Located right outside of the city and virtually next to the Charles River, the College of Fine Arts (CFA) School of Theatre at Boston University offers many opportunities for aspiring actors to attain their big-screen dreams.
The School of Theatre offers undergraduate degrees in Acting, Theatre Arts, Design, Production, and Stage Management as well as Collaborative degrees and Minor options. In addition to these fields of study, the School of Theatre offers students two study abroad programs in London as well as numerous professional affiliations with the Boston University Playwrights’ Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Huntington Theatre Company (Boston University’s professional theatre-in-residence).
With about 240 undergraduates and 30 graduate students each academic year, the school produces six large productions each year, as well as 35 to 40 project workshops specific to the student’s field of study. The full-time faculty of the School of Theatre is comprised of over 30 qualified men and women and periodically features guest artists and part-time performance and technical trainers.
In order to better assist in the transition from academic to professional life, the School of Theatre began the Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP), whose mission statement, in short, is to facilitate interaction between both local and national professionals in the field of performing arts and theatre students. The program does this by hosting artistic festivals, theatre performances, interview sessions, and many other activities that allow students to interact more personally with professionals in the field. BCAP’s most recent programs were the InCite Arts Festival in New York City held from March 3rd -10th and the performance of “I Am My Own Wife,” hosted in one of the College of Fine Arts theatres from April 22nd -May 10th.
The students in the School of Theatre have also formed their own performance groups, open to the rest of the Boston University community. Performance organizations such as On Broadway that focuses on musical theatre and the Shakespeare Society, which performs Shakespearean plays or adaptations of the classics, are provided funding by the Student Activities Office and often produce their own performances each semester.
The School of Theatre is not only a good resource for performance training, the numerous actors and producers that have graduated from the school (or, in some cases, not graduated) provide street credibility for students who are interested in the long-term goal of getting a job. Famous Boston University alumni include: Jason Alexander, Craig Bierko, John Cazale, Michael Chiklis, Geena Davis, Emily Deschanel, Olympia Dukakis, Faye Dunaway, Bruce Feirstein, Connie Fletcher, Nina Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Andrew Kriesberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Julianne Moore, and Howard Stern, among the few.
Tags: acting, bcap, boston center for american performance, Boston University, celebrities, college of fine arts, Howard Stern, Jason Alexander, london study abroad program, production, school of theatre, stage management, theatre arts, Yunjin Kim
