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 foundational components of the actor’s craft. Courses in dramatic literature and history, and academic electives on the main campus, broaden your studies. Although first-year students are not permitted to perform on stage for the public, you will have the opportunity to work on productions in front-of-house positions and behind the scenes in a wide range of roles including run crew and production assistantships.
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 College of Visual and Performing Arts film students and Syracuse Stage productions (when age-appropriate roles are made available). Your coursework will advance to more specialized techniques that can include acting for the camera, scene study in poetic drama, stage combat, clown, dialects and actor-generated work. You may also apply your artistry more broadly through coursework and co-curricular opportunities in directing, playwriting, producing, design and community engagement.
