The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater (continued)

The mission of the BFA in Musical Theatre at SIUC is to provide specific academic and professional training for students with a desire to perpetuate and promote the art of theatre performance.  Placing an equal importance on academic and artistic excellence -- while seeking a balance between theoretical and applied material -- the BFA presents a curriculum and a performance season which combine to prepare students for success in the world of professional musical theatre performance while equipping its students with the ability to shape the future of the art of musical theatre. 

In accomplishing this purpose, the BFA in Musical Theater program seeks to:     

1. Provide a strong base of knowledge in musical theatre theory, history and literature.
2. Provide practical training in the skills in music (specifically singing and music reading), dance and acting needed to succeed as a professional musical theatre artist.
3. Provide production opportunities that demonstrate how musical theatre history and theory relate to and work in performance, and which present laboratory experiences for practicing and honing the skills specific to musical theatre.
4. Encourage individual artistic and personal growth, and create opportunities for the exploration and expansion of individual creative potential.
5. Provide varied, quality musical theater performances for diverse audiences.

The program of study offered by the BFA is solidly focused on the theoretical and practical issues required by students to create musical theatre art and to function in the realm of professional musical theatre performance.  Candidates successfully completing BFA in Musical theatre must be able to meet the following educational objectives:

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of vocabulary, techniques and theories in necessary to the fields of music, theatre and dance performance.
• Demonstrate appropriate skills in acting, singing and dance to achieve their career goals as performers.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate musical theatre concepts, ideas and theories in writing, oral presentation and performance.
• Demonstrate the ability to make informed judgments concerning the artistic merits of works of theatre, music and dance and specifically musical theater performances.
• Demonstrate the ability to articulate the significance of artistic works and the value of performing arts to society.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the collaborative nature of theatre, and specifically the additional collaborative partners necessary for musical theater productions.

BFA Musical Theater students progress through a four year, 135 credit hour program which includes 38 hours of University Core Curriculum requirements, 35 hours of acting and voice classes, 21 hours of dance courses and 41 hours (including 7 hours of approved electives) of music and theater support classes such as theater and music theater history, harmony and aural skills, theatre production, class piano, play analysis, stage makeup, audition techniques, etc.  The major theater, music and dance classes begin in the first semester of the first year, and should be taken in the recommended sequence.

In addition to course work, valuable performance opportunities provided throughout the academic year allow the students essential practical experience.  Students also gain academic credit and professional performance experience by performing with SIUC’s professional summer stock company, The McLeod Summer Playhouse.  

Students must audition to be accepted into the BFA in Musical Theater program, and must pass a juried barrier exam in their fourth semester (second for transfer students) to remain in the program.