Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#1Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:02pmNot everybody can afford schools like that.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#2Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:14pmWhat school is MFA?
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#2Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:18pmImeant NYU Masters of Fine Art (the grad school as opposed to the undergrad.)
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#3Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:20pmWhere did you got to school?
#4Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:22pm
This is far from true (I won't even attempt to list all of the endless counterexamples) but what you listed are some of the best theatre programs in the country. They receive a huge number of applicants and select only what they perceive to be the cream of the crop. Given this fact and their strong programs, it makes sense that they will breed many successful Broadway stars. If they didn't, then they wouldn't be the top schools and other schools would fill the gaps and the most talented/sought after performers would go elsewhere.
It's the same logic that explains why it seems that all the CEO's and most successful people in finance went to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, or Columbia (in most cases they did.)
By the way - by MFA I think you mean Master of Fine Arts? That's what I think of when I read MFA lol unless it stands for some school that I'm not thinking of?
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Updated On: 4/24/12 at 11:22 PM
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#5Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:24pmIt's a conspiracy
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#6Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/24/12 at 11:33pmDuring the years I worked in New York theater (and some film) casting (1984-90) actors from those schools did get a measure a preferential consideration (not necessarily unjustly) -- Yale in particular, in my memory. Not only are those named programs competitive, selective, etc., the are also expensive and imply/guarantee a bit more bang for buck for graduates. A leg up, yes, but also rigorously earned in most cases.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#7Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:36am
Those are the three most competitive and highly regarded programs. For a reason -- they turn out a huge percentage of very well trained actors.
It isn't a job requirement, and LOTS of folks that are on b'way went to lot of other schools -- not all noteworthy enough to talk about. In your bio you talk about the most important things you can -- not everything you can.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#8Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/25/12 at 3:11pmbroadwaydevil - Excellent point and I will give example like you mentioned. In my state, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts has turned out many Broadway performers. Their alumni include people like Gary Beach and Terrance Mann. Their is a young man who my daughters went to HS with that is graduating from there this year and it would not shock me if he is on Broadway one day. (he has already appeared in the Broadway touring company of shows like "Beauty and The Beast")
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#9Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/25/12 at 11:04pmThey're excellent schools, and graduation from them hardly guarantees success. On a more cynical note: They're also brand names and New York City culture is all about brand names.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
nasty_khakis
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/15/07
#10Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/25/12 at 11:07pmIn my experience it's because the schools have connections with top agencies in the city and get better showcases, etc. I worked for a casting director who was a U Mich alum and told me she prefers to see/cast from her school.
#11Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/25/12 at 11:30pm
^ I AD'd a director who said when working a show if they graduated from Michigan Juilliard Yale or *Miami* ( I don't know if she meant Miami Florida or Miami Ohio, either way of the four that was odd) they would most likely automatically get a callback.
I thought that was odd and I never understood it.
But the more prestigious the school the better chances of getting through other doors.
#12Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/26/12 at 12:03am
These schools, while expensive, also tend to be generous with scholarships for graduate students.
There are a great many other equally impressive MFA programs: Brown, FSU/Asolo Rep, ART, etc.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#13Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/26/12 at 12:11am
^ I plan on getting my MFA soon and Brown and FSU are top on my list, with Yale and Penn State. (directing though, not acting.)
Updated On: 4/26/12 at 12:11 AM
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#14Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillliard?
Posted: 4/26/12 at 1:06amFrom reading the responces I now kind of believe dramaman answered the question. It probably just seems like everybody went to NYU because those people always mention it in the bio. They people who went other places don't mention it is much maybe.
nygrl232
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/08
#15Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 4:00amnasty_khakis made a great point. It's about the connections. Great actors from other programs might not get that advantage. Harvard et al are the same way--connections to alumni are a big reason why people compete to get into those 'name brand' schools.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#16Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 6:24am
It's about ALL the things mentioned:
Training
Prestige
Connections
And what is mentioned and what is not.
Let's not forget: TALENT. Also: if the reader has a chip on their shoulder ABOUT that possibility, then they will notice it even more.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#17Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 9:08amHaving an MFA myself (not from one of the "top three", but still a program in the "top ten" probably), and having been in show business a few years now, let me say this: ultimately, no director or casting director (at least in Chicago) gives a sh*t where you went to school. All they care about is how good you are, and whether you're right for what they're casting. In New York, maybe it's different. But that is my experience in Chicago. If an MFA from a top school was such a huge asset I wouldn't be sitting here typing this post at my day job!
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#18Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 9:19am
Theater is not the only industry that hires in this manner.
I worked for awhile in Recruiting for investment banks. Many of the recruiters had the mindset that it was easier to hire ten Harvard graduates because they had already spent the last four years working together as a team and they could hit the ground running.
On another note, I have found many of the Juilliard students to be strong in technique but severely lacking in the ability to create the internal emotional life of a character. Juilliard produces beautiful shells of humanity, but does not fill them with life.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#19Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 9:28amThere is also the matter of many directors/playwrights/actors/designers etc being full-time or adjunct faculty in these programs. They tend to funnel their students from the MFA into their own projects, productions, theatre companies.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#20Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 9:33am
Gothampc--I'm not surprised to hear that opinion, because all a drama school can really do is teach technique. You can't teach talent, although both are required for successful theater careers. That and lots of friends capable of hiring you.
Updated On: 4/26/12 at 09:33 AM
#21Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 10:17amBecause they are the 1%.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#22Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 10:51am
Which one of those did Kelli O'Hara go to?
Which one of those did Kristin Chenoweth go to?
Which one of those did Megan Hilty go to?
Which one of those did Norm Lewis go to?
Which one of those did...?
#23Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 10:51am
Which one of those did Kelli O'Hara go to?
Which one of those did Kristin Chenoweth go to?
Which one of those did Megan Hilty go to?
Which one of those did Norm Lewis go to?
Which one of those did...?
#24Why does every actor in a play seem to come from NYU MFA or Yale or Juillli
Posted: 4/26/12 at 11:06amI think the OP was talking about actors in straight plays.
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