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and dialects at Carnegie Mellon and
point person for Carnegie Mellon’s Pre-
College Drama program. “You’ll always
get straight information from students.”
Boevers echoes this, and also recommends
applying a student’s eye to the
theatre deparment’s facilities.
“I would look for dedicated student
space of any kind. Studio space that belongs
to the students for them to do work while
they’re there, and dedicated teaching spaces
for any discipline,” Boevers says. “A big
problem for conservatory drama students
is they’re kept very busy. If they have to
run home to do work and come back, as
opposed to having a space at the shcool
where they can work, that’s a big difference
to a student that’s looking.”
For technical students, Boevers assigns
even more homework, telling them to make
lists of what type of gear they’re interested
in learning to use or work with. That way
they’ll know what questions to ask regarding
lighting inventory, for instance, and will
be able to understand the answers.
For acting students gear may not be
such a priority, but they’ll still want to pay
attention to the spaces. Musical theatre
students will want to know how many
dance studios there are, and how big they
are. Kelly Maxner, director of the University
of North Carolina School of the Arts’ School
of Drama High School Program and artistic
director of the Drama Summer Session,
also thinks students should pay attention
to campuses. “There are different types of
campuses,” Maxner says. “NYU is scattered
all over the city while UNCSA is very compact.
So I think looking at how the campus
is organized, is important.” But he also
warns against judging a campus strictly on
buildings and equipment.
“You can’t judge the quality of the
teaching by a school’s theatre,” Maxner
says. “You have to actually spend time in
the classroom in order to actually get that.”
Summer Study Opportunities
More and more schools are offering
summer study programs for rising
seniors to give them exactly that type of
interaction with their faculty.
“If they’ve got a program like we
have, designed for rising seniors, that’s
an excellent way for them to get some
idea about what a regular school year
would be like,” says Carnegie Mellon’s
Don Wadsworth. Their program is
taught mainly be regular, year-round
14 April 2009 • www.stage-directions.com