The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting is a pre-professional degree that offers advanced performance skills and a multitude of practical experiences in Chicago or abroad, providing the opportunity to prepare for a career as a global artist, equally adept at interpretation or creation, in classical work as well as the most current media practice.
Each student will receive personalized instruction and ample production/performance opportunities, several exclusive to the BFA cohort. Our program capacities are intentionally small to ensure individual attention, honing both the skills of the solo player and ensuring a strong commitment to an ensemble ethos. Progressively intense training in voice, movement and acting styles culminates in a semester abroad with one of our international partner institutions or an additional semester in Chicago offering a unique variety of advanced skill-building. The BFA cohort will create and perform a new work or present a contemporary script, synthesizing the techniques and insights acquired over the course of study in this highly structured, rigorous program.
Acting BFA students are regularly evaluated to monitor their levels of achievement and progress and to suggest directions for growth. Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in their major, complete the performance requirements, and demonstrate continued development in order to continue in the program.
As a result of successfully completing program requirements, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a strong integration and practice of the requisite acting, voice and movement skills to successfully perform in a variety of performance styles including performance work in different media: on camera, voice over and animation and devised work;
- display the collaborative skills necessary to be a vital, proactive part of the ensemble: in the classroom, in production, and in the profession;
- exhibit the ability to analyze texts for performance and research;
- articulate through oral and written work a working knowledge of theatre history and its seminal practitioners;
- develop a strategy for entering the profession and sustaining a career through the creation of a business model for self-management as a performer/theatre maker; and
- demonstrate knowledge of contemporary performance practice that deepens their skill set and broadens their professional opportunities.
