Situated close to Los Angeles and Hollywood, CSUF is ideally located to send students in the entertainment industry. CSUF?s Performing Arts Department has a highly successful rate of placing its students in industry-related jobs immediately after graduation.
According to the Performing Arts Major?s College Guide, CSUF?s Theatre Arts program is among ?Most Highly Recommended Undergraduate Programs? for drama and musical theater and was listed in ?Noteworthy Programs? for dance.
The department, referred to as the ?Carnegie Mellon of the West Coast? by Musical Theater Coordinator Eve Himmelheber, fosters competition among its students in order to prepare them for the world outside of the Clayes Performing Arts Center walls.
Only the most talented and hardworking students are chosen to be part of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts program, which is why there is so much competition between students in the Performing Arts Department.
?We start with 125 freshmen who want to be in musical theater, and by the end of sophomore year only 10 students are taken into the B.F.A. program,? said Himmelheber.
The freshmen who come into the program take a placement audition in order to assess whether or not they should pursue one of the 10 B.F.A. spots.
The talent of the students varies. According to Himmelheber, some have been singing since they were young and others performed in one musical and decided that they wanted to pursue it as a career.
The B.F.A. program is different from B.A. programs that other performing arts schools offer because it is highly specialized. According to Himmelheber, the program is a structured program with very intense study in musical theatre.
?Musical theatre (at CSUF) is like a triple major. They have to take acting classes, they have to take voice and movement ? and they have to pass dance juries in three areas: tap, jazz and ballet,? Himmelheber said.
Students in the program receive one-on-one training with voice coaches. They are also required to be in one CSUF performing arts production every semester.
?Undergoing the workload of the B.F.A. program is worth it,? said Undergraduate Coordinator Larry Peters. ?No one is going to come out of B.F.A. program that isn?t a triple threat.?
?The industry knows that when someone leaves our department with a B.F.A., they?ve been vetted all along the way,? he said.
The department?s high regard for its B.F.A. program isn?t all boasting, however. It has the numbers to back it up.
In an industry where 95 percent of performers don?t make a living wage, eight out of the 10 B.F.A. students who graduated last May have professional jobs, six of which are in New York.
The department also provides the B.F.A. students with a showcase in New York before they graduate, where they audition in front of a casting director and, hopefully, get picked up.
Peters offers some insight as to why the program is so successful. ?When you are teaching and creating artists, you begin attracting the best. It?s the combination of the students that we attract and what we bring to them,? he said.
Rose Ouellette, a 2011 B.F.A. program graduate, now performs in New York in Ghostlight, which has sold out its first run.
Both hard work and her training in the B.F.A. program helped her achieve success, said Ouellette.
?I felt prepared to come out here, greatly thanks to Fullerton. Fullerton pushed and challenged me, but these learned lessons and obstacles helped strengthen me as a performer and a person,? said Ouellette.
Ultimately, most students who audition for the B.F.A. program get cut after their sophomore year. These students, who become liberal arts, theatre or dance majors, still find success outside the program.
An explanation for the rest of the department?s success can be found in the sense of community that is found within the department.
Gladys Kares, director of dance for the department, said, ?The alums who?ve gone on to form companies of their own do employ our people.?
Melissa Sakrison, a sophomore and B.F.A. hopeful, recently auditioned for a local production and recognized three B.F.A. graduates there. She recalls how supportive they were of her auditioning.
She points out that no matter who you are, training at CSUF gets people jobs.
?People see that you are trained at CSUF and they respect that,? she said.
Source: http://www.dailytitan.com/2011/09/20/per
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