Talking about college musical theater programs is all the rage. For every young student trying to figure out where they want to train, there are dozens of articles telling them where to go and what to look for and what to avoid. Some of those articles rank schools officially, others don’t.
This isn’t one of those articles.
Instead, I’m here to talk about where I think the majority of MT programs fall short: teaching their students about the importance of new works. Many programs don’t have a formal avenue for students to participate in new work development at all and even at the ones that do, it’s very much second fiddle to the big-title once-a-semester productions. While it’s certainly important for young performers to study the canon, it’s a disservice to not train them equally in how to tackle new works because it is a different process.
I’m a playwright and lyricist, and my partner and I debuted our musical through the new works series at the university where I was getting my MFA. Although the administration supported us every step of the way, the vibe we got from the students in the department was a different matter entirely and it’s because of the general
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