How theatre became academic

I shocked my colleagues with these ideas when I was teaching at the university. But the truth of the matter is that what happened to get theatre into academia was a ruse that keeps on growing. Everyone knows how difficult it is to become a professional actor today and to earn a living at acting. The reason is that there are enormously more out of work actors that there are available jobs. It has always been so, but movies and TV has made it worse, since people become enchanted with these media and think they would like to do that for a living. To accomdate those desires professional acadamies and acting studios have popped up like dandelions in my front yard. The aspiring actors are also served by colleges and universities who are offering more and more BFA acting programs which have grown out of their theatre or drama majors. Almost every college and univestity has a theatre program, producing plays and offering a curriculum of theatre classes. How these got started in the colleges is an interesting story. First, of course, Greek and Roman plays were studied in the Renaissance Academies which starting in the 15th Century set the model for our colleges and universities. Greek and Roman plays were read in grammar schools for years as long as those languages were taught there. Then famous playwrights' such as Shakespeare and his contemporaries and Moliere and his contemporaries were added to the literature classes in colleges and universities, then classes in drama were added to the English Department classes. Colleges and universities produced plays that students volunteered to work on. No matter that plays are not literature, a discussion comming up on this blog, they could be taught as though they were are they still are in schools at all levels from middle schools on up to universities. Now back in the 19th or early 20th Century, out of work actors talked their way into faculties which taught drama. It wasn't long until they began to add other theatre classes until there was enough of a curriculum to start a separate department. More and more out of work theatre people were hired as faculty. More degrees and classes were added to accomodate the interest of the prospective students, and here we are. Theatre sneaked in the back door of academia as a ruse to provide employment for out of work theatre people. This practice continues as more and more out of work professionals are hired at every level of education.

gnn

Acting and academia

I was a univeristy theatre department chairman, theatre program director and theatre professor for 28 years and before that had been a university theatre instuctor for four years. I designed and taught a variety of acting classes. Looking back now some dozen years after I retired, I have realized the weakenss of teaching acting in an academic setting. Besides the fact that my academic superiors, regardless of their lack of knowledge concerning theatre and acting, always new a better way of doing what I was trying to do. They are much like liberal politicians in that way, and of course many were politically liberal, assuming they knew better than the experts in the field. Anyway, their constant meddling, often ludicous such as when I was told I should produce a morality play every year, so I asked, "You mean like, 'Everyman?"" "Yes,"they(my dean and department chair) knowingly replied. "That would become rather tedious," I answered, "since 'Everyman' is the only extant Medieval morality play." They just sat there, dumbfounded. Academia has, with reason, some mistrust of things artistic. Theatre is the weak link in the creativea arts in academia. Music and Fine Art are much more widely accepted. Music is so widely popular, following years of excellent PR by the educational music organizations, that it is more nearly considered a necessity rather than an art. Everyone has music in their lives, but, save for the entertainment media (featuring all of those immoral and odd people that are reported about in the news media), theatre is an ugly stepchild. That makes it difficult to even get in the curriculum, and to sustaing and make grow with in academia as well. The point of all this is that acting and academia are a poor fit. They just don't get along.. While Music is allowed to give credit for classes that have no reading, writing, or written testing, theatre seldom is. Vocal and instrumental students take individual and group instruction which consists of merely performing and being criticised for imporvement. Acting classes are hardly ever so. They are full of reading and writing assignments (that the students and the faculty have been told will help the students with their acting) and then are allowed a bit of actual performance and critique. But because of acting (and theatre in general) having to be made academically viable, the performance of acting is neglected. A reading of college and university catelog description of acting classes is ample evidence that few in academia are taking acting as an art seriously,. The educationalese and catch phrases used by acting teachers to make their courses sound academic are quite laughable by someone who understands what acting is and how it needs to be "taught". Topics for future posts: how theatre became academic, what is the art of theatre? and If actors are born and not made, what is taught in acting classes and how are they taught? Stay tuned.

How to audition

I get a lot of requests for information about how to do well at auditions. This is the basic info: Be prepared, read the script if at all possible, understand the story and who the characters are. IF it is a musical, sing a song you sing very well as you want to be comfortable and energetic when you sing. Always approach an audition as another opportunity to play and have fun. That is what acting is after all, playing. Not allowed to do that at work, or school, or home very much. So it is going to be fun. Then always dress comfortably and neatly, be well groomed. When you leave the house adopt a positive attitude and keep it until you get back home fromt he auditions no matter what happens there. Approach the audition with energy and enthusiasm, but stay under control, don't get giddy and be silly or stupid. When you read from the script or do your monologue, remember: first adopt the physical qualities of the character and then use the lines as the emotional and physical expression of the character (now you) to the stituation and stimuli of each moment of the scene. Act will full expression. Have a blast!

You are as good as your word.

In the world of acting, it is very important that information that you give others about yourself is completely accurate. One never lies or puts false information on his or her resume. That would be completely unethical and often you will get caught if you try it. If you are caught in one fabrication, maybe your whole resume is fake is what someone may think of you. Similarly, if you tell someone you are doing such and such, then you had jolly well be doing that. For this reason, it is frowned upon in the acting world to talk about what you are going to do because that is all too often just a wish or a dream and when it doesn't happen your veracity is againg challenged. Thus, if you make a statement, it must be true. And if you promise that you will do something, then you should follow through and actually do it and not blow it off. Also do not forget the committments you make and keep all of them. If you need to write in a notebook or daily planner that on such and such a date, you are going to do this or that, do so. Many of my greatest failings in my career were that I promised that I would do something and then forgot to do it. This almost always led to other things like retalitory actions from the slighted party. You really can't blame them. You broke your word, why should they have to consider you in their plans. Well, you get the idea. Nothing can be more important to the aspiring actor than to me a man or woman of his or her word.

Acting amd Websotes/

Young people aspiring to becoming actors seem to have the mistaken belief that there is a magical website out there in cyberspace that can make them a star, if they can only find it and get an audition. This is just part of the fantasy that they build up while watching TV and movies and dreaming that they might become a star, the idol of all their friends and enemies. Of course such websites do not exist. Most of the websites dealing with casting and becoming an actor are of course SCAMS which are designed to part young people's parents fromt their money. There is just no quick, magical way to become an actor. There are a few legit websites that have good information on them that aspiring actors need to have, but any web site that asks you to sign up so they can get you auditions so you can become a star, well forget them. There are also a few websites that actually can help actors get roles, but these should only be used by people who are already actors or aspiring adults or by aspiring teen's parents. Some of them have fees, some do not. My advise to people under 18 is to stay off the web, it is a place where you can get into trouble.

It changes out of high school

While school acting is pretty much the same from elementary through high school; acting, like playing sports, changes as you move up the latter. What starts out as a simple school activity, social gathering and play time, becomes more and more serious as you get to high school and then to college and then to the professional world. By the time you get to the pro world, acting is still fun, when you can get work, but it is no longer simple, no longer a recreational fun time and no longer just based on your ability to do it well. There are other considerations. First and foremost is that business end of acting. Professional productions cost millions of dollars and so those responsible for the money are much more serious about the work being done. To take part in this huge business, the aspiring actor needs to learn how the business works and how he is now a businessman who must package and sell his product-himself as an actor. It is a far cry from the idealism of school acting.