-division acting classes. These grades would recognize the student’s industry and discipline in any given course. A student may make great strides in individual progress and still not be performing at an appropriate level for advanced acting work. Conversely, a student whose acting may be passable, but who has not exhibited appropriate discipline and industry will not be passed on.
Should a student who is not admitted to the Acting emphasis as a Freshman wish to be reconsidered, he or she may petition the Performance faculty to reaudition at the end of the following year. Should a student who is not passed on to upper-division acting classes as a Sophomore wish to be reconsidered, he or she may petition the Performance faculty to reaudition at the end of the following semester. The Sophomore juries are an aid in the process to training theatre practitioners of excellence, both to the student who is to continue in upper-division acting classes and to the student who is to redirect his or her energies and goals in the multitude of varied disciplines involved in the theatrical art.