Project 5: Graduate Programs

1. University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
The UW Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) is a nationally recognized three year conservatory training program, leading to a Master of Fine Arts in Acting degree. It prepares actors for the professional world of theatre, film, television and digital media. The training emphasizes acting technique, performance skills and imaginative creativity.

Students who hold or will hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution may apply. Most applicants have undergraduate degrees in theatre, but it is not essential. All must demonstrate outstanding talent to be admitted.
Admission is based on a private fifteen minute audition and interview with the head of the PATP, scheduled only after the appropriate application forms and fees have been received.

Audtionees should prepare the following:
A two-minute monologue from a modern prose play.
A two-minute Shakespearean verse monologue.
Approximately 16 bars of a song, a cappella or with auditionee-provided accompaniment.

2.American Conservatory Theatre
San Francisco, California
The essence of A.C.T.'s actor training lies in the synergy between our professional company and our conservatory. Within the A.C.T. artistic community, professionals and students are constantly learning from each other—M.F.A. Program actors audition for and perform in A.C.T. productions, and establish valuable mentor relationships with the artists, producers, literary staff, and other professionals who make theater happen. A.C.T. is unique among large professional theater companies in that it employs a core "company" of actors, and these artists are the M.F.A. Program actors' living link to the professional theater world. In turn, M.F.A. Program actors may serve as mentors to younger artists in the renowned A.C.T. Young Conservatory through teaching opportunities or performing onstage together in new works or in A.C.T.'s annual production of A Christmas Carol.

Enrollment in the M.F.A. Program is by audition and interview only. Applicants must be high school graduates or equivalent. Applicants who hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university are eligible to receive a master of fine arts degree in acting upon successful completion of the three years of training. Applicants who do not hold an accredited bachelor's degree receive a certificate in acting upon successful completion of the three years of training.
For the 2009–10 academic year, approximately eight students will be selected from over 300 applicants. Approximately 90% of admitted firstyear students receive some form of financial aid. The average age of students entering the M.F.A. Program is 24.

Applicants must prepare two audition selections that provide a contrast in mood and tone (one from a classical verse play and one from a contemporary play). Sonnets, poems, songs, and other nondramatic materials are not acceptable. Please limit selections to a total of four minutes to allow time for an interview.

3.University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California
UCI's graduate acting program is a highly demanding, three-year curriculum that trains its actors for all three years (more about this in a moment). This training is centered on a core curriculum - in acting (for both stage and camera), voice, speech, and movement - held Monday through Thursday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm for all nine quarters of residence. In its rigor and professional standards, therefore, UCI's program functions as a conservatory, but we also take the Master of Fine Arts degree seriously, and therefore our program also includes seminars in script analysis, acting theory, acting pedagogy and in dramatic theory or criticism. We do not believe in producing actors who bear the stamp of their training so vividly that they display their training rather than the personal truth of the actor/character they play on stage.

Once we have received a completed application form and $70 application fee, the Drama Office will contact you to schedule an audition location and time.
Remember that your two contrasting audition monologues should total no more than three minutes, and that one should be classical, preferably in verse.