You will be immediately immersed in a program of pre-professional study in your first year, devoting as many as 18 hours of class time per week to various theater arts. 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. Although first-year students are not permitted to perform on stage for the public, you will have the opportunity to work on productions behind the scenes in a wide variety of jobs, ranging from running crews to assistant stage managing.
Following this first year of building fundamental skills, you will have many opportunities to audition for roles in department productions, co-productions with Syracuse Stage, numerous student- and faculty-sponsored productions, films produced by VPA film students and Syracuse Stage productions (when age-appropriate roles are available). Equity points may be earned through work with Syracuse Stage.
