BFA in Musical Theater
Are you passionate about musical theater and looking for a professional training program combining performance opportunities, a nurturing educational setting, and affordable tuition? You've found it!
TRAINING: The BFA in Musical Theater is designed to prepare you for a career in musical theater performance. This nationally accredited interdisciplinary degree (the Department of Theater and the School of Music co-own it) involves eight intense semesters developing your performance skills and your own personal artistry. Acting, singing, and dancing classes are required every semester, along with support courses in music theory, sight singing, piano, musical theater history and literature, text analysis and more. The complete curriculum can be found linked to the left.
PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITY: These classes are supplemented with plenty of performance opportunities through productions of musicals, musical revues, straight theater (yes our MT majors are encouraged to be in our plays!), operettas and even operas. We are a mid-sized program of about 20 majors that focuses on personal attention, mentoring, and career advice. Typically all BFA majors are in every musical, including fall semester freshman year. Check out this video about our latest production. In the summer, McLeod Summer Playhouse provides you with your first resume building professional roles, as well as opportunities to network with other young professionals and seasoned directors.
LIBERAL ARTS: Theater is about bringing the world to life on the stage, so you need to understand the world! We develop your understanding through an integrated liberal arts core including the arts and humanities, the sciences, the social sciences and more. Furthermore, if you have an ACT score of 26 or higher or a HS GPA of 3.5 or more you are eligible for our Honors Program, which features an exciting array of special courses taught by select professors for classes of no more than 15 students. We highly encourage your participation in this program if you are eligible.
BEYOND SIUC: Our degree also encourages you to take a minor! As you no doubt know, musical theater is a competitive field where actors spend years getting established. In the mean time you need to support yourself. A minor in Marketing, Web design, or some other area might be very helpful to your career.
CO$T: Finally, and importantly, we are affordable. You don’t want to launch a career overburdened with student loans. If you are from the states of Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana or Arkansas, SIUC offers in-state tuition rates. In-state tuition and fees run about $5500 a semester.
VISIT: Please visit us! Attend classes, take a free voice lesson, sit in on a dance and acting class, and watch a rehearsal. We'd love to meet you, and are eager for you to learn who we are. If you are interested in auditioning, and we hope you are, please visit fill out the online application to the left and we will contact you about a time. For further questions please contact us.