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BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS IN DRAMA: Acting Emphasis

Midsummer Night's DreamBFA PROGRAM MISSION
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in acting is an emphasis within the School of Fine Arts, the purpose of which is to train students in the development of a personal performance process and acting technique. Within the context of a liberal arts education, the program builds on the objectives of the department’s core curriculum to develop within a student a deepened, strengthened and professional level of competency in acting skills that prepares them for advanced graduate study in performance or entry into the profession of theatre practice.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Acting is an expressive art form in which the actor is the instrument of that expression. The training of the actor is a process that prepares one physically, mentally, emotionally and personally for expression. Key to the training of the actor is the development of an affective mode of understanding and expression that requires the development of strong kinesthetic, verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal and spatial understandings and tools of analysis and expression. Further, the program exists to provide production and studio opportunities for students to develop, deepen and refine their theatre practice skills. The program is concerned with developing the student’s ability to utilize these skills and tools to communicate dramatic story in the context of theatrical production. Students are expected to make continued progress in deepening, and clarifying their ability to communicate story and truthfully play character action.

At the end of the second year of the program the student must successfully pass a mid-program review of their skills and abilities in order to be accepted Arcadiainto upper division study. The mid-program audition assesses a beginning competency in the principles listed below. Upper division study then expects a growing mastery in these competencies by the end of the fourth year.

The fourth year of the program, requires of the student, a Senior Project, which consists of the successful development and performance of a significant role in a departmental production and accompanying paper documenting their working process and including a self-assessment of the final work.


PROGRAM COMPETENCIES
Upon completion of the four years of the BFA training sequence, the program expects to have developed within the student actor, these competencies:

  • An understanding of the essential theories utilized in acting, as well as an ability to use these theories effectively in their artistic expression
  • An understanding of the basic principles of voice production, as well as an ability to use these principles effectively in their artistic expression
    An understanding of the basic principles of speech and a flexible use of multiple speech styles in their artistic expression.
  • An understanding of the basic principles of physical communication and the physical structures of character as well as the ability to apply these principles in their artistic expression.
  • An understanding of professional modes of behavior, preparation and competency as well as the ability to use these principles in all aspects of their artistic work.
  • An understanding of the kinds of research - objective and subjective/affectOur Country's Goodive - specific to an actor’s work, as well as a demonstrated ability to use these principles in the development of their artistic work.
  • An understanding and consistent application of the principles of Dramatic Action and Storytelling.
  • A familiarity with and effective, competent practice in a variety of theatrical performance styles.
  • An ability to effectively present oneself and one’s work for professional employment, in a variety of audition formats.
  • The ability to assess and critique their own creative work and be able to utilize the information gained in prescribing solutions and/or new directions for their artistic development.
  • The ability to function effectively and cooperatively as a member of a performance ensemble.

MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN DRAMA: Acting

MFA PROGRAM MISSION
The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in acting is a three year graduate program designed to train students at an advanced level in performance technique and prepare them for entry into professional theatre.

The aim of the program is to provide students with skills and experiences to develop within them a personal, artistic performance process; a process that deepens their understanding of themselves, strengthens their skills in communicating their own artistic vision, and challenges and engages an audience.

In addition, the program develops students as teachers and utilizes the teaching of acting and the development of an acting pedagogy to: 1) further develop the student’s understanding of their own craft and theory and 2) develop them as teachers of acting in their own right.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Acting is an expressive art form in which the actor is the instrument of that expression. The training of the actor is a process that prepares one physically, mentally, emotionally and personally for expression. Key to the training of the actor is the development of an affective mode of understanding and expression that requires the development of strong kinesthetic, verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal and spatial understandings and tools of analysis and expression. The program is concerned with taking an experienced acting student and deepening their ability to utilize these skills and tools to communicate dramatic story in the context of theatrical production in part by providing production and studio opportunities for students to develop, deepen and refine their theatre practice skills. In addition, the program is concerned with deepening and greatly broadening the graduate acting student’s familiarity with and use of theoretical models of performance. Students are expected to make continued progress in deepening, and clarifying their ability to communicate story and truthfully play character action, as well as broaden their technique through alternative models of performance theory.

PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCES
Actors in the program at UM are in performance every semester of residency working in a multiplicity of styles, genres, spaces, and even technologies. Accompanying studio work supports an ongoing investigation and exploration of craft and process across a wide range of theory and practice across disciplines of acting, movement and voice and speech.

Actors work in scene study in conjunction with their performance studio classes and in conjunction with the MFA directing classes and are utilized in leading and supporting roles in the main-stage production season every semester of residency.

Throughout the three years of residency, graduate acting students additionally have the opportunity to work extensively in short video films with graduate directing and media arts students .

A mid-program audition occurs upon completion of the second semester. The mid-program audition functions as a diagnostic for Faculty evaluation of progress in the program. A qualifying performance project occurs at the conclusion of the third semester. The third year of the program is spent in completion of the student’s thesis, which consists of four parts: 1) research, preparation and completion of a significant role in a major production, 2) a written paper documenting the actor’s research and performance process in developing and performing that role, 3) an originally created solo performance piece, and 4) an audition "portfolio" of multiple monologues and songs.

In addition, the Montana Repertory Theatre, the department’s resident professional theatre company, provides MFA acting students with opportunities to work beside and with major directing and acting professionals in the field, tour nationally and regionally and earn equity weeks toward their equity card.

In addition to potentially acting in major Rep productions, MFA acting students have the opportunity every June to work with emerging national playwrights in the development of new scripts in the MRT’s new play development workshop, The Colony, under the direction of major national playwrights and screenwriters such as Marsha Norman and James McClure.

THE PROGRAM OF STUDY
The core curriculum of acting process, scene study, voice/speech, movement, production and theory seminar work is augmented by courses in directing, singing acting, design, digital media technologies and performance theory and criticism.

Performance (Acting process, scene study in realism, Ibsen, Chekhov), Movement (Lecoq neutral mask, principles of movement, physical characterization, clowning), Voice/Speech (vocal production, principles of stage speech, beginning verse work). Seminars in research and methods of teaching.

Performance (Shakespeare, extended performance styles and genres, personal performance), Movement (unarmed and armed stage combat, circus skills), Voice/Speech (poetic language, dialects, singing performance), Directing, seminars in performance theory and criticism

Performance (personal performance, acting for the camera) Project work - research, development and execution of major role, development of solo performance piece, audition portfolio and showcase presentation, electives.

APPLYING TO THE PROGRAM
It is expected that MFA acting candidates will be admitted to the program every three years. The next search for applicants should be for entry into the program for Fall 2009. For application procedures or more information, contact:

Dept. of Drama/Dance
University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-4481
or e-mail umtheatredance@umontana.edu