2017 is winding down, but the BFA admission cycle is about to kick it into high gear! The admissions offices are going to return from their winter breaks to overflowing inboxes and literal buckets of mail. The online portals won’t necessarily reflect your app accurately just yet, since all that material needs to be processed and logged. You’re going to be anxious about the status of your application, but please try to give them time to breathe and clean up that backlog before you start calling and emailing.
Looking for something else to focus on right now? Read plays.
As I mention in my book, as aspiring theatre artists, PLAYS are the literature of your art form. The more well-versed you are in that literature, the more educated you will be about that art form. It really is that simple.
Reading a play each week will expose you to genres and playwrights you didn’t know existed. You’ll find inspiration for new designs, or potential new audition pieces. You’ll discover references to other work, and when you go check that work out, yet another door will be opened… with its own set of references and inspirations.
Not to mention, you’re going to sound incredibly knowledgeable in your interview or audition when you speak to faculty and can hold your own in an educated conversation about theatre.
So how to start? Pick a day when you usually have some regular down time, and make that your weekly Play Day. Ask your theatre teacher for recommendations, browse the theatre section in your library, look up other work by playwrights you are already familiar with. The key is to go beyond whatever anthology of drama you use in school – the work there is essential, no doubt, but it’s the baseline for everyone. You want to stand out.