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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Your BFA?

Busy today, so I ask for very little from my readers. So very little. Just one simple question.

We've been talking about MFAs a bit around the theatrosphere...so....

How did you like your undergrad? What did you major in? Has your undergrad education served you well?

3 comments:

Zack Calhoon said...

I went to New York University and studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company, the Classical Studio, and the Hangar Lab.

I feel like I felt it was an incredible foundation for me and really helped me to push myself further and further.

Now, not all NYU experience's are like that. The undergrad acting department is kind of like the Mall of America with every kind of training there is: Viewpoints, Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, Practical Aesthetics, Grotowski, Mary Overlie, Film, Classical,musical theatre, you name it.

Like a shopping mall if you don't know what you want, it is incredibly ease to get lost and go an entire four years without really getting the experience you need.

I was very fortunate that I went into my college years knowing what I wanted to learn, and was able to achieve what I set out to do.

Anonymous said...

If someone is looking for a truly unique BFA experience, they can find it down in Atlanta at Emory University. Known mostly for its business school and pre-med program, the theater program benefits from its small, individualized classes, dramaturgical focus, and integration with the University's AEA-union Theater Emory. And with no graduates to compete with, undergrads get all the attention. Full-scaled productions are done throughout the year with both area union actors and students in a professional environment. And for non-actors in theater, the program is perfect with strong history, theory, literature, directing, admin, and stagecraft courses.

Truly a unique experience!

Anonymous said...

I am a graduate of Fordham's BA program and i really loved my experiences there. I was in the directing track of the theatre major. I think one of the biggest benefits of Fordham's training is the small class size, about 25 actors per year, one or two directors, one or two playwrights, and probably 5-7 designers and stage managers. The other huge benefit is the outstanding faculty, they have roped in some awesome full time staff and incredable adjuncts and guest artists.
They incouraged us to produce our own work and there are about 20 studio shows a year that are totaly student produced all are either student directed or student written, or both.
Its a beautiful place, I recomend it to anyone ready to work their ass off and learn alot.