Department of Performing Arts
Acting (BFA)
Landry Allbright uses acting to communicate
BFA Acting student Landry Alllbright talks about how Emerson College is a safe place to make mistakes. (Filmed and edited by Emerson College students.)
As an Acting major, you will move through a four-year sequence of progressively intensive training. During your third and fourth years, 75 percent of your work will be in the program itself. Retention in the program must be earned by commitment, personal growth, and a faculty evaluation through a re-audition process four times during freshman and sophomore years.
Because an intensive residency is essential to the success of the Studio, BFA students are not eligible to participate in the Los Angeles Program during the academic year. However, BFA students may use elective credits to participate in the L.A. summer program.
Program Requirements
| PA 101 |
Languages of the Stage |
| TH 149 | Emerson Stage Production Crew |
| TH 215 |
World Drama in Its Context I |
| TH 216 | World Drama in Its Context II |
| TH 123 |
Acting I: Movement |
| TH 124 | Acting II: Voice and Text |
| TH 130 | Improvisation |
| TH 131 | Improvisation II |
| TH 221 | Acting III: Basic Scene Study |
| TH 222 | Acting IV: Ensemble Acting and Performance |
| TH 325 |
BFA Acting Studio I |
| TH 326 |
BFA Acting Studio II |
| TH 425 | BFA Acting Studio III |
| TH 426 |
BFA Acting Studio IV |
| Advanced Drama (4 credits) |
Choose two of the following:
| TH 141 | Stagecraft: Special Topics |
| TH 142 |
Stagecraft: Electrics |
| TH 143 |
Stagecraft: Properties Construction |
| TH 144 | Stagecraft: Costume Construction |
| TH 145 | Stagecraft: Scenic Construction |
| TH 146 |
Stagecraft: Scene Painting |
| TH 147 |
Stagecraft: Costume Crafts |
| TH 148 |
Stagecraft: Masks |
Technique. Movement. Breathing. They’re skills Emerson alum Joe Bwarie ’99 learned from his classes at Emerson – skills that gave him a “competitive edge” in auditions after graduation. He plays the lead role in the touring production Jersey Boys.
Each year on September 17, Performing Arts students at Emerson pay tribute to Constitution Day by performing a reading from the U.S. Constitution.
