NYU - Tisch

[Kellie2]

I was told that NYU frowns upon students auditioning for shows while in school. That they strongly urge you to wait 4 years until you graduate to start auditioning. Have any of you experienced this? My daughter lives and breathes Musical Theatre and would like to go somewhere where she can study, train and audition. She doesn't want to wait 4 more years to start auditioning. Advice??

[Idiot]

Hi Kellie --

I went to Tisch (though not the same department).

If it's a patience issue on your daughter's part, I'd encourage her to follow the school's advice. Of course young people find education tedious at times, but there's a reason for the school's suggestion.

If NYUt's her first choice, I'd say pursue it and worry about the auditioning process later.

[Visceral_Fella]

It's discouraged, but not forbidden. She won't have many opportunities to audition unless she is willing to jeopardize her attendance and grades. If admitted she will only be allowed to miss two classes a semester in the drama department and every absence thereafter will take her grade down half a grade. She will be in class all day three days a week so she can't audition on those days because auditions are held during the same hours. The other days of the week she will have GenEds so her time will be limited. Some people make it work like Krysta Rodriguez, but she had to drop out when she started getting work because there's no time to do both. Donna Murphy has also said that she left because she couldn't keep missing class to audition.

[Kelly2]

Literally 99% of MT students have no business auditioning during their training. What's more important, finding a school that will hone your craft to it's finest or getting out on the scene and showing off sloppy skills that might wind up doing more harm than good?

Truly terrible auditions live on in memory, trust me. You don't wanna give one.

[supportivemom]

My son is a junior at NYU in the New Studio on Broadway studio. It's the only studio at NYU that has Musical Theatre at Tisch. (I'm not counting Steinhardt as they also have MT). Anyway, he is a straight actor but has many classmates who are MT. Personally, they barely have time to do anything outside of school. One of his friends left in his freshman year because he got cast as a lead in a Nickelodeon movie. NYU is very strong on academics and I know the students have to take this class called Writing the Essay that's a bear! So- when they aren't in studio- 3 days a week until around 6pm, or rehearsing, or in their academic classes- there isn't much time left to audition or commit to other things. Also, the studios at NYU expect attendance. You can fail just by missing a few classes and NYU is just way too expensive for that. Besides, what lead parts does one get before they are 21?

[faithzilla]

supportivemom- Does your son have to take a lot of MT courses even though he's a straight actor since he's in that studio?

[Leadingplayer]

I saw Matthew Morrison discussing this on the Letterman show. His take was they are afraid you'll get a job and drop out.

[supportivemom]

faithzilla- my son has had to take classes in voice and dance. In fact, last summer, I had to buy him his first pair of dance shoes ever and whether he liked it or not- he had to sing in his voice class. This year, he is in the Physical Acting track and he has also had to take class in Brazilian martial arts- which name escapes me now. My son is also a guitarist and has been able to use his skills on stage. In fact, I believe NYU likes it when students have other interests. The training he has received at NYU has been phenomenal. He just finished a farce in which he had to have a French accent and I was told he was fantastic in it! He also started his own Improv troupe when he was a freshman (After School Special). The acting students do take acting classes with the musical theatre kids. Hope my answers help!

[faithzilla]

Very interesting, supportivemom! Thanks!

[LizzieCurry]

Capoeira?

[supportivemom]

Lizzie- YES- that's the name of it! How can I forget- he fell in class last spring and reinjured his knee and had surgery this summer to repair it!

Faithzilla- you are quite welcome!