Acting

The department offers both a bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) degree and a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree in drama (acting). The B.F.A. requires 124 credits; the B.S. requires 120 credits. The B.F.A. requires 21 to 24 more credits in acting and related support courses. Students who are interested in directing and playwriting may elect to take additional courses in these areas under drama elective requirements.

Your involvement in theatrical activity is immediate. During the first year you participate in the department's foundation program and study the Stanislavski System and the Strasburg Method of actors' training, stressing psychological, emotional, and sensory development. You participate in classes in emotional recall, physical action, creative improvisation, and voice training. Although first-year students are not permitted to perform on stage for the public, you work on productions behind the scenes in a wide variety of jobs, ranging from running crews to assistant stage managing. From the second year on, acting students may audition for roles in faculty-directed plays and musicals and films produced by undergraduate and graduate film students.

Faculty members evaluate all performance students at the end of the sophomore year. Based on that evaluation, students may take upper-level performance courses. Students who do not pass the evaluation may be asked to repeat Introduction to Scene Study or Introduction to Musical Theater Performance, or be asked to pursue the B.S. degree, which does not require upper-level acting.

Advanced acting students may audition for and perform in Syracuse Stage productions in appropriate roles. Students may also understudy the professional actors. Equity points may be earned through work with Syracuse Stage.

Courses in theater history, directing, voice/verse, playwriting, and technical theater broaden your studies. In the B.F.A. program, you may also select courses in design, stage lighting, costume history, dramatic literature, and stage management. We encourage you to prepare yourself to earn a living in more than one area of the theater and to take courses in theater management and stagecraft some of which are taught by Syracuse Stage professionals.